1 . Many people confuse hard-working people with workaholics(工作狂). How could a person tell that he/she is a workaholic? A workaholic works long hours, at the expense of personal relationships and health. When not working, they’re thinking about work. Work influences their mood: when work is going well, they’re up; when work is going less well, they’re down.
Working, or simply being busy, can be a hard habit to break. When workaholics aren’t busy working—or doing something to promote their work—they feel anxious and guilty. They hang onto jobs for dear life and do everything they can to make sure they’re essential.
There is a link between health problems and workaholism. Just because work itself is a respectable pursuit(追求) doesn’t mean that an addiction to it is any less damaging than other sorts of addictions. A number of studies show that workaholism has been associated with a wide range of health problems, such as anxiety and heart disease.
Besides health problems, being a workaholic brings other negative effects as well. A study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that working too much negatively influenced an employee’s marriage. This isn’t surprising, since if you’re married to your work, it can be difficult to be married to anything, or anyone, else. There have also been studies looking at the influence of workaholic parents on their children and the news isn’t good. Adult children of workaholic fathers experienced more depression and anxiety and a weaker sense of self.
However, there are also many positive aspects to working hard and to an increasing devotion to career. Hard work can bring great rewards. For many, it’s how they develop feelings of self-worth and confidence and purpose. If you have a workaholic in your life, you might point out the things he or she is missing out on while at work, whether it’s a child’s soccer game, a good book, or a yoga class. Seek to understand why the person feels the need to work so much and support them in finding a solution.
1. What can we infer about workaholics?| A．They put work in the first place. |
| B．They usually have life outside work. |
| C．They often get pleasure from work. |
| D．They win respect from their workmates. |
| A．Bad influences of workaholism. |
| B．Reasons for being workaholics. |
| C．How people deal with their addictions. |
| D．How hard-working people differ from workaholics. |
| A．Force them to join family activities. |
| B．Reward them for their hard work. |
| C．Help them find self-worth and confidence. |
| D．Try to understand and support them. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Objective. | C．Negative. | D．Curious. |
2 . I did an experiment last week. No, nothing involving test tubes or beakers (烧杯). Instead, I experimented with not watching the news right before I went to bed.
This is a long-time habit of mine so it’s probably not surprising that the first couple of nights I got a little twitchy when news time rolled around and I wasn’t watching. To distract myself, I went to bed a little earlier and read. Wow, what a treat that was! I love to read but I don’t always make the time for it so this felt quite luxurious. On the nights I didn’t read, I spent a little extra time petting my dog, Henry. He loved it. There’s never enough ear scratching for him. The compromise nights were when I had a book in one hand and was petting the dog with the other. Happy all around!
The funny thing about happiness is that it’s a whole lot easier to feel when you’re not being bombarded (轰炸) by images of bad news. It’s not like skipping the late news means that I don’t know what’s going on in the world. I still do read, listen to, and watch news stories. Just not right before I go to bed. That makes it easier to fall asleep and then stay asleep without dreaming about crime, wars, or natural disasters. (Although that dream I had about going to the prom might count as a natural disaster!) It’s definitely a much gentler way to end the day. I like it so much that I’m going to not only continue the no news before bed practice, but I’m also going to experiment with turning off other electronics earlier in the evening, things like the computer and smart phone.
Do you have any experience with turning off your electronics early in the evening? Does setting a particular time, like digital Quiet Hours, work? Please share any tips you have. Something tells me that this could be a little more challenging for me than no news.
