1 . There you are, looking through your WeChat moments or your Weibo feed, and you come across a post saying something like this: “I just got accepted to Harvard and 0xford! Are they sure they didn’t mix my applications up with somebody else’s?”
This person is clearly humblebragging. The term “humblebrag” was first coined back in 2010 by the late US comedian Harris Wittels, and it describes when someone makes a seemingly modest statement, but the actual purpose is to bring attention to something they are proud of.
The example above is a modesty-based humblebrag. The person wants to tell others: “I got accepted to Harvard and Oxford!” However, they don't want to seem too proud of their accomplishments. So, instead, they word it in a way to be more modest and bring down the importance of their achievements.
Although people who humblebrag think it will make them more likeable because they aren’t talking proudly about their victories, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed that humblebragging actually has the opposite effect.
“Humblebragging doesn’t have the intended result because it seems insincere. That ‘poor me’ attitude combined with self-promotion does not lead to a favorable impression,” said Ovul Sezer, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina, US. “ Even simply bragging or complaining (抱怨) is better, because at least those messages are seen as more sincere.”
Sezer’s study also found that nearly 60% of humblebrags were complaint-based humblebragging, with most people humblebragging about their looks, followed by their money or wealth, and finally about their performance at work. “It’s such a common phenomenon. All of us know some people in our lives, whether in the social media or in the workplace, who do this annoying thing,” commented Sezer, adding that we all do it to some extent.
So, if you want to share your achievements with others, what’s the best way to do it then? Sezer suggests that people admit their self-promotion and harvest the rewards of being sincere. She also suggests finding a go-between, adding, “If someone brags for you, that’s the best thing that can happen to you, because then you don’t seem like you’re bragging.”
1. The underlined word “coined” in Paragraph 2 probably means “________”.| A．recognized | B．invented |
| C．bought | D．copied |
| A．Hesitating to talk about your achievements. |
| B．Bringing people’s attention to your achievements. |
| C．Talking proudly about your achievements in the social media. |
| D．Pretending to be modest when talking about your achievements. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Ambiguous. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．Share their achievements with their best friends. |
| B．Bring down the importance of their achievements. |
| C．Find someone else to talk about their achievements. |
| D．Talk about their achievements after someone else does. |
2 . "True friendship is like sound health. The value of it is seldom known until it is lost," Charles Caleb Colton said. Just like in any other relationship, arguments and fights are also part of friendship. You will hardly find friends who have never fought with one another. Whatever the reason is, if a person feels that he is responsible for causing the differences, it is important that he should apologize to his friend.
Though you can use the email, text messages or chat for expressing your apology, the good old way of saying sorry to your friend through a letter will surely have a great effect on him. This will make your friend realize that your efforts of saying sorry are genuine and that you really care about him.
Points to Remember:
Timing: Write the letter at the proper time. It is not advisable to put it off for too long.
Words: While you are writing the letter, what matters most is that you truly feel sorry.
Sequence: Always begin by apologizing and saying sorry for your mistake. Then explain to him your side of the story. In the third and last paragraph, talk about what his friendship means to you and make a promise of not repeating the mistake.
Delivery: You should either post the letter or deliver it personally or through someone else. You can also keep it at a location where your friend will be able to find it easily.
Some people may try to point out the friend's mistake while writing the letter. Avoid this completely, as it can make matters worse. The letter has to be brief and should only talk about the subject that has led to your apology. Keep patient and do not expect immediate results. In some cases, it may take time for the person to forgive and forget.
1. What is the author's purpose of mentioning the saying in the first paragraph?| A．To let readers study the famous saying. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| C．To show who is Charles Caleb Colton. |
| D．To tell readers the importance of health. |
| A．sincere | B．general |
| C．open | D．careful |
| A．Sending an email. | B．Sending text messages. |
| C．Chatting online. | D．Writing a letter. |
| A．Try to point out the friend's mistake. |
| B．Make the letter long and interesting. |
| C．Begin by apologizing and saying sorry for your mistake. |
| D．Write the importance of your friendship in the first paragraph. |
3 . Any actor would admit that it's tricky to play roles based on real people. They need to do mountains of research to make sure they're staying as true to life as possible. Besides, they try to add their own touches to the performance so that their work can be called their own.
