1 . Small talk has a reputation for being uninteresting, and for good reason. Pointing out the fact that it’s raining seems as ridiculous as pointing out the fact that you have a head—you’re fully aware of both things, and don’t require an outsider to confirm them. But despite being evident and often painfully dull, small talk has an important role to fulfil, enabling us to leap over a number of social obstacles towards improved, meaningful interaction.

Humans can be sensitive souls. We each have our boundaries and lists of potential upsets, which when broken, cause us to either gently back away to an alternative position in the room, or become cross at the person. Small talk is first a way to test the waters with an unfamiliar person, so that you may better understand their personality. When finding yourself positioned closely to a person who you know little about, it’s much safer to point out the rainy sky than to share your political views on a sensitive topic. Until you know the person better, heavier topics should probably be kept under wraps, so you won’t find yourself on the receiving end of a cold stare.

Though insignificant, small talk still has great power. When talking with fellow humans, much of our soul is exposed through non-verbal communication. A response to “how was your weekend” can unveil much about the person’s character. The length of their response might indicate their level of self-confidence; the tone of speaking might show how agreeable a person is; their slightly lowered head, as if protecting themselves from attack, a possible sign of a regrettable history of bullying.

As more of a person’s character is revealed, we have the insight needed to determine whether to broach more significant topics—the things that we actually want to talk about. Conversation is a great educator, and deep conversation establish lasting bonds with our fellow humans, forming precious friendships that paint our lives with vibrant colors. Such friendships begin with small talk.

1. What is described in the first paragraph?

A．The first stage of human interaction.

B．Ridiculous human behavior in communication.

C．Absence of communication between strangers.

D．The difficulty of having deep conversations.

2. Why do people find themselves “on the receiving end of a cold stare”?

A．Because they are fond of heavy subjects.

B．Because they are enthusiastic about politics.

C．Because they are too sensitive about topics.

D．Because they fail to manage interpersonal distance.

3. What might be a sign of friendliness according to paragraph 3?

A．The length of the answer.	B．The quality of the voice.
C．The position of the head.	D．The distance between speakers.

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．Reputation of Small Talk	B．Ways of Understanding Personality
C．Significance of Small Talk	D．Challenges of Deep Conversation

2 . Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder. This increase in complexity, often called "feature creep," costs consumers time, but it also costs business money. Product returns in the U.S. cost a hundred billion dollars a year, and a recent study by Elke den Ouden, of Philips Electronics, found that at least half of returned products have nothing wrong with them. Consumers just couldn't figure out how to use them. Companies now know a great deal about problems of usability and consumer behavior, so why is it that feature creep proves unstoppable?

In part, fieature creep is the product of the so-called internal-audience problem: the people who design and sell product are not the ones who buy and use them, and what engineers and marketers think is important is not necessarily what's best for consumers. The engineers tend not to notice when more options make a product less usable. And marketing and sales departments see each additional feature as a new selling point, and a new way to attract customers.

You might think, then, that companies could avoid fieature creep by just paying attention to what customers really want. But that's where the trouble begins, because although consumers find overloaded gadgets（ 配件）unmanageable, they also find them attractive. It turns out that when we look at a new product in a store we tend to think that the more features there are, the better. It is only once we get the product home and try to use it that we realize the virtues of simplicity.

It seems strange that we don't expect feature tiredness and thus avoid it. But, as numerous studies have shown, people are not, in general, good at predicting what will make them happy in the future. As a result, we will pay more for more features because we systematically overestimate how often we'll use them. We also overestimate our ability to figure out how a complicated product works.

The fact that buyers want bells and whistles but users want something clear and simple creates an unusual problem for companies. A product that doesn't have enough features may fail to catch our eye in the store. But a product with too many features is likely to annoy consumers.

1. What does the first paragraph mainly discuss?

A．The benefits brought by the advanced technology.

B．The recent study conducted by Elke den Ouden.

C．The loss caused by the feature creep of technology.

D．Many problems of usability known by the consumers.

2. Which of the following is true according to the second paragraph?

A．It is the audience problem that leads to feature creep.

B．What matters to designers and marketers is not good for consumers.

C．Feature creep brings blessings to the people in marketing and sales.

D．The engineers will not pay attention to the quality of the product

3. What do we know about the buyers in paragraph 4?

A．They are deeply convinced that all the products work in simple way.

B．They are fed up with the more and more features of the products.

C．They are too confident of their ability to use the complicated products.

D．They are quite clear about the products which will make them happy.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Saying No to Feature Creep is No Easy Thing

B．Feature-heavy Products in Demand

C．The More Features, the Better

D．Simplicity Outweighs Complexity

3 . A student's life is never easy.     1     A lot of preparations are needed so you can be sure to go back home with a diploma and a bright future waiting for you. The following are some basic things you need to do before even seizing that passport and boarding on the plane.

●Knowing the country.

You shouldn't bother researching the country's hottest tourist spots or historical places. You won't go there as a tourist, but as a student. It'll be helpful to read the most important points in their history and to read up on their culture.    2     You surely don't want to face legal problems, especially if you're away from home.

●Studying their language.

