1 . Super Size Me

Fast food, otherwise known as junk food, is a huge passion for a large number of people across the Western world. But what would happen if you ate lots of junk food every day? Would it seriously damage your health? These were the questions which led Morgan Spurlock, an independent film-maker, to do an experiment, which he came into a documentary film entitled Super Size Me.

The main basis of his experiment was that Spurlock promised to eat three McDonald’s meals a day, every day, for a month. He could only eat food from McDonald’s and every time an employee asked if he would like to ‘super size’ the meal, he had to agree. ‘Super sizing’ refers to the fact that with this type of meal you get a considerably larger portion of everything for only a very small price increase.

Before he started, three doctors certified that Spurlock weighed about 84kg and was in good health. Although both Spurlock and his doctors knew he would put on a bit of weight, and that this diet was unhealthy, none of them were quite prepared for just how unhealthy it turned out to be. The changes in his body were horrifying. In the first week, he put on 4.5 kilos and by the end of the thirty days he had gained nearly 14 kilos, bringing his total weight to 98 kg.

Weight gain was only one of the negative effects, however. When all three doctors saw the severe damage to his liver, they all recommended stopping the experiment after 20 days. Spurlock continued to follow the diet, however, because he wanted to show people what this kind of diet can do to you. Watching the film, you begin to realize that it could be a fast-forward picture of your life: in 30 days you go to see what could happen to you over 20 or 30 years of overconsumption.

Junk food is exactly what it says it is -- junk. Spurlock says, ‘I’d love people to walk out of the movie and say, “Next time I’m not going to ‘super size’. Maybe I’m not going to have any junk food at all. I’m going to sit down and eat dinner with my kids, with the TV off, so that we can eat healthy food, talk about what we’re eating and have a relationship with each other.”’ Food for thought indeed.

1. In the one-month experiment, Spurlock ______.

A．ate three McDonald’s meals every day	B．could choose to “super size” his meal
C．got extra-large meals at a lower price	D．pretended to eat for better visual effect

2. How do we know that “The changes in his body were horrifying”?

A．He gained one sixth of his body weight in one week.

B．Doctors suggested him stopping the experiment halfway.

C．He fast-forwarded the video past the medical examination.

D．He turned out to be 20 or 30 years older than people of his age.

3. Spurlock made a documentary film, aiming to tell people that______.

A．human nature often drives us to desire more

B．how we eat is far more important than what we eat

C．overconsumption for a short time does little harm to the body

D．if we eat too much junk food, we ourselves will be supersized

2 . 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.

The Role of Siblings (兄弟姐妹)

It’s common knowledge that the family a child grows up in has a huge influence on the child’s attitudes, beliefs and mental health. People usually owe this influence to the child’s parents, but relationships with brothers and sisters are just as important.

During childhood, siblings see each other every day and spend more time with each other than anyone else,     1    (share) experiences that last all their lives. Siblings are also forced to persevere in their relationships with each other     2     they have some disagreement. This pushes children     3    (practice) conflict resolution skills since they cannot leave the familial relationship, as they could with a friend. But a sibling relationship also offers a safe place to discuss difficult topics     4     fear of abandonment.

Relationships between siblings vary depending on the ages and personalities of the children     5     (involve). Some children form close, unconditional friendships with their siblings     6     others compete with them. Older siblings often teach their younger brothers and sisters useful skills or give them advice, but they can also set bad examples,     7     (lead) their younger siblings to do things that are wrong or foolish.

Once children grow up, they do not see their siblings as often as before     8     they usually no longer live together. Maintaining sibling relationships now takes work, and if siblings do not get along, they can avoid each other. Sometimes siblings become estranged (疏远的),     9     can include everything from feeling distant or tense to having their WeChat Moments     10     (block) to each other. But many sibling relationships improve in young adulthood as the siblings mature. Sometimes the distance helps siblings enjoy other’s company when they do meet.

Siblings help shape each other’s lives, both as children and into adulthood, so taking the time to cultivate positive relationships with siblings is extremely important.

3 . The Fight against Fast Furniture

Fast furniture is a term that refers to furniture that is produced cheaply and quickly. These items are often bad for the environment because they are made from materials that break easily and need to be replaced often.     1    

To help protect the environment, a movement to move away from fast furniture has begun. Many companies are joining the fight by finding cleaner ways to manufacture furniture. For example, IKEA has agreed to switch to using renewable or recycled materials for their furniture by the year 2030.     2    

There is also a push to encourage shoppers to buy more used furniture for their homes. Small businesses that help transform old chairs and sofas into completely new products have even popped up recently. At the end of the day, consumers will play the most important role in the fight to end fast furniture. Shoppers should try to think more about the long term when preparing to purchase new furniture. They should stay away from furniture that is made from cheap materials like fiberboard or plastic because they will often fall apart after a few years.     3    

A much better alternative is furniture made from real wood because it won’t break as easily. If wood furniture is damaged, it can often be repaired to last longer. High-quality metals are another good material, as they are durable. If the furniture is no longer fit for use, these metals can still be recycled and used to make new products.

