1 . On September 17, 2022, a father and son set out to begin the first of three legs of the Ironman competition in Oxford. David, 59, and his son, John, 28, weren’t the typical competitors. Despite difficulty in walking, John has his dream of being an athlete. His father would act as his arms and legs, carrying the weight of his son throughout the race.
To qualify as having finished, competitors must complete a hard 140 miles of swimming, bicycling and running in under 17 hours. David and John had participated together in five Ironman competitions, but they had yet to finish in the required time.
The race began with a 2.4-mile swim in the Choptank River. With one end of a rope tied to a belt around his back and the other end to a boat with his son inside, the father eased himself into the water. Swimming while carrying another person is tough enough — David also had to fight with jellyfish (水母).
The pair completed the swim in 90 minutes, and went through with the 112-mile bicycle ride in about nine hours, then set their sights on the final leg of the 26.2-mile marathon with David pushing John in the racing chair.
With minutes left and 200 feet to the finish line, his mom, on the sidelines, handed him the rolling walker. Not that long ago, John could hardly walk 23 steps. But after years of painful training, he increased his step count and was determined to finish the race on his own. He knew time was almost running out and worried they wouldn’t make the cutoff. “Not because I wouldn’t get my moment,” he says, “but because dad had worked so hard.”
After 16 hours, 55 minutes and 35 seconds — with just four minutes and 25 seconds to spare — father and son crossed the finish line together.
As the crowd flooded and cheered on John, the weary father kept a low profile. “He didn’t want his finish line moment,” says John. “He wanted it to be mine.”
1. How did David help his son in the swimming part?A.By pulling a rope tied to a boat. | B.By swimming beside his son. |
C.By pushing his son’s lifebelt. | D.By carrying his son on his back. |
A.He wouldn’t get his moment. |
B.His mom would be disappointed. |
C.His father had put in lots of effort. |
D.The audience had high expectations. |
A.Responsible and selfless. | B.Brave and honest. |
C.Committed and friendly. | D.Gentle and determined. |
2 . Young babies make many short and word-like sounds such as “ba” or “aga”. Those early sounds are later replaced with words and, eventually, sentences. While some of them are born to be more talkative than others, a new study confirms that male babies make more sounds than female babies in the first year.
While the research confirms earlier findings from a much smaller study by the same team, they still come as a surprise. That’s because there’s a common and long-held belief that females have an advantage over males in language.
In the study, Dr Kim and his team included more than 450,000 hours of all-day recordings of 5,899 babies, using a device about the size of an iPod. Those recordings were processed to count the number of words spoken by babies and adults across the first two years of life.
Generally, the data showed that male babies made 10% more sounds in the first year compared to females. In the second year, the difference turned directions, with female babies making about 7% more sounds than males. Those differences were observed even though the number of words spoken by adults caring for those babies was higher for female babies in both years compared to males.
Why, then, would male babies be more talkative than females in the first year and not later? “We think it may be because boys are more likely to die in the first year than girls. Given that so many male deaths happen in the first year, boys may have been under especially high selection pressure to produce fitness signals to express their wellness and improve their chances of surviving,” says Kim. By the second year of life, as death rates drop sharply across the board, he added, “the pressure on special fitness signaling is lower for both boys and girls.”
1. Why are the findings of the new study surprising?A.They are similar to earlier ones. |
B.They show males are more talkative. |
C.They go against people’s common belief. |
D.They show babies learn language differently |
A.They received more language input. |
B.They showed better language abilities. |
C.They communicated more with adults. |
D.They made less sounds than female babies. |
A.Improved language skills. | B.Change in living environment. |
C.Less need for fitness signaling. | D.Increase in social communication. |
3 . Every morning in graduate school, Christy would wave to the woman selling hot dogs outside her building. “If she wasn’t there on a given day, things didn’t feel right. I missed her,” says Christy, now a psychology (心理学) expert at a university in the U.K. “It was this huge source of comfort and safety, and it was with someone I never talked to.”
That connection satisfied a deep, bodily need for Christy, just like water relieves thirst. Humans are intensely social animals, and research increasingly suggests that losing our connections to others can negatively impact our health. A 2023 report called widespread loneliness in the U.S. a deadly health risk comparable to smoking up to15 cigarettes (香烟) a day. On the other hand, a Harvard study found that having strong relationships is key to living a long and happy life. The study also showed that people between 80 and 89 years old in happy marriages reported that their happiness remained stable even on days when they were in greater physical pain.
But close relationships aren’t the only social ties that matter. Chatting with a stranger, giving a smile of recognition to the waiter in your local coffee shop, or waving to the people you see every day at the park creates a much-needed sense of community. “We can’t achieve happiness by ourselves. We simply cannot survive or live well without feeling like we are accepted,” says Christy.
These “weak tie” relationships aren’t a replacement for the deeper, more meaningful connections we also need. But Christy says we should recognize and celebrate their importance, and push ourselves to engage in them because they’re so beneficial to our sense of well-being. “I am not outgoing,” she says. “And, at the same time, I love talking to strangers. I believe that anyone can do it.”