Don't expect that you can graduate abroad without knowing even the basics of the language. Before leaving your home country, take online lessons to at least master some of their words and sentences.    3       Doing this will also prepare you in communicating with those who can't speak English.

●     4    

Check the conversion（兑换）of your money to their local currency, set up your bank account so you can use it there, get an insurance, and find an apartment. The Internet or your intended school will be very helpful in finding an apartment and helping you understand local currency.

Remember, you're not only carrying your own reputation but your country's reputation as well. If you act foolishly, people there might think that all of your country men are foolish as well.    5    ．

A．Packing your clothes.

B．Preparing for other needs.

C．Most importantly, read about their laws.

D．This will be useful in living and studying there.

E．That would surely be a very bad start for your study abroad program.

F．Going with their trends will keep it from being too obvious that you're a foreigner.

G．And it is even more difficult if you will have to complete your study in a foreign land.

4 . 请认真阅读下面这幅图片及相关文字，并按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的文章。

Today, as our lives have greatly improved, do we still need this so-called "hardship education"？

According to a recent survey of 2,020 people done by China Youth Daily, 81.8 percent of the interviewees supported hardship education including experiencing life in poor areas, outdoor training, taking part-time jobs, and doing housework.

Qiao Yu, from Tianjin Foreign Languages School, also supports the idea "Hardship helps us grow and be prepared for the difficulties of society," said the 18-year-old, who worked in a cake store this summer.

But while it contributes to studentsˈ development, "hardship education shouldnˈt be seen as simply making students suffer," Sun Yunxiao, director of the China Youth and Children Research Center told China Youth Daily. "It should follow teenagersˈ growth." Sun said that students could also do sports to learn to face difficulties, for doing sports can greatly strengthen their bodies and minds.

【写作内容】（1）以约30个词概括图文的主要内容；（2）以约120个词谈谈你对“吃苦教育”的理解和个人看法，并给出2~3点理由。
【写作要求】（1）可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子；（2）作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称：（3）不必写标题。
【评分标准】概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，语篇连贯。

5 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。

A dawning sun shaped the massive form of the train. Loaded with fuel, water, and sand for power, the lead train weighed in at 410,000 pounds. Conductor Robert, 49, ran his eye along the 96 cars behind him.

It was 7 a.m. Robert had already checked the list of dangerous materials aboard the train. ''We've got some gas with us,'' he'd reported to his engineer, Lindley, in the cab (驾驶室). The presence of gas would mean taking extra care when braking the 6,200-ton train. With explosive gas on board, an accident would be more dangerous. After a final external inspection, Robert jumped aboard. Slowly the train pulled out of the station.

Robert and Lindley had 50 years of railroading experience between them. They approached Lafayette at about 1:45 p. m. and slowed the train to the speed limit. Lindley turned on his flashing lights and warning bell. The two had been through the city hundreds of times, but they grew extra cautious rounding the first curve (弯道). Ahead, over just three miles of track, lay no fewer than 24 street crossings. As the train came out of the curve, Lindley noticed a small dot on the right rail about 150 yards ahead. He thought it might be a dog. Now, as the train approached within 100 yards of the object on the rail, Robert looked attentively. Then shock coursed through him.

''My God!'' he yelled as a tiny face turned toward him. ''It's a baby!''

Lindley had an instant decision to make, applying full emergency brakes with half the train still wrapped around a curve. He had to risk an emergency stop. Robert opened the left door of the engine cab quickly and stepped out onto a narrow walkway. He hurried to the front of the engine and crossed to the right side. He then stepped down to the lower portion of the walkway just to the back of the train's ''cow catcher''.

Paragraph 1:

Stretching as far as he could, Robert put his right leg out in front of him._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph 2:

Telling himself he still had a job to do, Robert went back to check on the cars. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . 假定你是李华，近来有市民听信由于新冠疫情国内粮食将会短缺的谣言，到超市抢购并囤积大米。请你就此事向某中学生英语报社的读者写一封倡议书，倡导大家不信谣不传谣，并积极影响自己的家人和朋友。内容包括：
1.简述该现象；
2.指出谣言的危害；
3.你的建议。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：新冠疫情：the COVID-19 epidemic
Dear readers,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

7 . Photographic self-portraits have existed for as long as cameras have been in human hands. But what about selfies in space? On Twitter last year, NASA astronaut Edwin Aldrin, who famously became the second man to walk on the moon in July 1969, laid claim to a spaceflight first: taking the first selfie in space during the Gemini XII mission in 1966.

“For me, it needs to be digital to be selfie,” argues Jennifer Levasseur, a director at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. According to Levasseur, the concept of a selfie is directly linked to internet culture. “The thing that makes a selfie is sharing it,” she says.

Still, astronauts have been carrying cameras aboard space vehicles since the 1960s. In 1966, Aldrin used a Hasselblad camera designed specifically for space. Hasselblad also painted the first camera in space a matte(磨砂) black to reduce reflections in the orbiter window. But cameras used in space need to survive extreme conditions, like temperature swings from -149° to 248°F, so Hasselblad painted later model silver.

