1 . In an era when many parents make efforts to ensure that boys and girls have equal opportunities, a recent study found that boys are paid twice as much allowance (零花钱) as girls for doing weekly chores.

An analysis of 10,000 families across the US showed that boys earned an average of $13.80 (92 yuan) each week compared with $6.71 earned by girls, according to BusyKid, a web platform that allows kids to receive, spend, or invest their allowance.

“I think this is a wake-up call for parents to realize what they are paying, to make sure they are being as fair as possible,” said Gregg Murset, CEO of BusyKid.

According to the analysis, boys averaged more allowance than girls because they were more often assigned chores considered more physically difficult, including cutting the grass. Girls, meanwhile, were more often paid for jobs such as loading the dishwasher. Boys also earned more money because they were paid for things girls were not paid for at all, including showering and brushing their teeth.

In Illinois, Vaishali Patel tries hard to teach her two children that gender shouldn’t determine what chores they are assigned or what activities they choose. The parents don’t pay their children an allowance, and instead expect them to help with all jobs around the house.

But Patel said the children still pick up on old-fashioned gender stereotypes (刻板印象) from elsewhere, like when they tell their son to try dance classes in addition to the sports he plays.   

“He’s like, ‘No way am I doing that’,” said Patel. “Some of that is really hard to influence.”

Barbara Risman, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that while Americans have come a long way in terms of offering more equal opportunities for men and women, changing mindsets (心态) forever takes even more time.

1. According to the analysis, how much do girls earn on average every day in the US?

A．＄6.71.

B．＄0.96.

C．＄13.80.

D．＄1.97.

2. What is one of the reasons boys earn more allowance than girls?

A．They do less work.

B．They have no gender stereotypes.

C．Most people think their task takes little effort.

D．They can do more physically difficult chores.

3. From Barbara Risman’s idea, how can women and men be offered equal opportunities?

A．Changing mindsets all the time.

B．Updating attitudes over a short time.

C．Breaking old-fashioned gender stereotypes.

D．Providing different chances for different genders.

4. What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Paying equally.

B．The ways to get more allowance.

C．Differences between two different genders.

D．Boys should have more allowance than girls.

2 . Some roboticists believe robots can actually solve some of our biggest social problems, including loneliness and dementia (痴呆).

In 2019, Japanese robotics company GrooveX introduced LOVOT, a robot that weighs as much as a baby and looks like a mix between a penguin and a bear. In fact, LOVOT is just one of the latest robots meant to help people who are suffering from issues such as loneliness and dementia.

LOVOT has a system of sensors that allows it to move freely around a room and respond to things. For example, they will get its belly rubbed or fall asleep when it’s held. Also, when LOVOT needs a hug, it will find its owner in the house and wait until it is picked up. All over the world, robots like LOVOT are being used for “robot-assisted therapy (治疗)”. For example, when a robot baby seal named PARO was given to an elderly Australian patient with dementia, the patient spoke for the first time since arriving at the nursing facility. In New Zealand, when dementia patients were given the chance to play with PARO or a real dog, they chose to play with PARO.

The invention of robots like LOVOT and PARO is no accident. Our society is quickly changing, and some countries are becoming “aging societies”. Sometimes, these older populations don’t have enough love or companionship in their life, and their age or health might mean they can’t care for a pet. That’s why LOVOT and PARO could be the perfect companions for both young and old folks, always ready to give love without ever asking or anything in return.

1. Which of the following is a feature of LOVOT?

A．It offers help to all people.	B．Its weight is as heavy as a bear.
C．It is recommended by GrooveX.	D．Its appearance is just like a penguin.

2. What does the underlined word “robot-assisted” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Helped by robots.	B．Destroyed by robots.
C．Trained by robots.	D．Completed by robots.

3. What is PARO according to the passage?

A．A robot baby dog that looks like a real dog.

B．A robot baby seal that helps the patients with dementia.

C．A robot baby bear that is used for “robot-assisted therapy”.

