1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fil in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

People regularly engage in “presenteeism”—going to work while ill. It’s the opposite of absenteeism.

On the face of it, being sick at work might sound like     1     employers might favor, with some work preferable to none at all. Besides, such employees display a strong ethic, job dedication and loyalty. But research generally finds health consequences for present-but-ill employees, with higher medical costs and greater reductions in productivity than absenteeism would cause.

Employees who recover at home are     2    (productive) than persistently ill employees struggling at work     3    (meet) job demands, research shows.

“Organizations need to think about this, develop policies and get first-level managers     4    (involve) who are closest to the probably sick employees,” said Gary Johns, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal. He’s reviewed the academic literature addressing corporate and employee impacts     5     presenteeism.

“Giving employees accommodation and support can be good all the way around,” he said, “They are under so much pressure to go to work     6     they are polluting the place or are affecting their own health downstream. But this needs     7    (manage) so you do not burn people out physically and abuse them and create problems. It takes a sensitive hand.” he said.

Ill employees make more mistakes, communicate less effectively and produce lower quality work. Presenteeism among pharmacists, one study found,     8    (result) in more prescription errors. Nevertheless,     9     practising absenteeism, medical workers tend to be on the job, even with contagious illnesses.

Job insecurity, strict attendance policies, teamwork, demanding clients and     10     positive attendance culture are among the factors promoting presenteeism. That, in turn can worsen existing medical conditions, damage the quality of life and lead to impressions of ineffectiveness because of declines in productivity.

2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.breakdown               B.masterpieces          C.committed                 D. reduced          E.extreme   F.allowances G.memorable       H.security       I.   attribute          J.tribute        K.conducted

The little thief: How Charlie Chaplin survived his hungry childhood

A recently unearthed interview with an old friend recalls how the actor was looked after by a kindly ‘foster mother’ who made sure he did the right thing.

The     1     poverty endured by Charlie Chaplin while growing up in the slums (贫民窟) of Victorian London    2    him to stealing and being scolded by the woman who took care of him, according to an interview with one of his childhood friends that has remained unheard in the British Film Institute for almost 40 years.

Effie Wisdom, whose aunt gave him a home from home when he needed it most, lamented that Chaplin “had a terrible life” as a child, “always hungry”, dressed in “ragged”, filthy clothes - no doubt later inspiring the comic genius who created the Tramp, society’s eternal victim and one of cinema’s most     3     characters.

In 1983, aged 92, Wisdom gave an interview in which she recalled first meeting Chaplin when he was five and she was seven, with her aunt becoming his “foster mother”, as he used to tell her.

She recalled: “My aunt used to feed him because there was no social    4     in those days, no free milk, no children’s     5    , nothing. You never starved and yet you were on the breadline.”

“He used to go up Lambeth Walk and pinch . He’d come home with four eggs one day in his pocket. He came home with a pair of boots one day he’d nicked.”

Her aunt scolded him: “Do you want me to get the police? If you go on doing this, you’ll be locked up. You realize that, don’t you?”

The interview was     6    by Kevin Brownlow, one of Britain’s leading experts in silent films after researching Unknown Chaplin, the acclaimed three-part 1983 documentary series that he made with David Gill. It has been stored in the British Film Institute’s archive (档案) ever since.

Chaplin’s parents were music-hall performers and his mother was abandoned by her husband. His mother was then    7    to an asylum (精神病院).

After Chaplin’s death in 1977, Wisdom had written to his widow (遗孀), with memories of his mother’s desperate concern for her sons, Charlie and Sydney “I told Lady Chaplin I knew Charlie when he was a little boy. I used to play with him out in the street. When his mother had a nervous    8    , she said to my aunt, ‘If I had to go away, you wouldn’t let my lovely sons go into an orphanage?’ My aunt said, ‘No, I’ll look after them, don’t you worry’. My aunt looked after them, fed them and clothed them.”