Astronauts visiting the moon then had to take out the film and leave their camera bodies behind when they returned to Earth, because early space missions were limited by a weight limit on the returned trip. Then a big change in space camera technology came after the space shuttle Columbia broke apart on its return to Earth in 2003, Levasseur notes. “Fear that they’d never be able to bring film back from space and lose all that hard work accelerated the push for digital,” she says.

Today, astronauts also have access to internet and social platforms in space and can post true space selfies made using digital cameras. Similarly, space robots are participating in selfie culture, capturing remote pictures of themselves in space or on other planets and sending them back to Earth.

1. Why do selfies in space need to be digital according to Jennifer Levasseur?

A．Astronauts are fond of studying technology.

B．Astronauts are eager to be famous on the Internet.

C．Astronauts desire to communicate on social platforms.

D．Astronauts want to overcome the fear in space.

2. Why can the Hasselblad camera adjust to the temperature changes in space?

A．It is painted silver.

B．Its matte black gathers light.

C．Its design is special.

D．It can reduce reflection itself.

3. What contributed to the faster development of camera technology in space?

A．The heavy space tasks.

B．A returned space shuttle.

C．A spaceflight crash.

D．The improved film.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The Origin of Selfies in Space

B．The Brief History of Selfies in Space

C．The Significance of Selfies in Space

D．The Popularity of Selfies in Space

8 . 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。

Visiting a pub is one of Britain’s oldest forms of     1     (entertain). The idea for     2     first public houses     3     (bring) to Britain thousands of years ago by the conquering Roman army. The first pubs served only wine, but after the discovery of hops (啤酒节) in the fourteenth century, pubs began to serve mainly beer,     4     they do today.

Today, there are 61,000 pubs in the United Kingdom. One of the oldest, Fighting Cocks in ST. Albans, is located in a building that     5     (date) back to the 11^th century. Modern pubs are often owned by English breweries (啤酒厂) and serve only their owner’s products. British pubs are required to have a license,     6     is difficult to obtain, and operate between 11 am and 11 pm every day except Sunday, when they must close at 10:30 pm.

The     7     (drink) age in Britain is eighteen, but fourteen-year-olds may enter a pub unaccompanied if they order a meal. Children may enter a pub     8     their parents until 9 pm, which lets families enjoy     9     (reason) priced pub meals together and allows pubs to continue in their traditional roles as community     10     (center).

9 . What you give your relatives and friends can help you know yourself better.     1     Most gift-giving (and getting) shows nothing more than the spirit of love and friendship. But it is possible to form some associations between the kinds of things brought and the people who buy them.     2    

The clothes you wear tell something about your personality. They tell the world not only how you want to be seen but how you see yourself as well. When someone gives you something to wear that agrees with your self-image, they’re saying, “    3    ” Such a gift should be taken as a form of compliment (赞美). On the other hand, a gift of clothing that doesn’t match your personality could be an insult (侮辱) to your character.

    4     If you receive a homemade gift, you re lucky. It may not be made perfectly, but it will show a certain quality of love. They’ve given time and emotion, two important characteristics of being creative.

People who give books as gifts either like reading or would like everyone to think they do. If you happen to receive a large, heavy book, its giver may be much more interested in the way things appear than in the way they actually are. Of course, reading is a way of feeling the emotions of another person and of learning new things.     5     The giver is probably trying to say to you what the book said to him.

A．I agree with you. I like you the way you are.

B．However, gift giving can be misunderstanding if you are careless.

C．Also, what they give you can tell you something about their personality.

D．I don’t like you, especially the way you dress yourself.

E．Here is a guide to who gives what—and why.

F．Giving a book can be a way of sharing a feeling or newly-learnt meaning.

G．Making something by hand has become the exception in many countries today.

10 . Lead has proved to be a useful metal.     1     It goes into car batteries and also helps make bright pigments, used to paint walls, metal work and toys.

    2     In the worst cases it causes comas（昏迷）and death. More often its effects are slow but harmful. Research shows that lead is a threat to little babies, who are most likely to take in dust and paint chips that contain lead. Their brains can be easily harmed.     3    

The dangers of lead have long been known. American banned it from paint 40 years ago, and by the late 1990s leaded petrol had been stopped gradually in almost all rich countries. But the effects continue to exist.     4     The situation is more alarming in the poor world, where the use of lead-based paints is spreading. As people in Asia and Africa become richer, they start to decorate their homes, but the paint they use, even from pots labeled "lead-free" often contains it.

It is neither difficult nor expensive to stop using lead.     5     And industrial use is no exception, because the contamination （污染物）spreads and industrial paint inevitably finds its way into the consumer market. Yet only four sub-Saharan African countries have formally placed bans and local factories are often unaware of the harm that lead causes.

A．Yet lead is also a poison.

B．It turns up everywhere.

C．All countries should ban lead in paint.

D．Half a million American children are diagnosed with lead poisoning.

E．There is no excuse for poor countries to repeat the mistake of rich ones.

F．Taking some simple precautions can help protect you and your family from lead exposure.

G．But only years after exposure are the results apparent in lower IQ and learning disabilities.