1 . SPORTS EVENTS

BASKETBALL Central Sports Center, ★City Road All Stars vs. Rockets, Sat. 8:30 p.m., $12 ★Northerners vs. Tigers, Sun. noon, $10	LAWN BOWLS Tans Town B.C ●Tans Town vs. White Vale Sun. 9:00 a.m. Wake Hill B.C ●Wake Hill vs. Colls, Sat. 2:00 p.m.
BUSHWALKING ◆Meet at Wanda Station, Sat. 9:00 a.m. sharp for hour. ◆Walk to Canary Mountains $5, ph 5432868 ◆Meet at Westley Station, Sun. 9:00 a.m. Sharp for full day ◆Walk to Wombat Valley $5, ph 3416384. Bring your own lunch	FOOTBALL St. Martins Sports Center ▼Martins vs. Doonsberg, Sat. 2:00 p.m. $8 ▼Eastside Central vs. Light Hill, Sun 2:00 p.m. $8 ▼Neil Park Recreation Center Neil Park vs. Robinson, Sat. 2:00 p.m. $11 ▼Essen vs. Springwood, Sun. 2:00 p.m. $11

1. Which of the following events can be viewed by the same person?

A．Martins vs. Doonsberg and Wake Hill vs. Colls.

B．Northerners vs. Tigers and Eastside Central vs. Light Hill.

C．Essen vs. Springwood and Eastside Central vs. Light Hill.

D．Neil Park vs. Robinson and Northerners vs. Tigers.

2. Which of the following events is the most expensive to attend?

A．Martins vs. Doonsberg	B．Eastside Central vs. Light Hill
C．All Stars vs. Rockets	D．Neil Park vs. Robinson

3. Which day and time is the most popular for spots events?

A．Sat 8:30

B．Sun noon

C．Sat 2:00 p.m.

D．Sun 2:00 p.m.

2 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main points of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Animated movies use drawings instead of real people. Artists must draw thousands of pictures and each picture must be a little different. For example, if the movie-maker wants to show a girl running, the artist must draw her feet in different places in each picture. When the pictures are shown very quickly, one after the other, it looks like the girl is running. Walt Disney was not the first or only person to use animation in movies, but he is the most renowned. His first Mickey Mouse cartoon, produced in 1927, was called Plane Crazy. This was a short, silent movie about the adventures of a little mouse.

Many people in the movie business thought that animation was only appropriate for short cartoons. Disney did not agree with them. He believed that he could tell any kind of story using animation. His first long movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney spent all his money making this movie. Fortunately, it was a great success. He made Pinocchio next and then Dumbo (about a baby elephant), and he didn’t look back after this.

When we think of Disney, however, we don’t only think of movies, we also think of Disneyland. There are Disneylands in Japan, the United States of America and France. They are large parks where people can meet Disney’s characters and visit scenes from his movies.

Although Walt Disney made many of the famous movies many years ago, they are as popular now as they were when he made them. Today we can buy them on video and see them in movie theatres from time to time. When Walt Disney began making his animated cartoons all those years ago, people drew all the pictures by hand. Nowadays computers do much of his work.

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3 . Currently, it’s the beginning of the rainy season in the heart of Brunei (文莱), and I have never been so sweaty. Last night I was poking at insects larger than I’d ever seen or even, in my worst nightmares, imagined existed, but despite this, I’m still having the time of my life.

I’m on a taxonomy expedition at the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre in the Kingdom of Brunei Darussalam with a small group of entomologists (昆虫学家), biotech researchers and laypeople (门外汉) like me. We are searching for new species in the rainforest under the guidance of a research organization. Taxon Expeditions is one of a new crop of private organizations that is tapping into the pockets of people who are science-curious but not science-trained. We help to fund this research, and we get to participate in it.

I can’t emphasise how remarkable this is. I spent a lot of time as a child dozing in my Snoopy sleeping bag under the table in my mother’s lab as she worked on her Ph.D. in development genetics. Sequencing DNA in the 1980s wasn’t something that a person just did in a few hours, and it certainly wasn’t done using a device that fitted in the palm of one’s hand. And the result wasn’t then immediately cross-referenced with an offline version of an online public database of more than 5.3 million “DNA barcodes” to see if the organism being sequenced is a newly discovered species.