Chaplin never forgot that. Wisdom paid     9    to his generosity towards her after finding success in America: “He used to send my aunt so much money because she used to look after him.”He also wrote to her.

Chaplin, with his derby hat (圆顶窄边礼帽)，toothbrush moustache and impossibly large boots, was the protagonist in such    10    as City Lights, The Great Dictator and Limelight.

Wisdom, who left school at 13 and worked in a London pub into her 80s, recalled his natural comedic talent, “He was always falling about being funny. He’d get an old table out in the yard, and he’d get all the kids in there, and get up there, put an old pair of trousers on, an old coat and a stick when he was 12. The kids loved that, he used to fall off the table, then he’d get up.” But she joked: “I never thought he’d get to where he got.”

She remembered him writing to her aunt from America, telling her that he would visit on his return to England: “He said, I’m not like when I left England with nothing. I’m going on to be a rich man.”

She added that Chaplin stayed at the Ritz (一家豪华酒店) and turned up at his aunt’s home in-a chauffeur (私人司机)-driven Rolls-Royce: “He invited my aunt and my uncle and me to the Ritz. My aunt says to me, ‘Of course I’d never been in a place like that’.”

From the Gardian

3 . Directions: After reading the passages below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

People who eat breakfast high in refined carbs rated less attractive

If you want to look your best in the morning, it may be worth swapping the ultra-processed pastries and fruit juice for wholemeal toast and tea without sugar. Researchers in France found that people who ate a breakfast rich in refined carbohydrates were rated less attractive than     1     who started the day with healthier unrefined carbs.

Scientists at the University of Montpellier believe the subtle shift in facial attractiveness may be driven by changes in blood sugar and insulin    2     can affect skin appearance and have longer-term effects on sex hormones.

“It’s surprising to consider but our dietary choices can have rapid effects on our appearance,” said Dr Claire Berticat, an evolutionary biologist and the first author on the study. “These physiological changes could subtly alter facial features, impacting     3     others perceive attractiveness.”

The researchers recruited 52 men and 52 women     4     (age) 20 to 30 and randomly assigned them to have a 500-calorie breakfast rich in either refined or unrefined carbohydrates. The refined carbs breakfast    5     (include) a French baguette made from industrially milled flour, jam, apple or orange juice, and tea or coffee with sugar available. The unrefined carbs meal was stoneground whole meal bread with butter and cheese, an orange or apple, and tea or coffee without sugar.

The scientists measured blood sugar levels of volunteers before and after they ate and then took headshots of the participants under controlled lighting conditions. The photos were then passed to groups of raters to estimate how old, how masculine or feminine and how attractive the individuals looked.

    6     (write) in Plos One, the researchers claim that eating refined carbohydrates for breakfast decreased facial attractiveness for men and women, though the longer-term effects of eating such foods, gleaned from questionnaires completed by the volunteers, were more complicated.

“The effect varies by gender and meal type, underscoring the complex relationship between diet and attractiveness,” Berticat said. “Our findings serve as a     7     (compel) reminder of the far-reaching impact of dietary choices not only on health but also on traits having particular social importance    8    facial attractiveness.”

Refined carbohydrates can produce spikes in blood sugar, which the body counters by releasing insulin. The response can drive sugar levels too low, a condition called hypoglycaemia, and affect blood flow and skin appearance. In the study, only the refined carbs breakfast produced hypoglycaemia.

David Perrett, a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews, who has studied facial cues for health, said there should be no surprise     9     diet affects attractiveness. Fruit and vegetables improved attractiveness by increasing plant pigments called carotenoids in the skin, he said,     10     high-sugar diets could age the skin.

From: The Guardian

4 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。1.

A．It was on a cross street.	B．They had no time to see it.
C．It had no parking space.	D．They weren’t in favour of it.

2.

A．It is too small in size.	B．It blocks the air-conditioner.
C．It admits heat from the late afternoon sun.	D．It stops the sun beating down on the curtains.

3.