    4     So, the next time you buy furniture, think about whether it’s something that will last a long time or it’s just fast furniture that will break soon and go into the trash.

A．It has also designed a special program that lets people return used furniture pieces to its stores so they can be fixed and used again by consumers.

B．This would help to reduce overall waste, as it would extend the life cycle of old furniture items.

C．Although these items may cost less initially, they are more expensive because they will need to be replaced sooner than traditional pieces of furniture.

D．This creates a lot of pollution, as the furniture ends up buried in landfills where it can harm the soil.

E．Homeowners are looking for furniture that is kinder to the environment.

F．By choosing furniture that’s made to last, we can help reduce waste and protect the environment.

4 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Digital Nomads (游牧人)

How would you like to answer your work emails from a beachfront café in Thailand or a coffee shop in Portugal? If that appeals to you, being a digital nomad might be for you. Digital nomads can literally work from anywhere as their jobs are online. Digital nomads rely on portable devices with wireless Internet capabilities such as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Typically, they work from coffee shops, restaurants, co-working spaces, apartments or internet cafés — places with an Internet connection.

Worldwide, statistics show the number of digital nomads hit 35 million in 2021. So what is it that makes the lifestyle of digital nomads so fascinating? First and foremost, digital nomads get to live in different countries and cultures while they work, providing them with opportunities to have adventures and experience new things. These folks have also found the most flexible means of online incomes, allowing them to head out at a moment’ notice and go where they please. “I’m free,” says Nimisha Walji, “I can go where the wind takes me and live any place I choose! If I feel like a change, I can pursue that in a matter of days, sometimes hours.”

You may think that being a digital nomad is all sunshine and rainbows. It is not necessarily so. Job finding is one of the hardest tasks for the digital nomad, given that they have no permanent home, no office address, and no one knows them. To apply for a job, they need to find the employer and persuade him to hire them. Most of the employers hire from their own city, and that’s why it’s so hard for a nomad to find a job. Access to stable Wi-Fi and adequate workspace can be difficult. If someone struggles to stay focused at home, there can’t be a worse place than a fascinating holiday location. Few people can manage to be productive faced with the temptations and distractions. It seems that living the life of a digital nomad isn’t for everyone.       

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . PAUL HEMINGTON, 57, is the Assistant Operations Manager at Cheddar Gorge（切达峡谷） and Caves cheddargorge.co.uk

I moved to SOMERSET mainly for my family. My daughter was getting married and I didn’t want to live six hours away, so we made the move. Once we moved, we were made unneeded and it was a mad race to get work. I ended up at here at Cheddar Gorge and Caves.

Cheddar Gorge is like nothing else in the UK. It’s a unique phenomenon, because although there are other caves in the country, you don’t have the gorge elsewhere. This is a major geological feature, it’s three miles long and there’s just this natural, raw beauty. I can sit at my desk in guest services and look out at part of the gorge. It’s amazing.

The Cheddar Gorge spirit is strong. You know, not having worked here or heard about the area, you come here and it gets under your skin in the right way. You become part of it, it becomes part of you. I’m very passionate about it. And there’s the amazing wildlife, the geology, the prehistory — Cheddar Man is still one of the greatest finds in the UK.

Every day at Cheddar Gorge and Caves is different. You’ve got the rock sports side of things, the climbing, the caving. We take people through the caves on tours and we have pre-history, which we do with the museum, whereby we have schools come in and do demonstrations with them. We will dress up as genuinely as we can to reproduce the time period of the Cheddar Man, which is the Mesolithic period, so 10,000 years ago. We do fire lighting, for example, and hopefully it’s inspiring to the young people! It’s really cool to be in the museum garden and have part of the gorge as the background while you’re doing it, so you can really submerge yourself in that moment.

My favourite spot is when you go past the peak on the walk and you can look back down into the gorge or across to the reservoir. The view is amazing. Yes, you can see pictures of it, but honestly you have to be there to fully appreciate it. You might hear some buzzards or see some sheep or goats while you’re up there, just to enhance the experience!

1. PAUL HEMINGTON originally moved to Cheddar Gorge to __________.

A．settle down in the countryside	B．be closer to his daughter
C．land a job as a tour guide	D．take part in a competitive race

2. The underlined phrase “gets under your skin” is closest in meaning to _________.

A．affects you deeply	B．bothers you greatly
C．increases your strength	D．improves your skin condition

3. Which of the following falls into Paul’s job descriptions?

A．He goes to the school to give lectures on pre-history.

B．He demonstrates to young people how to climb rocks.

C．He participates in recreating the scenes in the Mesolithic period.