And the craziest thing about all of this is that the sequencer costs less than £1,000 from a company based in Oxford. I would recommend pairing up with an actual geneticist, a biotech expert and a real entomologist to make sense of the data, but the implications for the future of access to hands-on science are astonishing. Mark my words: we are less than a generation away from an army of layperson bioprospectors (生物勘探员) working the field using a little bit of scientific training and a lot of YouTube online knowledge.

But if a trip to the rainforest with an organisation like Taxon is out of the question, then you can still do research as close as your back garden. The same group that took me to the rainforest went to the Vondel-park in the centre of Amsterdam and identified a new wasp that had never been recorded by science. And yes, the sequencer — while less expensive than a high-end smart-phone — does require a little more training than a touchscreen. But this kind of science is rapidly trickling down to the rest of us, so getting any science kit or apps in the hands of your kids or grand-kids this holiday season is an investment. Because there’s noting like discovery to fuel the future.

1. What can we learn about the writer of the passage?

A．The writer is a biotech researcher.

B．The writer is interested in science despite not being an expert.

C．The writer had spent a lot of money participating in the expedition.

D．The writer is a staff member at the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Center.

2. The underlined phrase “tapping into the pickets of people” probably means “________”.

A．trying to make money from people.

B．attempting to arouse people’s interest

C．trying to develop the potential of people

D．attempting to boost people’s knowledge

3. Why does the writer say that the implications for the future of access to hands-on science are astonishing?

A．Because teaming up with real experts to work on a project is by no means easy.

B．Because scientific devices like sequencers are affordable for the average person.

C．Because the assistance of non-professional bio prospectors aiding in scientific research is less than a generation away.

D．Because affordable devices, basic scientific training, and online knowledge make it possible for the average person to conduct useful research.

4. We can conclude from the passage that             .

A．scientific research is still restricted to some trained experts

B．devices like sequencers are easier to operate than smart-phone

C．one doesn’t need to be scientifically trained to take part in valuable research

D．doing research in one’s own garden can help promote the development of science

4 . Last week, I taught a case study on the decline of Nokia to my MBA students. I asked them, “Why did Nokia fall from industry _________ to also-ran position in the space of less than five years?” Their answers were _________:

“They lost touch with their customers.” True, but almost tautological-and interesting to note that this is the same Nokia that in the early 2000s was praised for its _________-centric marketing and design capabilities.

“They _________ to develop the necessary technologies.” Not really true-Nokia had a prototype touch screen before the iPhone was launched, and its smartphones were _________ superior to anything Apple, Samsung, or Google had to offer during the late 1990s.

“They didn’t recognize that the basis of competition was shifting from the hardware to the ecosystem.” _________, not really true-the “ecosystem” battle began in the early 2000s, with Nokia joining forces with Ericsson, Motorola, and Psion to create Symbian as a _________ technology that would keep Microsoft at bay.

Through this period, the people at Nokia were _________ the changes going on around them, and they were never short of leading-edge technology or clever marketers. Where they struggled was in transmitting _________into action. The company lacked the capability to change in a decisive and committed way.

The failure of big companies to __________ to changing circumstances is one of the principal puzzles in the world of business. Occasionally, a genuinely “disruptive” technology, such as digital imaging, comes along and __________ an entire industry. But usually the sources of failure are more dull and avoidable—a failure to __________ technologies that have already been developed, an arrogant disregard(傲慢的漠视) for changing customer demands, a self-satisfied attitude towards new competitors.

In such cases, the final responsibility for __________ rests with the CEO. But if such failures are to be avoided, it is clear that the CEO cannot do it on his or her own. People across the firm must keep their eyes open to __________ in their business, and to take responsibility to push their new ideas and __________ existing ways of working. Obviously, this isn't easy to do, but if there is a better understanding of the problem then there is a chance for improvement.

1.

A．leadership

B．companionship

C．craftsmanship

D．citizenship

2.