A．Parking and desk space.	B．Parking and air-conditioning.
C．Privacy and cleanliness.	D．A cheerful kitchen and a separate dining area.

4.

A．The one on 68th Street.	B．The one on 72nd Street.
C．The one on 88th Street.	D．The one on 80th Street.

5 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．They want to eat in a fashionable way like young people.

B．They prefer to eat food that is tastier and more widely accepted.

C．They become aware of the harm processed foods do to health.

D．They try to change their way of processing foods little by little.

2.

A．They contain not too many chemical additives.

B．They are cultivated in the soil rich in organic matters.

C．They produce as many calories as processed foods.

D．They are usually grown in commercial farming areas.

3.

A．They are allowed to move about and eat freely.

B．They are tasty though kept in the crowded building.

C．They can hardly grow in a healthy way without good food.

D．They produce eggs which usually contain important vitamins..

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．To explain a new requirement for graduation.

B．To interest students in a community service project.

C．To discuss the problems of elementary school students.

D．To involve elementary school teachers in a special program.

2.

A．Providing jobs for graduating students.

B．Helping education majors prepare for final exams.

C．Offering tutorials to elementary school students.

D．Funding for a community service project.

3.

A．He teaches part-time in a local elementary school.

B．He observes elementary school students in the classroom.

C．He helps students who need consult prepare their resume.

D．He gives support to students who participate in a special program.

7 . The HISTORY Channel series Alone drops contestants into some of the planet’s most punishing environments, with a bare minimum of clothing, safety and survival gear. In their battle against the elements, contestants are forced to use their fitness, their courage and their creativity to become true survivalists.

Few people choose to be thrown into such extreme situations, but those who do have usually stumbled into some immense bad luck. Just check out one of the famous real-life survival stories:

Mauro Prosperi is an Italian police officer who gained worldwide fame after getting lost in the Sahara Desert in 1994. A keen athlete and long-distance runner, Mauro took part in the 1994 Marathon of the Sands in Morocco, a six-day-long endurance race in one of the driest and barren environments on the planet.

During the race, a sandstorm caused Prosperi, then 39 years old, married and father to three children, to become disoriented. One day after going off track, he found himself in an abandoned Muslim temple in Algeria. In order to survive, he killed and ate bats. For liquid, he was forced to drink his own waste, lick dew off of rocks and suck moisture out of his wet wipes.

Assuming he would never be found, he cut his wrists with a pen knife from his supplies. However, it was such a dry heat that the wounds thickened and concreted, and he was forced to go back into the desert and attempt to find help.

For nine days he walked through the desert and ate insects and cold-blooded animals. Finally, he found a small village. From there he was flown to a hospital, where doctors said his liver had almost completely failed.

Having traveled 180 miles in all, Prosperi lost 35 pounds in body weight during his severe suffering in the desert; it took several months before he could eat solid food again. But he has remained an enthusiastic runner and even returned and completed the race in 2012.

1. Prosperi have to discontinue the Marathon of the Sands because ______.

A．his supplies were running out

B．his children didn’t want to lose him

C．he lost his way for the bad weather

D．he couldn’t tolerate the extreme heat

2. What caused Mauro Prosperi to head back to the desert for help?

A．His intention to heal the wound.	B．His failure to take away his own life.
C．His decreasing interest in food sources.	D．His discomfort with the temple environment.

3. According to the passage, what can be inferred about Mauro Prosperi’s experience?

A．He found an alternative source of water in a traditional way.

B．He demonstrated the determination to survive all the way through.

C．His story was a proof of the worsening relationship between man and nature.

D．His eventual return to the race signified his persistence.

4. What is the primary purpose of the passage?

A．To entertain readers with an awe-inspiring fictional adventure story.

B．To educate readers about the possible dangers of punishing environments.

C．To inspire readers with human’s ability to survive the extreme challenges.

D．To remind readers of the value of essential survival skills and preparedness.