1. How did Christy feel when she couldn’t see the woman as usual?A.Safe. | B.Disappointed. | C.Angry. | D.Satisfied. |
A.Older adults feel happier in marriages. |
B.Physical pain negatively affects happiness. |
C.Close relationships lead to long-term well-being. |
D.Happiness has little to do with social connections. |
A.They contribute to our happiness. | B.They help us to be outgoing. |
C.They replace close relationships. | D.They push us to communicate. |
A.Advantages of Being Lonely | B.Influence of Meeting New People |
C.Value of Strong Social Connections | D.Importance of “Weak Tie” Relationships |
4 . In a groundbreaking discovery, bumblebees (大黄蜂) have shown a previously unseen level of cognitive (认知的) ability. A new study, published in Nature, shows that they can learn difficult, multi-step tasks through social interaction, even if they cannot figure them out on their own.
Led by Dr Alice Bridges and Professor Lars Chittka, the research team designed a two-step puzzle (谜题) box requiring bumblebees to perform two separated actions to get a sweet reward at the end. Training bees to do this was no easy task, and bees had to be helped along by the addition of an extra reward at the end of the first step. This reward in the middle was finally taken away, and bees later had to open the whole box before getting their treat. Then some trained bees repeated the whole process for demonstration.
Surprisingly, while bees that worked on their own had great difficulty in solving the puzzle, those allowed to watch a demonstrator bee finished the two steps easily — even the first — while only getting a reward at the end.
This study shows that bumblebees have a level of social learning previously thought to be unique to humans. They can share and learn behaviors that are beyond their individual cognitive abilities. Professor Chittka further notes the implications, “This challenges the traditional view that only humans can socially learn difficult behavior beyond individual learning. It raises the amazing possibility that many of the greatest achievements of the social insects, like the nesting architectures of bees or the agricultural habits of ants, may have initially spread by copying clever innovators, before they finally became part of the species-specific behaviors.”
This groundbreaking research opens new possibilities for understanding animal intelligence and the development of social learning. It challenges longstanding assumptions and helps us learn more about the cognitive wonders of insects, even suggesting the exciting possibility of advanced culture amongst seemingly simple creatures.
1. What is the purpose of the study?A.To learn how to train bumblebees. |
B.To compare bumblebees with ants. |
C.To develop puzzles for bumblebees. |
D.To test cognitive abilities of bumblebees. |
A.By breaking it into two steps. |
B.By providing an extra reward. |
C.By demonstrating the process. |
D.By making the puzzle interesting. |
A.Both bees and ants are intelligent creatures. |
B.Only humans are capable of social learning. |
C.Individual learning may not be that important. |
D.Bees’ nest-building may be a learned behavior. |
A.Bumblebees — willing learners |
B.Bumblebees — smarter than you think |
C.Social learning — intelligence indicator |
D.Social learning — universal across species |
Long-term tai chi exercise can be used as a treatment for patients suffering from early-stage Parkinson’s disease(帕金森病), said a research team from Shanghai.
Parkinson’s is
In the research,
Tai chi has been pursued as a treatment for Parkinson’s since 2012 with the specific benefits of long-term practice now
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 . “Auntie Goose Legs”, a Beijing street food seller, was recently invited to a meeting on women entrepreneurship (企业家精神) at Peking University, one of China’s top universities. Her inspiring words moved the hearts of many.
In her 50s, Chen Xiufeng, from Lianyungang city in East China’s Jiangsu Province, along with her husband, Liang Decai, has been trying to make a living as street sellers in the country’s capital for more than two decades. In the past few years the pair began to sell homemade goose (鹅) legs. Their secret family recipe has won them a continuous stream of customers over the years, mostly college students, as they usually operated near campuses such as Peking University. They even took orders in advance and delivered goose legs to campuses by motorbikes.
Last winter, Chen became famous on the Internet after she moved her business to Tsinghua University. Old customers from Peking University and Renmin University of China began half-jokingly calling for Tsinghua University to give back their beloved “Auntie Goose Legs”. A “competition” among China’s top universities for “Auntie Goose Legs” soon unfolded. Related topics quickly topped the trending list on social media, making her a focal point of online discussions, while their homemade goose legs became hard to get. At one point, they sold out all 200 goose legs within 20 minutes.
At the meeting, when asked by the host if she felt she was “entrepreneurial”, Chen shook her head, stating that her efforts were merely ordinary means to make a living. Peking University commented in an article posted on the university’s social media account on Friday, stating that entrepreneurship is not only a broad concept, but one that can also represent an attitude toward life.
In Chen’s closing speech at the meeting, she said, “I hope everyone can choose a comfortable pace... Life is a long journey, not something you can cross in one step. You, the youngsters, are full of vitality; everyone is their own hero.”
