1 . Zelda Fitzgerald, as is revealed by numerous personal books and letters, wore many labels in her life. She was “the original flapper girl” and “the spirit of the Jazz Age.” Married to the celebrated writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (author of The Gireat Giatsby), she was by turns his muse and the woman who ruined his life. In her later years she was “Crazy Zelda”.
Accurate as all these descriptions may be, they do not tell the whole story. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she was noted for her beauty and high spirits in dancing. In July 1918, at a country club dance, Fitzgerald was hooked immediately by the beautiful and charming 18-year-old Zelda who out-shined(使逊色)other beauties with her distinguished ballet. A light affection evolved into a lengthy long-distance pursuit of weekly letters, with Fitzgerald aware of her uncommitted dating of other men. He courted her after his discharge from the Army in February 1919, but Zelda had doubts. Her fiance wasn't rich and there was no guarantee he’d ever be famous. His short stories didn’t sell. His apartment was a dump. Zelda gave back the ring. Hoping to fix the “no money” part of his problem. Fitzgerald quit the job and started to rewrite novels for success and money so that he could win back his girl. Finally, he made it! On March 20, 1920, his novel This Side of Paradise got published and Zelda agreed to marry him.
However, their marriage was troubled by wild drinking, fighting, infidelity(不忠实)and bitter recriminations. Emest Hemingway, whom Zelda disliked, blamed her for Scot’s declining literary output, though she has also been portrayed as the victim of an overbearing husbano Actually. Zelda was also creative, pursuing both dancing and writing. Some scholars have portrayed Zelda as a creative talent ignored by the patriarchal(男权的)society of the day. Her inspiration was even drawn by her husband in literary creation-Scott used their relationship as material in his novels, even borrowing episodes from Zelda’s diary and applying them into his fictional writings. She detested(讨厌)her husband’s practice: “Mr. Fitzgerald-I believe that is how he spells his name-seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home.” To seek an artistic identity of her own value, as she put it “I wish I could write a beautiful book to break those hearts that are soon to cease to exist.”
Nevertheless her unique personality was starting to seem more unbalanced than charming. The couple-like the rest of the nation-was living on borrowed time. In October 1929 the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression. Six months later, Zelda suffered her first nervous breakdown. After being diagnosed with schizophrenia（精神分裂), she was increasingly confined to specialist clinics, and since then has departed with her husband. Zelda died later in a fire at her hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, putting an end to her flamboyant(绚丽夺目的)life. A young woman, especially one in the 1920s, who was against traditional dress and behavior.
1. Where will you most probably find this article?| A．In a newspaper. | B．In a literary magazine. |
| C．In a prepared speech | D．In a research report. |
| A．Ideal partnership | B．Unbalanced love relationship. |
| C．Love-hate relationship. | D．Mutually-jealous relationship |
| A．copying | B．adaption |
| C．reference | D．imagination |
| A．Fitzgerald successfully won Zelda’s heart by reading her his novels and writing her weekly letters. |
| B．Hemingway disliked Zelda because of her female identity and talent that outshined her husband. |
| C．Zelda was glad to be her husband’s muse and provided him with literary materials. |
| D．The “Crazy Zelda” died without Fitzgerald’s companion after severe schizophrenia. |
| A. threatened B. enthusiastically C. charge D. viewed E. command F. satisfy G. undoubtedly H. approval I. favorable J. treasured K. considerable |
Public image doesn't make money directly. nor is it anything visible. However, excellent public image is such an important thing that it is
A firm's public image plays a vital role in the attraction of the firm and its products to employees, customers, and to such outsiders as stockholders, supplies, creditors (贷款方), government officials, as well as different special groups. With some things it is impossible to
A firm's public image, if it is good, should be
3 . Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to create similar conditions to the natural incubation (孵化) of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity (湿度) of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird’s skin to the top of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature difference may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature difference. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest changes into gas, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird’s method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the survivability of the hatching chicks.
When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to protect eggs against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo (胚胎) can no longer survive Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo.
Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?| A．Nesting material varies according to the parrots’ environment. |
| B．Humidity is an important factor in incubating parrots’ eggs. |
| C．Aviculturists have constructed the ideal nest box for parrots. |
| D．Wild parrots’ nests provide information useful for artificial incubation. |
| A．there may be a good chance for successful incubation |
| B．the incubating parent moves the egg to a new position |
| C．the embryo will not develop normally |
| D．the incubation process is slowed down |
| A．provide a beneficial source of humidity in the nest |
| B．loosen the materials at the bottom of the nest |
| C．keep the nest in a clean condition |
| D．touch the bottom of the eggs |
| A．They are expensive to operate. |
| B．They are unable to heat the eggs evenly. |
| C．They lack the natural temperature changes. |
| D．They fail to transfer heat to eggs like parent birds do. |
A Really Determined Person Will Always Succeed
Many job seekers feel limited by the choices they made at college or university. They may think that because they studied marketing, all they can ever do is work in marketing. All the evidence shows that, in fact, employers are less interested in acquired knowledge than the ability to think and learn. It is also very difficult to predict the needs of society. For example, if a person chose to study dentistry because there was a lack of dentists when they were in high school, that may not be the case when they graduate. The needs of employers and the economy can change very quickly, and often unexpectedly.
Of course, if it is a very tough time economically, it is hard to find employment straight after university, but it is by no means impossible. It might take several months longer to find a job after graduating, but there is work out there. My chosen career has always been competitive, but I never thought about the other people going for the same jobs. It may be human nature to compare your progress to your peers, but perhaps the best advice would be to try not to. Be focused on what you want and how you are going to get it. After all, it may appear that a friend who has a really well- paid job is doing well, but how do you know what their job is actually like?
A really key piece of advice is never get downhearted by rejection, because there will probably be a lot. You can achieve your dream job, whatever it is. You must never give up. Be prepared to work hard and for long hours without necessarily climbing up the career ladder. There is a lot to be said for learning your ' trade' from the bottom up. At the start, there will probably be little money, but it will be worth it in the end. The best jobs are not supposed to be easy—that is what makes them challenging. And if you like a challenge, just keep your head down and go for it.
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| A. adequate B. continentally C. dominated D. enforcement E. historically F. home G. location H. performing I. reuniting J. sought K. status |
Locally Extinct Rhino Is Back in Chad
Pigs don’t fly yet, but rhinos do.
Six black rhinoceroses were flown from South Africa to Zakouma National Park in Chad last week,
Chad is one of several African countries that have recently
Up until the mid-20th century, black rhinos
Cathy Dean, chief executive officer of Save the Rhino, an advocacy group, said six black rhinos were not significant in the context of the 5,000 or so that exist
According to the African Wildlife Foundation, 98 percent of the current black rhino population exists in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Namibia. South Africa, which is
Zakouma National Park will be responsible for protecting the rhinos from poachers and providing them with a(n)
Transporting the animals to create a new population is a plan that can prove effective, Ms. Dean said “Some subspecies are
But moving the rhinos to a place where they once were and no longer are isn’t enough. The population must be managed and protected, and law
6 . Shining just 12 light-years from Earth, the star Tau Ceti so resembles the sun that it has appeared in numerous science- fiction stories and was the first star astronomers ever searched for signs of intelligent life, half a century ago. In 2012 Tau Ceti grew still more interesting when astronomers reported five possible planets somewhat larger than Earth circling closer to the star than Mars orbits (围绕……运动) the sun—one of which is in the star’s habitable zone. Newly released images taken by the Herschel Space Observatory provide even more insight about Tau Ceti’s solar system: greater detail about its dust belt.