8 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

reflect               B. survival            C. horizon             D. contributors       E. success F. informed       G. collective            H. claims             I. tends              J. communication       K. revolutionized

Food is personal – it reflects our cultural background, lifestyles, values and purchasing power. Food is essential to our     1    : it largely determines our health and well-being. In today’s globalized and rapidly urbanizing world, what we eat is changing. Food systems are changing and becoming increasingly complex and this     2     to create uncertainty and concern for us as consumers. It is critical that civil society representatives and governments     3     on how they engage with consumers to “demystify” the global food system, understand consumers’ views and concerns, provide reliable information to guide healthy and safe food choices and create conditions that enable constructive dialogue and trust.

Unsafe food and unhealthy dietary choices are considered major     4     to the global burden of disease. Our behaviours as consumers can lessen risks of unhealthy diets.     5     consumers are willing to increase their consumption of nutritious foods, providing they are affordable and available, but there has been less     6     in persuading consumers to avoid unhealthy food. Governments, civil society groups and progressive elements of the food industry all have an interest in influencing consumer choices to optimize health. Consumers have the power to drive change. For a growing number, food choices are not only about their own health but about that of future generations and the planet, including the impact on climate change. By turning this     7     interest into action, more consumers can be empowered to make food choices that are good for their health and well-being and the world we live in.

Information tools have been     8     in recent years with the Internet and social media becoming important sources of information but also misinformation. The traditional tools to inform consumers about food and risk – such as labelling, brochures, radio, TV programs, workshops – can be complemented (补充) with innovative     9     tools, which also allow for dialogue and consumer engagement, enhance transparency and accountability and facilitate learning and behaviour change.

Our confidence, as consumers, in regulators and in the management of food systems is more important than ever given the sustainability challenges that lie ahead and the innovations on the         10    .

9 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Talking With — Not Just to — Kids Powers How They Learn Language

Children from the poorer families begin life not only with material disadvantages but cognitive ones. Research for decades    1     (confirm) this, including a famous 1995 finding by psychologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley: By age four children raised in poverty have heard 30 million fewer words, on average, than their peers from wealthier families. That gap has been linked to shakier language skills at the start of school,     2    , in turn, predicts weaker academic performance.

But just the quantity of words a child hears is not the most significant influence on language acquisition. Growing evidence has led researchers     3     (conclude) quality matters more than quantity, and the most valuable quality seems to be back-and-forth communication — what researchers call conversational turns.

A paper     4     (publish) last week in Psychological Science brings a new kind of support to this idea, offering the first evidence that these exchanges play a vital role in the development of Broca’s area, the brain region most closely associated with     5    (produce) speech. Further, the amount of conversational turns a child experiences daily outweighs socioeconomic status in predicting both the activity in Broca’s area and the child’s language skills.

The researchers confirmed the classic 1995 finding that, overall, kids from wealthier families hear more words. And small     6     their sample was, they even confirmed the 30-million-word gap between the poorest and richest children. But they found that “by far     7     (big) driver for brain development was not the number of words spoken but the conversations,” Gabrieli says.

The researchers calculated that a child’s verbal ability score increased     8     one point for every additional 11 conversational exchanges per hour.

The study is a “very, very important” addition to a growing body of work, says developmental psychologist Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University. “We have known for quite a while that conversational turns — or     9     in my work we call conversational duets — are very important for building a foundation for language and maybe for learning generally. What remains to be done is to link it     10     we know it has to be linked.”

10 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。1.

A．How to book a movie ticket.	B．Whom to see a movie with.
C．Whether to see a movie.	D．Where to see a movie.

2.

A．It has been widely criticized.	B．It has received good comments.
C．It has a totally different style.	D．It has been reviewed many times.

3.

A．It creates better atmosphere.	B．He likes the company of strangers.
C．It is much more relaxing.	D．He dislikes Marvel’s old movies.

4.

A．She felt very tired.	B．She tried to avoid the tall guy.
C．She needed some sleep.	D．She’d like to see the tiny details.