American actor Andrew Garfield, 33, faced that dilemma when playing Desmond Doss in the film Hacksaw Ridge. Doss was a US army doctor during World War II who refused to carry a gun because of his beliefs, but saved 75 lives without firing a single shot. His actions made him the first conscientious objector —a person who objects to serving in the armed forces for moral or conscience reasons (基于道德或良心等原因)—to be presented with the Medal of Honor, the US's highest honor awarded for personal acts of bravery.
Garfield's first stage of research was to study as many documentaries of Doss he could get his hands on. But Garfield soon realized that he needed to learn not only the Doss' outer characteristics, but also “the deepest part of himself", he said. He traveled to Doss' hometown. The actor wanted to walk where Doss walked and handle the tools Doss handled, while all the time keeping in mind how the research would affect his performance.
"I don't think I could have gone too far in terms of getting to know who Doss was," Garfield said. "But it can't be an impression of him. That doesn't interest me. Garfield explains that it's like the difference between slipping into someone's clothes and stepping into their skin. Until he goes deep inside a role based on a real person, he doesn't feel he's done the work perfectly. And it's not until he fully understands the character that Garfield feels confident he can do the things asked of the role in the script (脚木)without hesitation or thought.
1. What makes it difficult for actors to play roles based on real people?| A．Copying the roles in appearance. | B．Masses of close touches with the roles. |
| C．Acting without their own feelings. | D．Lifelike performances with personal styles. |
| A．victory | B．failure |
| C．difficulty | D．celebration |
| A．To recognize his brave actions. | B．To attract people to join the army. |
| C．To admit the value of conscience. | D．To encourage doctors to follow his suit. |
| A．To meet Doss in person. | B．To do research on Doss early life. |
| C．To find out the insides of Doss. | D．To know about Doss' living conditions. |
4 . Nothing succeeds like success, as every parent of a straight-A student knows, but trying to stress academic excellence by telling your child, “You’re so smart!” may be counterproductive. Why? According to a 2017 study, children who think their intelligence is fixed are less likely to pay attention to and bounce back (重新振作) from mistakes than children who think intelligence can grow and change.
In the study, researchers looked at 123 children. The team assessed the children to determine whether they had a “growth mindset” (believing that you can work harder to get smarter), or a “fixed mindset” (believing that your intelligence is unable to change). They then asked the children to complete a fast-paced computer accuracy task while their brain activity was recorded. During the recording, researchers noted that brain activity stopped within a half-second after making a mistake, as children became aware of their mistake and paid closer attention to what went wrong. The larger the brain response was, the more the child focused on the mistake. Based on the data, they concluded that children with a “growth mindset” were much more likely to have a larger brain response after making a mistake. While children with a “fixed mindset” were able to "bounce back”, only if they gave their full attention to the mistake.
For parents, the lessons are clear: Don’t pay your children compliments that suggest that intelligence is fixed. If your child hands you an A⁺ score, don’t say, “You’re so smart!” Instead, say, “Wow, that studying really paid off!” or “You clearly mastered this material-way to go!” Note the effort, not the intelligence.
Besides, many parents shy away from addressing a child’s mistakes, telling them “It’s OK. You’ll get it the next time.” without offering them the chances to figure out what goes wrong. Instead, it’s better to reassure your children that mistakes happen, and work to figure out where and how they make the mistake.
1. Which of the following best explains “counterproductive” underlined in paragraph 1?| A．Opposite. | B．Competitive. |
| C．Successful. | D．Unknown. |
| A．They made fewer mistakes. |
| B．They tried to avoid mistakes. |
| C．They had smaller brain response. |
| D．They focused more on the mistake. |
| A．You are so careless. |
| B．Your studying paid off. |
| C．You’ll get it the next time. |
| D．Let’s find out how you made it. |
| A．Overstressing the intelligence. |
| B．Paying compliments to children. |
| C．Addressing children’s mistakes. |
| D．Offering chances to find mistakes. |
5 . Birds, butterflies, bats and bees are all pollinators(传粉者). However, bees are classified as the most important pollinators for the existence of plants and harvest of produce worldwide. They contribute a lot to the produce we harvest, both directly and indirectly.