Dust arises when asteroids and comets (小行星和彗星) crash into one another, so its location reveals where these dust- creating objects—which are too small to be seen directly—orbit a star. In Tau Ceti’s case, “it’s quite a wide dust belt,” says Samantha Lawler of the University of Victoria in British Columbia. As her team reported in November, the belt’s inner edge is roughly two to three astronomical units (AUs) from the star, which is the position of our own sun’s asteroid belt. (An AU is the distance from Earth to the sun.) Tau Ceti’s dust belt extends out to 55 AU, which would be just beyond our system’s main Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, the zone of small bodies whose largest member is probably Pluto. Presumably full of asteroids and comets, Tau Ceti’s dust belt most likely lacks a planet as large as Jupiter, Lawler says. The gravity of such a massive planet would have driven away most small space rocks.
Within a year a new series of radio telescopes in Chile called ALMA should provide a sharper view of the disk, especially of its inner edge. The ALMA images will help astronomers confirm whether the star’s five proposed planets are indeed real. If the disk overlaps the planets’ hypothesized (假设的) orbits, then they probably do not exist; they would have kept away most asteroids near the star, removing the source of dust.
If those planets do exist, however, Lawler’s team suggests that Tau Ceti’s planetary system may resemble what our solar system would have looked like had the four giant planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune- never formed: small planets orbiting close to the star, and nothing but asteroids, comets and dust beyond.
1. According to astronomers, the five possible planets of Tau Ceti________.| A．resembled Earth in size |
| B．functioned like a solar system |
| C．were located in Tau Ceti’s habitable zone |
| D．were nearer to Tau Ceti than Mars to the sun |
| A．It is narrower than the asteroid belt in our system. |
| B．The bodies inside it are all smaller than Jupiter. |
| C．The gravity of Tau Ceti makes it get denser. |
| D．It is over 55 astronomical units in width. |
| A．they don’t move into the dust belt while orbiting Tau Ceti |
| B．they have kept away most asteroids and comets |
| C．they don’t crash into any asteroid or comet |
| D．they can be seen clearly by ALMA |
| A．is useful because it stops asteroids or comets crashing into the star |
| B．makes Tau Ceti different from the sun because it extends farther |
| C．is interesting because it keeps other planets away from Tau Ceti |
| D．plays a role in helping decide whether the five planets are real |
It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving
He was waiting for a call from the President of a far distant country, and
This particular opponent had appeared on the news that very day, not only to list all the terrible things that had happened in the last week (as though anyone needed reminding)
The Prime Minister's pulse quickened
8 . Most animal species in the world have developed some sort of natural camouflage that helps them find food and avoid attack. The specific nature of this camouflage varies considerably from species to species.
Camouflage develops differently depending on the physiology and behavior of an animal.
An animal's environment is often the most important factor in what the camouflage looks like. The simplest camouflage technique is for an animal to match the "background" of its surroundings.
Since the ultimate goal of camouflage is to hide from other animals, the physiology and behavior of an animal's predators or prey is highly significant.
In addition to background-matching coloration, many animals have distinctive designs on their bodies that serve to conceal them. These designs, which might be spots, stripes or a group of patches, can help the animal in a couple of ways. First, they may match the pattern of "the model", the background of the animal's surroundings. Second, they may serve as visual disruptions. Usually, the patterns are positioned out-of-line with the body's contours (外形).
Other animals use a more aggressive sort of mimicry. Several moth species have developed striking designs on their wings that resemble the eyes of a larger animal. The back of the hawk moth caterpillar actually looks like a snake head, a frightening visage for most predators he moth would come across.
Mimicry is a different approach than ordinary camouflage, but it works toward the same end. By developing a certain appearance, an animal species makes itself a harder target for predators and a sneakier hunter for prey. As animal species evolve, they become more and more in tune with their environment.
| A．Often, these sorts of adaptations are more effective survival tools than an animal's more aggressive weapons of defense (teeth, claws, beaks). |
| B．This disruptive coloration is particularly effective when animals in a species are grouped together. |
| C．For example, an animal that swims in large schools underwater will develop different camouflage than one that swings alone through the tees. |
| D．An animal will not develop any camouflage that does not help it survive. |
| E．In this case, the various elements of the natural habitat may be referred to as the "model" for the camouflage. |
| F．That is, the pattern seems to be a separate design superimposed on top of the animal. |
9 . A breed of upstart apps is taking on an internet function that might seem unneeded or even ill—advised: helping teens talk to strangers.