1. What caused the heated discussion about “Auntie Goose Legs” on the Internet?A.Her secret family recipe. |
B.Her selling out 200 goose legs. |
C.Her relocation to another university. |
D.Her rich experiences as a street seller. |
A.She felt confused by the concept. |
B.She thought it beyond her capabilities. |
C.She considered herself a business genius. |
D.She acknowledged it with a sense of pride. |
A.Wealth comes ahead of happiness. |
B.Rapid success should be encouraged. |
C.Take your own pace on life’s journey. |
D.Entrepreneurship is the key to success. |
8 . Effective communication is the process of exchanging ideas, opinions, knowledge, and data so that the message is received and understood with clarity and purpose. Learning how to communicate well can be beneficial.
Consider your audience.
Practice active listening. Active listening means giving your full attention in a communication exchange.
Make your message as clear as possible. Once you have successfully identified your audience and listened to their purposes, needs, and desires, you may have something to communicate. To do this effectively, turn to the 3Cs of communication: Clear, Correct, Complete.
Use the right medium or platform. Effective communication requires you to consider whether you need to meet in person or online. Is your message casual enough to use WeChat, or would a formal email be more suitable?
By following these four principles, you are well on your way to exercising communication effectiveness.
A.Who are you communicating with? |
B.What’s your preference when you catch up with friends? |
C.Here are a few ways to achieve effective communication. |
D.Is it more effective to discuss the plan on the phone or face-to-face? |
E.Be sure to provide positive information based on your audience’s needs. |
F.It includes paying attention to body language, and giving positive feedback. |
G.Prepare to communicate in a way that achieves most of these characteristics. |
9 . In the eyes of many environmentalists, the world appears to be getting worse. They believe, the natural resources are running out and the air and water are becoming ever more polluted. But if we check the facts, things look different. Energy has become more abundant, not less so. Fewer people are starving. What seems to cause this gap between perception and reality?
One factor is the prejudice in scientific research. Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. That may be wise policy, but it will also create an impression that there are more potential problems than actually exist.
Secondly, environmental groups seek attention from the mass media. They also need to get continuous financial support. Understandably, perhaps, they sometimes exaggerate (夸大) their arguments. In 1997, for example, the World Wide Fund for Nature issued a statement titled: “Two thirds of the world’s forests lost forever”. The truth turns out to be near 20%.
The media can add to confusion too. People tend to be more curious about bad news than good. Newspapers and broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants. That, however, can lead to significant misinterpretations. For example, when a natural disaster happens, the media usually highlights the negative parts, giving more attention to the disaster’s details and what happens afterward. This flood of bad news can make people think that such events are more frequent or serious than they actually are. Consequently, people may develop a sense of insecurity, despite statistically low probabilities of similar events happening to them.
Another factor is people’s poor perception. People worry that vaccines can cause severe side effects or long-term health problems. Despite extensive scientific evidence demonstrating their safety and effectiveness, some individuals remain hesitant due to unfounded fears.
It is crucial that we look at the facts if we want to make the best possible decisions for the future. It may be costly to be overly optimistic – but more costly still to be too pessimistic.
1. What aspect of scientific research does the writer worry about in paragraph 2?A.The need to produce results. | B.The selection of research areas. |
C.The lack of financial support. | D.The desire to solve research problem. |
A.To show how influential the mass media can be. |
B.To show how effective environmental groups can be. |
C.To show how the mass media can help groups raise funds. |
D.To show how environmental groups overstate their claims. |
A.educate readers | B.mislead readers |
C.meet readers’ expectations | D.encourage readers’ feedback |
A.Making decisions based on reality. | B.Balancing optimism and pessimism. |
C.Being optimistic to avoid costly mistakes. | D.Addressing the environmental crisis gradually. |
A. After one month of painting every day, from sunrise to sunset, I was selling here and there, mostly right off the easel (画架), but I quickly burned through my savings, and soon after, lost my apartment and moved into my car parked along the Pacific Coastline. A few more months passed. I was underfed and had no gas to move my car, but I kept painting.
B. This was back in 2008 and so many years later, I’m painting more than ever. I will still pick up an illustration job from time to time, but painting plein air is what I love more than anything - this is how I spend my time. I have work in a couple of galleries here in Oregon, but I do most of my sales through my website, which is updated daily.
C. One day, with a dozen paintings laid out by my feet in South Laguna with a serious sunburn and hungry stomach, a woman walked by, complimented my work and then bought all of my paintings! Turns out this woman was a big art collector. Then she generously gave me a show in her home a couple of weeks later. I nearly sold out at the show and then I got picked up by a famous gallery in Laguna Beach the following week.
D. After graduating from art school with a degree in illustration (插图), I was at a stand still and didn’t know how to work in the art industry. Back then, I was still living in Laguna Beach, California, so I decided to try my hand at plein air (野外写生) painting. This was something I had only done once or twice before, and with little success.
E. After a week, I fell in love with the work of Edgar Payne, William Wendt and the like, and at that moment I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.