There are about 20,000 bee species with the most popular being the honeybee. Kept in man- made beehives（蜂巢）, they are responsible for 30% of the food production chain for human consumption. In other words, without honeybees, there would it be 30% less produce for consumption.
Bees have four needs in order to survive and the most important one is having enough food. They should store enough food to get through the drought period. The other three are: approriate climate within the hive, proper living places and available nest-building materials.
However, in recent years, the number of bees is reducing considerably. There are many factors（因素）that can lead to this: the use of pesticides(杀虫剂), bacterial and parasitic infection and deforestation(滥砍滥伐). It’s a mixture of these factors that can cause the bee population to dwindle. The factors should be kept in mind in order to protect the bee populations.
In Aruba, there are many keepers called “Imkers”.Imkers are responsible for the production of honey, but they are also called when bees build nests in unwanted areas. They should carefully move the nest to other locations. There is a preservation program calld “Adopt-a-beehive” at the Cunucn Mondi Fierno. It encourages those who have an available place to make their place available for the temporary relocation of bee nests when needed. Donations are also welcome for this cause. Imkers play a very important role in protecting the bee populations.
The Department of Nature and the Environmentl calls for the relocation of the bee nests in a natural way, instead of ridding them with pesticides. Only by protecting the bees can we guarantee their existence and their help in the production of fruits and vegetables.
1. What do the figures in Paragraph 2 mainly indicate?| A．The variety of the honeybee. | B．The difference between bees. |
| C．The popularity of the honeybee. | D．The importance of the honeybee. |
| A．remain unstable | B．become smaller |
| C．expand rapidly | D．disappear completely |
| A．Relocating some bee nests. |
| B．Repairing nests for honeybees. |
| C．Keeping bee nests away from pests. |
| D．Seeking donations for bee protection. |
| A．To describe the roles of Imkers. |
| B．To present ways of protecting bees. |
| C．To introduce different functions of bees. |
| D．To stress the necessity of protecting bees. |
6 . When I first started using Chinese websites, I was a bit confused by their design. Popular sites like Taobao and Jingdong are very “busy”—they are covered in dozens of links and flashing banners(闪烁的横幅广告). They often include a wide variety of bright colors as well, contrasting with the simple colors of most Western websites
So why are Chinese sites designed this way? Some say that Chinese web design hasn’t “caught up” to standard Western web design practices. But I don’t think this quite explains it. Some Chinese sites are starting to look more minimal, such as Baidu, which are quite clean-looking.
A more convincing theory has to do with the Chinese language. There are no capital letters or spaces in Chinese writing—foreigners who are used to seeing these things might think that Chinese text looks very crowded.
Another thing that makes Chinese website look so busy is the large number of links. Some sites might have hundreds of links on their front page. Again, there is a language-related explanation.
It is difficult to type Chinese characters on a Roman alphabet-based keyboard. You have to type out each character using pinyin, which can be inconvenient. So it’s easier to just click the link you want, instead of typing what you’re looking for.
Or perhaps it could just be that sometimes people prefer flashy, busy websites. Browsing Jingdong is like stepping into a noisy, brightly-lit street market. So in this way, Chinese internet users might feel right at home when using these sites.