1. What does the underlined word “twitchy” mean?| A．Angry. | B．Sad. | C．Anxious. | D．Pleased. |
| A．To treat himself with snacks. |
| B．To read to his dog. |
| C．To turn off the TV. |
| D．To read in bed. |
| A．He had more time to walk his dog. |
| B．He was less exposed to images of bad news. |
| C．He was cut off from the current world. |
| D．He had nightmares. |
| A．To encourage the readers to cut down time on electronics. |
| B．To gather the readers’advice in watching TV. |
| C．To share the effect of watching news. |
| D．To tell the readers the importance of reading. |
3 . Sitting in my school cafeteria, I looked around, slowly taking in everything. Student after student passed my
Catching the eye of a girl in my grade sitting at a nearby table, I waved
I have an incurable lung disease. No one at our school knows—I don’t show any noticeable
Before that day when I decided to
| A．order | B．room | C．table | D．cafeteria |
| A．imagine | B．compare | C．observe | D．exchange |
| A．uniform | B．rules | C．circumstances | D．surface |
| A．politely | B．wildly | C．coldly | D．impatiently |
| A．found | B．noticed | C．heard | D．decided |
| A．remembered | B．suspected | C．predicted | D．regretted |
| A．willing | B．outstanding | C．understanding | D．demanding |
| A．escaped | B．satisfied | C．hit | D．attracted |
| A．diseases | B．symptoms | C．complaints | D．weaknesses |
| A．but | B．and | C．or | D．so |
| A．bright | B．real | C．serious | D．dark |
| A．tolerate | B．create | C．change | D．view |
| A．forgave | B．pitied | C．challenged | D．encouraged |
| A．debt | B．reward | C．burden | D．schedule |
| A．changeable | B．perfect | C．unique | D．different |
4 . A US government study has found that facial recognition technology is getting better at identifying people wearing masks. The study is part of an ongoing research by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The agency has examined the effectiveness of more than 150 facial recognition systems on people wearing face coverings . The systems are powered by machine learning algorithms (算法).
The first results of the study were announced in July, as health officials across the world urged people to wear masks to limit the spread of COVID-19. New findings were released this week . Police agencies have long used facial recognition technology to search for and help catch criminals. It can also be used to unlock phones or other electronic devices. Some robots use facial recognition technology to recognize the people they are communicating with. However, the wide use of masks in public has created major difficulties for such systems.
The study looked at facial recognition systems already in use before the pandemic. It also looked at systems specially developed to work on masked faces. The NIST said it processed a total of 6. 2 million images for the experiment People in the images were not actually wearing masks. So, the researchers digitally added different mask shapes to faces in the pictures for use in the study. In some cases, up to 70 percent of a person’s face was covered in the images. Overall, the research shows the top-performing facial recognition systems fail to correctly identify unmasked individuals about 0. 3 percent of the time and the failure rate rose to about 5 percent with masked images. Many of the lower performing algorithms, however, had much higher error rates with masked images — as high as 20 to 50 percent.
In the latest findings, researchers included results from 65 new facial recognition systems that have been developed since the start of the pandemic. “Some of these systems performed “significantly better” than the earlier ones，” Mei Ngan, a lead researcher on the project, said in a statement. The study also found round-shaped masks — which cover only the mouth and nose — led to fewer errors than wider ones that stretch across the cheeks. The new study also ran tests to see whether different colored masks would affect error rates. The team used red, white, black and light blue. The research findings suggested that generally, the red and black masks led to higher failure rates than the other colors.
1. How does the author mainly present the study finding?| A．By giving definitions and examples. |
| B．By giving examples and a brief description. |
| C．By presenting data and making a comparison. |
| D．By giving definitions and presenting data. |
| A．The speed of the machine learning algorithms. |
| B．The operators’skill in performing algorithms. |
| C．The number of the tested people. |
| D．The diversity of face coverings. |
| A．A girl wearing a white round-shaped mask. |
| B．A lady with a red mask stretching across her cheeks. |
| C．A man wearing a light blue mask covering his mouth and nose. |
| D．A man wearing a black mask with his nose and mouth covered up . |
| A．Objective | B．Negative |
| C．Uncaring. | D．Doubtful. |
Once there was a little girl Lily who was very friendly and popular in her class. She was friends with everyone in her class. There was no one in class who did not like her. She was very kind and would always be busy with her friends. She felt very happy that she had so many friends at school and in her neighborhood.
On Friendship Day, her class organized an event, in which everyone had to make three presents and give them to their best friends. Lily was really looking forward to the coming Friendship Day as she was expecting gifts from her friends. However, when all the presents were shared among her classmates, she was the only one who hadn’t received any presents. She felt terrible and cried a lot. She wondered how that was possible. She had made so much effort to be friends with everyone but in the end no one thought of her as one of their best friends.
Everyone came and tried to comfort her for a while but each one only stayed for a short time before leaving. This was exactly what Lily had done so many times to others.