A．acceptable

B．imaginable

C．changeable

D．predictable

3.

A．customer

B．product

C．technology

D．capital

4.

A．transformed

B．failed

C．attempted

D．resolved

5.

A．greatly

B．really

C．competitively

D．technologically

6.

A．Thus

B．Again

C．Unfortunately

D．Basically

7.

A．platform

B．basis

C．software

D．service

8.

A．absorbed in

B．shocked at

C．aware of

D．accustomed to

9.

A．thoughts

B．words

C．spirit

D．confidence

10.

A．look

B．apply

C．contribute

D．adapt

11.

A．foster

B．benefit

C．bankrupt

D．reshape

12.

A．implement

B．cultivate

C．undertake

D．advocate

13.

A．management

B．achievement

C．failure

D．enterprise

14.

A．horizons

B．pensions

C．executives

D．changes

15.

A．maintain

B．challenge

C．doubt

D．examine

5 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main points of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

You still need a better reason to plant a tree?

Police aren’t cheap and neither are lawyers, judges, and all the other layers that make up the justice system. But trees and some grass, in comparison, are a real bargain, and they prove to be effective in lighting crimes.

Many cities used to launch programs to plant vegetation along roadways to help absorb rainwater. After tracking 14 types of crime in nearby areas, Michelle Kondo, a social scientist found that a variety of crimes including property crimes such as theft and burglary, and violent crimes such as armed fights and mayhem in those areas decreased to 27 percent, a stunning 18 percent fall. Kondo believed the appearance of city trucks and vans in the landscaped areas— for planting and maintenance— was enough to scare away potential criminals.

Kondo’s study also worked on the link between grassland care and decrease of the crime in downtown areas. It’s tempting to use income as the connection. After all, if you have the crime and money to water your lawn, you probably live in a neighborhood that sees less crime. But actually, people are less likely to hang in those areas where the streets are maintained or cleaned. “You will see less kids hanging on the corners.’’ Kondo said. He argued that caution of the local people implied by the organized greenery helped to frighten away ill-intentioned guys, by announcing to would-be criminals that there are “eyes on the street’’ that care for their neighborhood and would be more likely to report a crime.

We already know greenery is beautiful to look at and can help improve mood and health while reducing pollution. Now we can add crime-fighting to the list of vegetation’s many benefits. Therefore, are you ready to plant a tree?

6 . Most of us have no difficulty recognizing luck when it’s on apparent display, as when someone wins the lottery. But _________ often plays out in delicate ways and it’s easy to construct narratives that portray success as out of everything but luck. These misleading stories have surprising implications for human mindset, downplaying the power of chances.

Consider the history of the Mona Lisa. After having staved in the _________ for most of its early existence, the painting was pushed into the spotlight in 1911 when it was stolen from Louvre. The famous theft remained _________ for two years until a maintenance worker was arrested after trying to sell the painting. His arrest caused a second wave of _________, with the painting on everyone’s lips. As in the art world, it is so too in the world of work. Almost every career path consists of a sequence of steps, each of which depends on former ones. Inevitably, some of those _________ steps can be influenced by chance factors, which, as a result, are sure to affect the following process. So it is reasonable to conclude that _________ all successful careers involve at least a certain degree of luck.

One’s date of birth _________, for example. According to a study, most children born in the summer tend to be among the youngest members of their class, which explains why they are less likely to hold _________ positions during high school and thus, less likely to land good jobs later in life.

To acknowledge the power of chance events is not to suggest that success is independent of _________. Charlie Munger has said. “The safest way to get what you want is to __________ what you want.”

Of course, luck counts too. Being born in a good education system is a kind of luck we can control— that is, at least we can decide how lucky our children will be. But in America, we’ve been doing a bad job as the budget for education has __________. The human tendency to __________ luck’s role has caused this troubling state by unwillingness to invest in education, the strong system of which can produce __________ for the next generation.

Luckily, there is a solution. Guiding people to __________ their good fortune tends to make them more willing to contribute to the __________, according to a study. So try to engage your successful friends in reviews about their experiences with luck. In the process, the next generation’s odds of success may well increase and meanwhile, all the social members are more likely to enjoy the improved public service.