1. How does the author describe most Chinese websites?| A．They have many links. | B．They have simple designs. |
| C．They have simple colors. | D．They are quite clean-looking. |
| A．Because they haven't caught up with Western standards. |
| B．Because they are based on the use of the Roman alphabet. |
| C．To make them easier to use for Chinese speakers. |
| D．To create a noisy online street market. |
| A．Relaxing. | B．Popular. | C．Simple. | D．Flashy. |
7 . Despite the anxiety that the first digital novel caused in 1993, publishers weren’t too concerned that e-books would one day replace printed books. However, that attitude was changed suddenly in 2007 when Amazon Kindle came onto the market, which led to e-book sales jumping up to 1,260%. Since then, e-books’ popularity has continued to rise steadily. The publishing industry seemed to have lost all possible ability to regain its position. Will printed books eventually become a thing of the past? According to Mike Shatzkin, founder and CEO of the Idea Logical Company, printed books just for reading will, in 10 years from now, be unusual. “Not so unusual that a kid will say, ‘Mommy, what’s that?’ but unusual enough that on the train you’l see one or two people reading something printed, while everyone else is reading on a tablet computer screen.” And Shatzkin believes that the demise of print is sure to happen, though such a day won’t arrive for perhaps 50 to 100 or more years.
Robert Stein, founder of The Institute for the Future of the Book, however, believes that books won’t disappear entirely, at least not anytime soon. “Print will exist, and it may have an artistic value,” he says. He predicts that the distance between writers and readers will be made less obvious by a social reading experience in which authors and consumers can digitally interact with each other to discuss any passage, sentence or line.
Should print really disappear entirely? According to Maryanne Wolf, director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University, electronic reading can negatively affect the way the brain responds to the text, including reading comprehension and the ability to pay attention to details like the order of events. “My worry is that we’ll have a short-circuited(短路的) reading brain, excellent for gathering information but not necessarily for forming critical, analytical deep reading skills,” Wolf says. He hopes that we continue to keep a “bi-literate” society — one that values both the digital and printed words. “A full reading brain circuit is a huge contribution to the intellectual development of our species. Anything that threatens it deserves our attention.”
1. How did publishers feel about the rising e-book sales inspired by Amazon Kindle?| A．Worried. | B．Excited. |
| C．Curious. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．rise | B．death |
| C．adjustment | D．popularity |
| A．the artistic value |
| B．the digital interaction |
| C．the growing popularity |
| D．the traditional design |
| A．e-reading will strengthen the power of our brain |
| B．digital books and paper books should not coexist |
| C．e-reading will make us more critical and thoughtful |
| D．we should not risk losing a full reading brain circuit |
8 . It was not easy to buy a delicious pineapple more than 10 years ago. The fruits that made it to the UK were green on the outside and , more often than not, hard with an unpleasant taste within. Then in 1966, the Del Monte Gold pineapple produced in Hawaii first hit our shelves.
The new type of pineapple looked more yellowy-gold than green. It was slightly softer on the outside and had a lot of juice inside. But the most important thing about this new type of pineapple was that it was twice as sweet as the hit-and-miss pineapples we had known. In no time, the Del Monte Gold took the market by storm, rapidly becoming the world’s best-selling pineapple variety.
In nutrition it was all good news too. This nice tasting pineapple contained four times more vitamin C than the old green variety. Nutritionists said that it was not only full of vitamins, but also good against some diseases. People were eager to be able to buy this wonderful fruit. The new type of pineapple was selling fast, and the Del Monte Gold pineapple rapidly became a fixture in the shopping basket of the healthy eater.
Seeing the growing market for its winning pineapple, Del Monte tried to keep market to itself. But other fruit companies developed similar pineapples. Del Monte turned to law for help but failed. Those companies argued successfully that Del Monte’s attempts to keep the golden pineapple for itself were just a way to knock them out of the market.
1. Which of the following best describe the new type of pineapple?| A．It is green outside and sweet inside. | B．It is good-looking outside and soft inside. |
| C．It is a little soft outside and sweet inside. | D．It is yellowy-gold outside and hard inside. |
| A．It was used as medicine. | B．It was developed by Del Monte. |
| C．It was less sweet and good for health. | D．It was rich in nutrition and tasted nice. |
| A．Something that is always present. | B．Something that is difficult to get. |
| C．Something that people use as a gift. | D．Something that people don’t like eating. |
| A．Del Monte planned to help the other companies. |
| B．Del Monte tried hard to control the pineapple market. |
| C．Del Monte succeeded in keeping the pineapple for itself. |
| D．Del Monte slowed other companies to develop pineapples. |
9 . Tourism can be both good and bad. Yes, it brings in money for the local economy and creates lots of jobs for locals, but it may also bring some problems.