On that day when she got home, her mother saw her sad face. And then her mother asked her the reason for her sadness. “Where can I find true friends?” Lily asked. Her mother was surprised at her question. Then she asked Lily what had happened in school. Her mother comfort her and said, “You cannot buy friends with a smile or a few good words. If you really want true friends, you will have to give them real time and love. For a true friend you must always be available，in good times and bad.”
Lily replied, “But I want to be friends with everyone!”
注意:
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
Her mother shook her head.
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Paragraph 2:
Lily decided to change her ways and thought how she could make true friends.
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The abacus (算盘) was a great invention in ancient China. The abacus
With the application of the abacus, people summarized many abacus rhymes (珠算口诀),
Since it was easy to make or buy
People find that using abacuses can improve thinking and practical abilities in addition
7 . Aunt Fannie was Blueberry Jam Woman. Of course she wasn’t really my aunt, and out of fear, I never called that to her face. The name always made my father chuckle (轻笑) and my mother look sternly (严厉地) at both of us—at me for being disrespectful, and at my father for encouraging my bad behavior. I enjoyed both reactions, so I looked for every opportunity to work for the name into conversation.
As a young woman, my mother had worked in the kitchen of a large Victorian farm house owned by Fannie Cratty. Fannie was the last of the Cratty line; she had never married, and had no living heirs(继承人). My father once told me that it was because she was too mean to share her family wealth or pass it on. Aunt Fannie was noted for her jam, and for never sharing the recipe with another living soul. Even though my mother knew it by heart, as long as Aunt Fannie was alive, she never made the jam without Miss Cratty in our kitchen to direct the process and preserve the secret.
One year, after I had been particularly helpful with the jam-making process. Aunt Fannie gave me a quarter and then made me promise I would never spend it. “Hold onto this quarter,” she said, “and some day you will be rich. I still have my first very quarter.” It had obviously worked for her, so I put that 1938 quarter in a small box,put it in my dresser drawer, and waited to become rich.
I now have the blueberry-jam recipe and the quarter from Aunt Fannie. Neither has significantly contributed to my wealth, but I keep them to remind myself to hold onto the valuable things in life. Money can make you feel rich for a while, but it is your relationships, and your memories of time spent with friends and family, that truly leave you wealthy. And that is a fortune that anyone can build.
1. Where did the “fear” mentioned in the first paragraph come from?| A．That year’s blueberry harvest had been poor. |
| B．Aunt Fannie was too old to keep making jam. |
| C．The author’s mother couldn’t help Aunt Fannie harvest the blueberries. |
| D．The author knew it was impolite to call Aunt Fannie Blueberry Jam Woman. |
| A．Aunt Fannie had no children | B．Aunt Fannie was willing to share her recipe |
| C．the author often helped Aunt Fannie make jam | D．the author’s mother always made the jam alone |
| A．Disgusted. | B．Surprised. | C．Affectionate. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．To make new friends easily. | B．Not to put a price on generosity. |
| C．Not to think of kindness as a burden. | D．To treasure the time spent with family and friends. |
8 . Just over 12 months ago I gave myself a challenge: give up spending on all but the essentials for a whole year. It hasn't always been easy, but a year on I am wealthier and wiser. Embarrassingly, I have also realised just how much money I've squandered down the pubs in restaurants and through mindless shopping.
Free of any financial worries, I was spending without thinking. Stuck in a cycle of consumerism, I was struggling in vain to spend my way to happiness. Giving up spending for a year was an extreme approach, but I wanted to taste extreme frugality, shake up my spending patterns and overpay my mortgage instead of shopping. I could continue to pay my bills, including mortgages, broadband(宽带), phone bill, charity donations, life insurances, money to help my family and basic groceries.
It was not easy, especially in the first few months. There were lows, such as when I missed my favourite jazz concerts and hit films. There have also been some awkward moments when I've turned up to a friend's house for dinner empty-handed. I did a lot of washing up at my friends' houses in return this year.