1.

A．randomness

B．potential

C．masterpiece

D．success

2.

A．emergency-

B．maintenance

C．review

D．shade

3.

A．accidental

B．unsolved

C．official

D．objective

4.

A．protest

B．suspicion

C．publicity

D．investigation

5.

A．previous

B．negative

C．realistic

D．entire

6.

A．virtually

B．sustainably

C．adequately

D．negatively

7.

A．occurs

B．contracts

C．matters

D．approaches

8.

A．accessible

B．original

C．superior

D．secure

9.

A．effort

B．logic

C．relationship

D．investment

10.

A．deserve

B．evaluate

C．modify

D．exploit

11.

A．shone

B．shrunk

C．ballooned

D．flown

12.

A．preserve

B．popularize

C．underestimate

D．revolutionize

13.

A．challenge

B．luck

C．motivation

D．experience

14.

A．reflect on

B．save on

C．adjust to

D．live on

15.

A．mutual understanding

B．mental fitness

C．family value

D．common good

7 . 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.

Three Myths About Skin

We put importance into caring for skin since it’s the first thing other people see. Skin might be one of the least correctly     1     (interpret) parts of our bodies. So today, I’d like to run through three myths we have about skin.

Myth No. 1: Healthy skin is skin that looks perfect. When we talk of healthy skin, we     2     think of a clear and smooth surface. But skin is a living organ,     3     heart or lungs and any other complex organ, serving many functions, not just about what’s going on at the surface.

Myth No. 2: You only need sunscreen on sunny days. UV rays from the sun are so strong that     4     damage our cells’ DNA. There are two types that affect the skin. UVA rays damage protein in skin, quickening the pace of aging. UVB rays, meanwhile, cook the outer layer of the skin, causing sunburn.     5     our cells can repair that damage to some extent, it accumulates over time, and can lead to skin cancer. When our skin     6     (expose) to UV rays, it gets darker, which is the way of showing it’s been damaged. So by wearing sunscreen, even when it’s cloudy, you are protecting yourself from sunburn, early aging and skin cancer.

Myth No. 3: You can shrink pores. Pores are the tiny openings in our skin. They’re     7     let sweat cool you and oil smooth skin. Pore size is largely determined by genes,     8     function is to carry information for particular characteristics, and rarely changes. In other words, pores don’t really shrink. So stop     9     (spend) your money on pore minimizers and just wash your face with the products basically made from stuff that won’t block pores.

Our skin is     10     amazing organ, so let’s treat it right and forget about those myths, OK?

8 . It is a tradition of corporate architecture. A company’s top executives get offices on the top floor with the biggest windows and best views. However, nowadays some bosses choose to “hot-desk”（轮用办公桌） with everyone else.

One argument for such a(n) ________ can be made. Staff morale （士气）would ________ if the employees are stuffed in open-plan offices while the executives occupy the spacious offices. When the executives sit alongside their teams, they will be more in touch with how projects are going and how staff are feeling. In theory, if the executives are ________, employees are more likely to approach them with problems.

But the bosses present all the time may ________ hurt morale. One of the joys of office life is the freedom to enjoy a bit of joking with colleagues. This may include the odd joke about the ________. In the presence of their boss, staff will be ________ in what they talk about and the tone of their comments. They may feel the need to sound serious at all times, for fear that the quality of their commitment to their work come into doubt. ________, the manager may be right behind them.

You also have to wonder whether executives will really spend every morning searching for a place to sit. Some hot desks will be a lot hotter than others. Once the chief financial officer has picked a desk on day one, the junior staff will ________ that particular spot on subsequent days. In contrast, anyone who works closely with a particular executive will be ________ to pick a desk close by.

The lingering（逗留不走的）boss presents other ________. Anyone who has worked in an open-plan office will acknowledge that other colleagues’ talking can make it hard to ________ at times. Managers may find themselves constantly being approached by team members with questions or problems for them to solve. Many people resort to headphones to shut out the background noise and to ________ their unavailability. But if managers do that, they run the risk of seeming shut off from their colleagues.