One growing problem is tourists who want to prove that they have visited someplace. Tourists have used paint, rocks, or even keys to write on the Luxor Temple in Egypt, the Colosseum in Rome, Stonehenge in the UK, memorial stones at the bottom of Qomolangma, and many, many other places. Thousands of tourists sites are being destroyed by tourists who “love them to death”. I have three words for people like this: please stop it. If you want to leave a mark on the world, do it by changing someone’s life with kindness and love. Pass kindness along to future generations, not destruction.
Another big problem in some places has been tourists disturbing the local people and life. Some tourists wander around and take pictures of local people without asking for their permission. For example, Chiang Mai University in Thailand and Yonsei University in South Korea have great numbers of tourists visiting their campuses and walking through their libraries and other public areas, taking pictures of students and disturbing their studies. I have three words for tourists like this: please be considerate. I have three words for people like this: please stop it.
The number of problems from tourists is endless: walking in large groups without considering others who need to walk by, crossing roads without observing local traffic laws, and many more. The only way to solve the issue of the terrible tourist is to make sure that you are not one! Be the best, kindest, most polite tourist possible. Remember, whenever you step outside your country’s borders, you are representing your country to the rest of the world.
1. What does the writer say is the only way to solve the problem of the terrible tourist?| A．Make sure that you are not one of those terrible tourist | B．Be the best and kindest tourist possible |
| C．Be the most polite tourist possible | D．All of the above |
| A．Impressing somebody. | B．Destroying something. |
| C．Annoying somebody. | D．Reviving someplace |
| A．As tourists, we can do what we like to do. |
| B．It is easy to solve the problems tourism brings. |
| C．Being taken photos makes local people happy. |
| D．Tourists have used paint, rocks or even keys to write on some attractions. |
| A．The number of problems from tourists is endless | B．Tourism brings some problems |
| C．Be a good tourist | D．Stop destroying |
10 . Gardening is popular in many parts of the world. This outdoor activity gives us beautiful plants, pleasant smelling flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables. And it also does a lot of good to our health.
Gardening connects people. When you are gardening, you are outdoors. So it is a perfect chance to meet and spend time with your neighbors. Most people love to talk about their hobbies, and gardeners are no different. They usually enjoy showing people what they are growing. And most of them enjoy sharing advice and stories about their gardens almost as much as sharing flowers and vegetables from their gardens.
Gardening is a great activity for children. It gets them outdoors and off computers, televisions and cell phones. Gardening is also a great teacher. It can teach a child about where food comes from and healthy eating. It also helps them to understand that the natural resources (资源) are not inexhaustible and the importance of using them carefully.
Then, when you garden, you must move around. All the different movements needed for gardening, like bending and lifting, work small muscles (肌肉) in the body. And you can easily get good exercise when you are digging holes or pulling grass.
In a study, researches looked at more than 2,800 people over the age of 60. They studied their life habits, activities and health over a 16-year period. They found that gardening could lower the risk of future dementia (痴呆) by 36%. Gardening requires people to do many repeated actions, such as picking off dying flowers. These actions have a calming influence on the brain. The brain is still active but not in the same way when we use computers.
You'll feel wonderful when what you grow in a garden looks, smells, feels and tastes good.
1. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?| A．Gardeners don't feel lonely. | B．Gardeners are fond of sharing. |
| C．Gardeners have many hobbies. | D．Gardeners care about the environment. |
| A．Useless. | B．Special. | C．Endless. | D．Cheap. |
| A．To tell us gardening is popular with the old. |
| B．To tell us gardening is good for health. |
| C．To tell us gardening can be a tiring activity. |
| D．To tell us gardening is better than playing computers. |
| A．To show how to garden. | B．To encourage us to garden. |
| C．To show gardening is popular. | D．To encourage us to do outdoor activities. |