I did find new ways to live, however. Using sites such as Eventbrite I have been to film screenings, wine tasting evenings and theatre productions for free. Living in London I have a wealth of free cultural activities on my doorstep and I've been to more art exhibitions this year than ever before. I even managed a free holiday, cycling the
Suffolk and Norfolk coast and camping on beaches. It's something I'd never done before and probably wouldn't have, were it not for the challenge.
The last 12 months have taught me what things I really need. I can honestly say I' m happier now. I've gained confidence and skills, done things and met lovely people I wouldn't have otherwise done or met.
1. In the past the author wasted much money on the following EXCEPT .| A．purposeless shopping | B．basic groceries |
| C．restaurants | D．pubs |
| A．try to form a virtue of frugality | B．change her former spending habits |
| C．pay off her mortgage as soon as possible | D．reserve money for her everyday bills |
| A．She did a lot of washing and cooking in pubs. |
| B．She tried cycling and camping for the first time. |
| C．She explored more cultural activities in London. |
| D．She attended concerts and wine evenings for free. |
| A．It's discouraging. | B．It's challenging. |
| C．It's beneficial. | D．It's embarrassing. |
9 . World's Best Summer Music Festivals
The Governors Ball Music Festival
A relative newcomer to the summer music festival scene, the Governors Ball offers a variety of performers and a taste of New York culture. Visitors can catch sets from rock, electronica, and performers, all while tasting food from popular New York City restaurants. To take a break from the music, festival-goers can participate in activities such as Silent Disco or lawn(草坪) games.
WHERE: New York City
WHEN: June 3-5
Roskilde Festival
Created by two Danish college students, Roskilde has developed from a hippie(嬉皮士) gathering ground to a mainstream music festival. The festival attracts an international following and features performances from more than 3 ,000 artists. Bands include a mix of contemporary and lesser-known performers. and visitors can watch their favorite artists perform inside large tents.
WHERE: Roskilde, Denmark
WHEN: June 25-July 2
Montreux Jazz Festival
Set on Lake Geneva's beautiful shoreline. the Montreux Jazz Festival attracts a global audience. Founded in 1967 as a jazz-only festival, Montreux has since evolved into a two-week-long showcase that attracts more than 200. 000 music enthusiasts. Performances don't end on the shore; visitors can catch themed shows from boats and train cars.
WHERE: Montreux, Switzerland
WHEN: July 1-16
Rock al Parque
Rock al Parque is proud of an attendance of 88, 600 visitors a day. Most music festivals require tickets, but the participation in the three-day festival is free of charge. Festival-goers line up to watch performances from some of Latin America's most popular artists, but the festival also offers sets from international bands.
WHERE: Bogota, Colombia
WHEN: July 2-4
1. What can you do at the Governors Ball Music Festival?| A．Dance in local restaurants. | B．Take part in relaxing activities. |
| C．Watch performances from boats. | D．Enjoy food from the whole country. |
| A．It lasts the longest time. |
| B．Its modern Jazz is popular. |
| C．It provides themed shows to visitors. |
| D．Its foundation originates with two college students. |
| A．Roskilde Festival. | B．Rock al Parque. |
| C．Montreux Jazz Festival. | D．The Governors Ball Music Festival. |
Recently I graduated from high school, and as a gift I received a huge hunch of flowers, 40 to be exact! I had so many that I didn't know what to do with them. The next weekend my niece and nephew, Sue and Mike, aged 6 and 7, came and suddenly I had an idea. I might let them give out these flowers to people they met on the street, and in this way they could learn how to be friendly to others. So I told them about my plan and explained that these flowers would make people feel happy and smile. They loved the idea and were eager to have a try. So at once we took every single flower and tied a smile card to it. We then went to the street with the flowers.
The first flower went to a policeman. As soon as she saw the policeman, my niece ran up to him and handed him a flower. His smile was so big, but hers was even bigger!
In no time, we neared the end of our flowers. It was lunch time and we went to Subway for lunch. There the kids gave a flower to the waitress, who was really excited to receive the flower. As we were eating our lunch, the waitress came up to the kids with two big chocolate cookies! She said the chocolate cookies were for them and that she really liked the flower! As they ate the cookies, my niece and nephew looked at me with the biggest smiles I had ever seen.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
With just one flower left, I said it should be given to the person who needed it most.
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It turned out to be a great day for us.
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