D．A robot baby animal that cured an elderly Australian patient with dementia.

4. Why are LOVOT and PARO loved by many people?

A．Because they are robots.	B．Because they are attractive.
C．Because they lack company.	D．Because they are needed by the society.

3 . The word addiction usually makes you think of alcohol or drugs, but in modern-day society we are seeing some new kinds of addictions. Some people are compulsive (难以自制的) shoppers. Others find it impossible to pull themselves away from their work.     1    

Over the years, shopping has become a very common activity. Many people enjoy going to malls or stores more and more every day, but it’s more than a common hobby for some of them. They have turned into shopaholics.     2     They are hooked on (迷上) shopping and usually buy things that they don’t need. Even though they don’t have enough money, they buy everything they want.

    3     There isn’t a specific answer. Some people go shopping when they are sad, worried, upset or lonely and they want to feel better. They use this activity as a way to forget their problems. Shopaholics say that they feel more important and better after they buy something. They also tend to have this addiction when they feel guilty.

    4     Some of them can be psychological. If this is the case, people addicted to shopping should go to a support group to help them break this habit. However, the process, like for most addictions, is long, and they suffer a lot.     5     They just think about satisfying their feelings, so they spend money they don’t have. They get deep in debt, and they can even go bankrupt (破产) and get sent to prison.

A．Shopaholism seems to be a harmless addiction, but it can result in many problems.

B．Still others spend countless hours watching TV or playing computer games.

C．They are people who simply enjoy shopping and walking around spending money without being able to stop doing it.

D．The question is: why do they have this addiction?

E．It can also cause financial problems.

F．Accordingly, these shopaholics should turn to a certain organization for help so that they can stop compulsive shopping.

G．Here are some ways to help you deal with shopping addiction.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Chinese war film The Battle at Lake Changjin     1     (arouse) enthusiastic discussion on Chinese social media since it debuted around the country on September 30.

The film tells the story about how Chinese People's Volunteer soldiers held their ground during fierce cold and the enemy's more     2     (advance) weapons. However, the real battlefield is far     3     impressive. Changjin Lake     4     (locate) in North Korea. The war was     5     in severely cold winter with temperature of around -40℃. CPV soldiers did not only need to fight against enemies, but had to battle over the nature with their strong will. Chinese People's Volunteer Army won the battle by     6     (fight) against impossible odds. The Battle of Changjin Lake became a critical moment in the war. It is not the film itself but the     7     (hero) of the war years who fought     8     (bloody) for our country and the people     9     make people moved

Song Zhongping,     10     military expert and TV commentator, emphasized that the film shows that the Chinese people don't provoke troubles, but never flinch(退缩) when troubles come their way and are able to defeat provocations.(挑衅)

6 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is the woman doing ?

A．Feeding the bees.

B．Taking a trip.

C．Hosting a program.

2. What does the woman say about the place ?

A．It ' s remote.

B．It ’ s quiet

C．It ’s popular.

3. What did the woman do yesterday ?

A．She had a party.

B．She bought a gift.

C．She took a flight.

7 . Where are the speakers ?

A．At an airport.

B．At a bus stop.

C．At a train station

8 . Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers.     1     By tracking people’s e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.

“The ‘if it bleeds’ rule works for mass media,” says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “    2     But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don’t want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.”

Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication—e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations—found that it tended to be more positive than negative.     3     Then was positive news shared more often because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times’ website. He and a Penn colleague analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles.     4    

Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that arouse (激发) feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad.     5     The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, “Why Things Catch On.”

A．They catch your attention and involve you in discussion.

B．They want your eyeballs but don’t care how you’re feeling.

C．Yet, that didn’t necessarily mean people preferred positive news.

D．The best articles are just like magnets, dragging readers to share them with each other.

E．They needed to be inspired one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad.

F．But now information is being spread in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules.

G．He found that science amazed readers and made them want to share this positive feelings with others.