D．He decorates the museum garden to make it look like the gorge.

4. What does PAUL HEMINGTON talk about in this article?

A．How he adapts to the local way of life.

B．What major local attractions are worth seeing.

C．Why Cheddar Gorge ranks first as a natural wonder.

D．What makes Cheddar Gorge so special to him.

6 . 4 Ways to Get That Vacation Feeling in Two Days

Going on vacation every week? It might sound like the _________ dream. But a simple mindset _________ can make it happen—no travel involved.

A few years ago, Holmes and her colleagues began _________ the importance of taking vacations. In a series of experiments, Holmes’ team _________ 441 U.S. workers to either spend the weekend like any other, or treat it like a vacation. When they were back at work on Monday, people who had adopted a vacation mindset reported being happier and less stressed.

“What was somewhat surprising is that the effect wasn’t driven by people spending time all that _________,” Holmes says. “It was this mindset that allowed them to be more present, _________ being in “doing” mode, it allowed people to settle in and be in the moment.

We asked people to share their favorite tips for adopting a vacation mindset at home.

1. Get creative about _________ time

Not everyone has Saturday and Sunday off work and actually some people often find their weekend schedules fully _________. You could still apply the philosophy. For example, devote an hour on Sunday morning to the _________, but protect the rest of the weekend as your vacation time.

2. Reflect on priorities

Focus on what makes a vacation different from a __________ weekend. “Does it mean turning off your email notifications? Spending money carelessly? “Maybe it means being able to spend time with people you don’t normally get to see, or giving yourself a break on a workout,” Holmes says. “It’s helpful to make a list of those things and be able to __________.”

3. Act like a __________

Decision scientist Nika Kabiri recommends doing something totally new so you can disconnect from the same old routines __________ your life. Among her favorite ideas: Drive to a part of town you’ve never been to before, go for a stroll, and grab lunch at the first cute café you see. “The spontaneity（自发性）is what makes experiences like this feel vacation-like,” Kabiri says.

4. Don’t put extra pressure on yourself

Treating your weekend like a vacation doesn’t mean it needs to be a complicated affair. If your “vacation” encounters a few problems or lasts for only a few hours—don’t worry. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” Kabiri says. “Don’t put pressure on yourself to have this ‘perfect vacation.’” It’s __________ to be fun. __________, there’s always another one just a few days away.

1.

A．unattainable

B．inharmonious

C．incomplete

D．unprofessional

2.

A．study

B．shift

C．trend

D．proposal

3.

A．representing

B．ranking

C．exploring

D．predicting

4.

A．persuaded

B．challenged

C．motivated

D．instructed

5.

A．practically

B．literally

C．identically

D．differently

6.

A．In light of

B．Regardless of

C．In favor of

D．Instead of

7.

A．telling

B．killing

C．making

D．changing

8.

A．cleared

B．packed

C．removed

D．dominated

9.

A．laundry

B．recreation

C．movies

D．picnic

10.

A．regular

B．dramatic

C．primitive

D．peaceful

11.

A．identify with

B．depend on

C．follow through

D．substitute for

12.

A．resident

B．master

C．tourist

D．neighbor

13.

A．facilitating

B．governing

C．revealing

D．polishing

14.

A．proved

B．defined

C．described

D．meant

15.

A．Plus

B．Hence

C．Still

D．Finally

7 . 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.

A.wrestling   B. approaches   C. preoccupied D. experimenting   E. dynamically F. bound   G. moderate   H. applies   I. inadequate   J. unitedly     K. integrity

Dare to be Dull

A big part of why spontaneous (即兴的) speaking feels so challenging is the desire to always say the right thing in the right way at the right time. But that leads to unnecessary self-evaluation and criticism, consuming precious mental energy and preventing you from     1     engaging in the moment. I often advise people to follow a spontaneous comedy saying: “Dare to be dull.” That is, don’t feel you are       2     to give an exceptional performance. Recognize that there is no single “correct” way to answer a question, give feedback or welcome a colleague —only better or worse       3    .

Another popular saying also       4     here: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Listeners are more likely to trust you when you speak like a man of       5     rather than an actor or a robot. For example, research shows that the most effective speech includes     6     use of fillers such as “um” and “ah.” So when you need to speak spontaneously, refocus your attention on your listeners instead of       7     with your inner critic. Attempting to serve their needs will take your mental spotlight off yourself, relieving the pressure you feel. Tell yourself that     8    , making mistakes, and learning during spontaneous interactions are normal.

Micah, a student of mine, was fearful that his class contributions would be seen as     9    . To avoid embarrassment, he planned and rehearsed the points he wanted to make. But because he was always working to remember them and find the right time to use them, he was     10     and failed to get the most out of discussions. With my help he focused on silencing his inner critic. He began offering more ideas, sometimes imperfectly formed, and in just a few weeks he became less anxious and more confident.