One study found that at firms that ________ to open-plan design, face-to-face interactions fell by 70%. Like an animal caught on open ground without cover, many people do not like being constantly observed. In the ________ of a physical barrier, they create a fourth wall, ________ their desire for privacy by facial expressions or brief replies to questions.

1.

A．image

B．shift

C．community

D．assembly

2.

A．spill

B．surface

C．suffer

D．survive

3.

A．reliable

B．capable

C．manageable

D．visible

4.

A．initially

B．definitely

C．officially

D．equally

5.

A．management

B．development

C．experiment

D．department

6.

A．unclear

B．unwelcome

C．uneasy

D．unfortunate

7.

A．At least

B．After all

C．In fact

D．In short

8.

A．steer clear of

B．keep track of

C．fall short of

D．get rid of

9.

A．reminded

B．tempted

C．assured

D．warned

10.

A．purposes

B．promises

C．protests

D．problems

11.

A．comment

B．concentrate

C．calculate

D．communicate

12.

A．signal

B．conceal

C．reverse

D．avoid

13.

A．subjected

B．applied

C．switched

D．admitted

14.

A．presence

B．relevance

C．absence

D．preference

15.

A．crediting

B．interpreting

C．substituting

D．indicating

10 . On a September afternoon in 1940, four teenage boys made their way through the woods on a hill overlooking Montignac in southwestern France. They had come to explore a dark, deep hole said to be an underground passage to the nearby manor（庄园）of Lascaux. Squeezing through the entrance one by one, they soon saw wonderfully lifelike paintings of running horses, swimming deer, wounded wild oxen, and other beings—works of art that may be up to 20,000 years old.

The collection of paintings in Lascaux is among some 150 prehistoric sites dating from the Paleolithic period（旧石器时代）that have been documented in France's Vezere Valley. This corner of southwestern Europe seems to have been a hot spot for figurative art. The biggest discovery since Lascaux occurred in December 1994, when three cave explorers laid eyes on artworks that had not been seen since a rockslide 22,000 years ago closed off a large deep cave in southern France. Here, by unsteadily shining firelight, prehistoric artists drew outlines of cave lions, herds of rhinos（犀牛）and magnificent wild oxen, horses, cave bears. In all, the artists drew 442 animals over perhaps thousands of years, using nearly 400,000 square feet of cave surface as their canvas（画布）. The site, now known as Chauvet-Pont-1'Arc Cave, is sometimes considered the Sistine Chapel of prehistory.

For decades scholars had theorized that art had advanced in slow stages from ancient scratchings to lively, naturalistic interpretation. Surely the delicate shading and elegant lines of Chauvet's masterworks placed them at the top of that progression. Then carbon dates came in, and prehistorians felt shocked. At some 36,000 years old—nearly twice as old as those in Lascaux—Chauvet's images represented not the peak of prehistoric art but its earliest known beginnings.

The search for the world's oldest cave paintings continues. On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, for example, scientists found a large room of paintings of part-human, part-animal beings that are estimated to be 44,000 years old, older than any figurative art seen in Europe.

Scholars don't know if art was invented many times over or if it was a skill developed early in our evolution. What we do know is that artistic expression runs deep in our ancestry.

1. According to the passage, where did the boys find the paintings?

A．In the woods on a hill	B．In a deep cave in France.
C．In a manor of Lascaux.	D．On an Indonesian island

2. According to the passage, figurative art in paragraph 2 is a form of art that_____________.

A．conveys concepts by using accurate numbers and forms

B．makes stories in contrast to scientific subjects

C．represents persons or things in a realistic way

D．expresses ideas or feelings by using shapes and patterns

3. It can be inferred from the passage that_____________.

A．the Chauvet's paintings had been sealed by a rockslide until 1994

B．the style of Chauvet's paintings is similar to that of the Sistine Chapel

C．Chauvet's images are the earliest figurative paintings that have been found

D．the main objects of Chauvet's images are part-human, part-animal beings

4. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A．Value of Paleolithic Artwork	B．Preservation of Figurative Art
C．Artistic Expressions of Nature	D．Searches for Cave Paintings