Branded as “social discovery” services, these apps pitch themselves as alternatives to outlets that already specialize in online connections, like Facebook and Instagram. They say they are better at helping young users meet like —minded people outside their existing circles. And they say they have safeguards, such as separating users by age and using artificial intelligence, to protect against their appropriate or unsafe behavior that has plagued previous attempts to connect young people online.
Their user numbers suggest that, whether they succeed in striking the right balance, apps like Yubo and Hoop are tapping into a need among teens and 20 —somethings for new ways to branch out online.
“There is no place today to socialize online,” says Sacha Lazimi, the 26—year—old French co—founder of Yubo, which connects strangers with messaging and live streaming.
It is a counterintuitive statement for anyone who had seen teens sending Snaps rapid fire to their friends, responding to videos on TikToK, Face Timing for hours, or using Instagram. But Mr. Lazimi thinks those platforms allow for too much passive participation. “Snapchat, Instagram and Tik Tok are all about performance, content and individual”, he says.
Yubo features a swiping interface similar to that of Tinder. But Mr. Lazimi insists it is not adating app. The point, he says, is to facilitate communication between people all over the world who share mutual interests. Yubo isn’t present everywhere in the lives of American teens yet —and may be never will be—but the company says the app has 25 million users signed up, with nearly half of daily use now coming from America.
But some of these apps have also been the subject of safety concerns. Yubo has also faced its own safety challenges. In Florida, law—enforcement officially say they arrested a man who reportedly lured a teenager through Yubo.
In a statement, Yubo said that the prevention of child abuse has been a key priority for the past three years. “Yubo recognizes its responsibility in protecting young people using its service and has gone far beyond many of the main social media services.”
However, actually teens are doing more to protect themselves than many give them credit for, says Dr. Hinduja. “They are doing something to keep themselves safe or we would have strikingly more victimization than we do.”
1. In this passage, the word “plagued” (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to________| A．highlighted | B．justified | C．troubled | D．extended |
| A．compare the various functions different apps boast |
| B．state the necessity for the emergence of apps like Yubo |
| C．clarify the reason for their being replaced by other apps |
| D．prove the importance of active participation in communication |
| A．Instagram has lost its appeal to teens and 20—somethings. |
| B．Yubo fails to do more than enough to protect teenagers. |
| C．Hoop is intended for communication among colleges. |
| D．Tinder is a dating app exclusively used in America. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Indifferent. | C．Prejudiced. | D．Negative |
10 . Washing the dishes can help you live longer in later years
Even a small increase in light activity, such as washing dishes or a little gentle gardening, might help lower the risk of an early death among older adults, researchers say.
“It is important for elderly people, who might not be able to do much moderate intensity activity, that just moving around and doing light intensity activity will have strong effects and is beneficial,” said Ulf Ekelund, a professor and first author of the study at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. However, the study finds that there is more “bang for your buck” if you engage in intense activity compared with light activity.
Published in the BMJ, the latest research involved a review of eight studies encompassing a total of more than 36,000 people with an average age of almost 63 years. Participants were followed for five to six years; 2,149 deaths were recorded. Crucially, all of the studies involved monitoring the physical activity of individuals who had activity trackers.
For each study participants were split into four equal-sized groups, based on the total amount of time spent active, and the risk of death assessed, taking into account factors such as age, gender, body mass index, and socioeconomic status. This was then repeated for an amount of activity at different levels of intensity. The results were analysed together to give an overview.
| A．It is said that higher levels of any physical activity help keep off an early grave. |
| B．The studies did not rely on self-reporting, which, the experts noted, could be unreliable. |
| C．The latest study backs up previous research suggesting reducing time spent sitting still is beneficial. |
| D．However, the study had limitations. |
| E．A short period of intense activity is viewed as beneficial as much longer periods of lesser activity. |
| F．The team found a greater volume of activity overall was linked to a lower risk of death. |