8 . 听下面一段对话，回答以下小题。1.

A．Too much traffic.

B．Too many people.

C．Cold temperature outdoors.

D．No food or drinks available.

2.

A．Watch a football game.

B．Watch a display of fireworks.

C．Go for a picnic in the park.

D．Go to the gym for a workout.

3.

A．She sneezes when exposed to grass.

B．She is quiet when watching a game.

C．She is a huge football fan.

D．She loves classical music.

4.

A．Archie is good at arguing with others.

B．Archie always has his way in the end.

C．Sophie is considerate of others’ feelings.

D．Sophie is good at making up excuses.

9 . Making a Backup Plan Weakens Performance

There are certainly important benefits to making backup plans. One is the psychological comfort it brings: People think, “I’m going to be Okay, even if I fail because I can then do X or Y.” Another benefit is that if you fail, you won’t keep thinking about it; you can quickly implement your backup plan.     1     Jihae Shin of Wisconsin School of Business believes that acknowledging the costs and benefits can lead to better and more informed decision making.

She gave 160 university students a sentence-unscrambling (理清句子) task and promised an energy bar to those who performed it well.     2     People encouraged to think about those backup plans unscrambled significantly fewer sentences on average than people who hadn’t been asked to formulate a plan B.

In the follow-up experiment, Shin took the same approach but offered people different rewards — an extra dollar. “We think that when achieving a goal requires work, not luck, making a backup plan can hurt performance by reducing the desire for the goal.” said professor Shin. “In the third study in which participants were asked about how much they wanted the promised reward of one dollar, those who had been asked to think through backup plans reported that they wanted the cash less than others.     3     So they put in less effort which hurt their results.

The participants in the lab studies spent less than 10 minutes, thinking about their backup plans -- a tiny investment of their attention -- yet it significantly affected their motivation and performance on goal pursuit. In real life when the stakes are higher, people would be expected to devote more time and energy to mapping out the detailed backup plans.     4    

The practical advice from the researchers is: Hold off on making back up plans until you’ve put as much effort as possible into your primary goal.

A．As that reduces effort over a sustained period, it could result in even more significant negative effects.

B．Before receiving the text, half the participants were asked to think about the different ways they could obtain free food, should they fail to earn the snack.

C．But participants asked to brainstorm other things before unscrambling sentences did just fine.

D．However, the costs of making backup plans haven’t previously been examined.

E．If you prepare for failure, you may be more likely to fail.

F．They might not have been aware of this shift in their mindset while working, but they were less motivated.

10 .

Fellowships for Postdoctoral Scholars AT WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION Scholarships designed to extend the education and training of the applicants and to advance their research careers are available to new or recent doctoral graduates in diverse areas of research.

Applications will be accepted from doctoral recipients with research interests associated with the following Departments: ·APPLIED OCEAN PHYSICS & ENGINEERING ·MARINE CHEMISTRY AND GEOCHEMISTRY ·PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY ·GEOLOGY & GEOPHYSICS ·BIOLOGY Interdepartmental research, including with the Marine Policy Center, is also encouraged. Applications will also be accepted from those with research interests on the following: ·USGS/WHOI-   areas of common interest between USGS and WHOI Scientific Staff. The individual will interact with both USGS and WHOI based advisors on their research. Criteria for awards include demonstrated research independence, productivity and novelty, and community service including contributions to making ocean sciences and engineering more diverse and welcoming. Scholarships are awarded for 18-month appointments（$68,500 annually, plus a health and welfare allowance; a travel allowance; and a research budget）.

Recipients are encouraged to pursue their own research interest supervised by resident staff. Communication with potential WHOI advisors prior to submitting an application is encouraged. COMPLETED APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY OCTOBER 15, 2023, to start any time after January 1, 2024 and before December 1, 2024. Awards will be announced in December. Further information about the Scholarships and application forms as well as links to the individual Departments and their research themes may be obtained at: https://go.whoi.edu/pdscholarship A goal of the Postdoctoral Scholar Program is the long-term broadening of participation in ocean science and engineering: women, minorities, veterans, those with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply. WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

1. What can be learned about the Postdoctoral Scholar Program?

A．Women applicants are more likely to be considered than men applicants.

B．Applicants whose research is independent and original will be given priority.

C．All applicants must agree to work with the Marine Policy Center.

D．Applicants without a degree in engineering will be rejected.

2. The earliest time for the scholarship recipient to start the research work is _________.

A．October 15, 2023	B．January 1, 2024
C．December 1, 2024	D．December 12, 2023

3. The scholarship recipient will be able to ________.

A．get a health and welfare allowance of $70,000 a year

B．use the database at http://go.whoi.edu/pdscholarship

C．appoint any WHOI advisor as his/her research partner

D．do research under the guidance of resident staff at WHOI