Every Day’s a Gift
One day, while I was watching Good Morning America, the news reporter, Robin Roberts, closed the morning show with this, “All you gentlemen, fifty years and older, should make it a point to get a PSA test. It is a simple blood test and could save your life.”
I called my doctor’s office that very morning to confirm what Robin had said. So, I made an appointment to have it done. Ten days later, my doctor told me, “Ray, you are a very healthy seventy-two-year-old. However, we got the result of your PSA test. It is high, and you probably have prostate (前列腺) cancer. I want to do a couple of biopsies (活检) to confirm it.”
When the biopsies came back, I was called into the office once again. “You definitely have prostate cancer,” the doctor said. He explained to me the various treatment options that were available. After hearing the various treatments and their after-effects, I decided to have the prostate removed and get rid of the cancer entirely, as it had not spread yet.
After going through several pre-surgery tests, I was scheduled to be the first one to undergo the new Da Vinci method of removing prostate operation. Due to my old age and the first operation of its kind in the local hospital, a medical expert had been assigned to monitor the situation.
My surgery was successful. All the cancer had been removed. The next day, I was allowed to leave the hospital with the post-operative instructions and directions on how to do exercise to strengthen my muscles. I soon learned that all my functions were working well. What was even better was that my PSA level was zero.
One morning afterward, my wife and I spotted a sign by the road requesting volunteers for Suncoast Hospice (收容所) of Florida. We decided it was time to give back for our good fortune and recovery from the operation.
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。
After six informative classes, we became volunteers for Suncoast Hospice.
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With the permission of the patient’s nurse, we might bring cookies, books or flowers to the resident.
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2 . In mammals, loud calls usually serve as alarm signals that warn fellow species of an enemy or other danger. On the other hand, screams from humans can have very different meanings, as Swiss researchers now report in the journal “PLoS Biology”. Human’s screams are not always only associated with negative emotions such as fear, pain, anger and grief, but also positive emotions such as joy and pleasure.
Sascha Frühholz and his colleagues from the University of Zurich studied how many types of human screams there are, how accurately test subjects can distinguish them, and which brain regions are involved in processing such sound signals. To do this, they first made sound recordings of different screams. Twelve men and women were to put themselves in situations where they reacted with a brief scream. The predetermined situations included, for example: an attack by an armed stranger, celebration about a sporting victory of their favorite team, the threat of an opponent.
From the recordings, the researchers finally selected 420 screams. From this, they identified six distinct categories of screams, including three of alarming characters (cries of pain, anger, and fear) and three non-alarming screams (as expressions of great pleasure, extreme joy, and desperate sadness). Contrary to all expectations, the subjects reacted to non-alarming screams more quickly and recognized the emotion expressed with it more reliably than with alarming screams. This was also confirmed by images of the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI).
Until now, researchers assumed that humans also detect and process perceived alarm signals particularly quickly in the form of screams, as this is an important survival mechanism, says Frühholz. But unlike monkeys and other mammals, non-alarming screams would have become more important for communication. “This changed priority is probably due to needs that have evolved in the evolution of complex human social relationships.”
1. What does the text mainly talk about?| A．Human’s screams expressions. | B．An experiment launched in screams. |
| C．Loud calls as a survival mechanism. | D．Mammals’ loud calls served as alarm signals. |
| A．Cries of pain. | B．Anger. | C．Fear. | D．Desperate sadness. |
| A．Monkeys are not sensitive to non-alarming screams. |
| B．Humans survive because of quick reaction to screams. |
| C．Non-alarming screams gain priority because of human’s revolution. |
| D．Non-alarming screams make human social relationships more complex. |
| A．To spread and advocate. | B．To argue and discuss. |
| C．To compare and inform. | D．To recommend and introduce. |
I remember the hot summer when my friends and I discovered ice cream sandwiches at the corner store. They were ten cents apiece, a lot of money back then. I don’t remember how we came to buy one and taste it, but we were mad after that. Of course, none of us had any money. Whether we rode our bikes, or played ball, or sat and played cards, we talked and dreamed about those soft, creamy sandwiches.
My dad worked nights, coming home to join us for breakfast, and then sleeping till late afternoon. When he came home one morning, I heard the jingle (叮当声) of change in his pants and something ugly slowly came into my mind. That change was just what we needed, what I had to have. All day long I kept coming into the house and listening at his door. When I heard his sleeping sounds, I cracked the door. And there hanging at the foot of the bed were those pants. I slipped in and took a handful of change. It was enough for my friends and me to buy an ice cream sandwich, which we ate like greedy pigs. And I became a hero to my band of friends.
That went on every day for about two weeks. I had gotten good at slipping in and slipping out, and then ran to my friends and we headed to the store.
One day there was no change in dad’s pocket so I felt for his wallet, hesitated a moment, and then took out two whole dollars. I had been okay with taking the change, but those dollars made my face hot. Even before we began enjoying sandwiches, my stomach felt sick. The importance and joy I had felt buying for my friends was gone. If dad knew what I had done, he’d kill me.
注意:1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.开头已给出。
Paragraph 1:
Early that afternoon, I hid myself in our basement, crying.
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Paragraph 2:
In a moment I would never forget, he said, “Son, I’ve known since the first day you took the money.”
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I grew up in a small town where the primary school was a ten-minute walk from my house. When the noon bell rang, I would race breathlessly home. My mother would be standing at the top of the stairs, smiling down at me.
One lunchtime when I was in the third grade will stay with me always. I had been picked to be the princess in the school play, and for weeks my mother had rehearsed (排练) my lines so hard with me. But no matter how easily I acted at home, as soon as I stepped onstage, every word disappeared from my head. Finally, my teacher took me aside. She explained that she had written a narrator’s (旁白的) part to the play, and asked me to change roles. Her words, kindly expressed, still hurt, especially when I saw my part go to another girl.
I didn’t tell my mother what had happened when I went home for lunch that day. But she sensed my pain. Instead of suggesting we practice my lines, she asked if I wanted to walk in the yard.
It was a lovely spring day and the rose vine (藤蔓) was turning green. Under the huge trees, we could see yellow dandelions (蒲公英) in the grass in bunch, as if a painter had touched our landscape with gold. I watched my mother casually bend down by one dandelion. “I think I’m going to dig up all these weeds,” she said, pulling it up by its roots. “From now on, we’ll have only roses in this garden.”
“But I like dandelions,” I protested. “All flowers are beautiful-even dandelions.”
My mother looked at me seriously. “Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?” She asked thoughtfully. I nodded, pleased that I had won her over. “And that is true of people too,” she added. “Not everyone can be a princess, but there is no shame in that.” Relieved that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry as I told her what had happened. She listened and smiled.
注意：1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Paragraph 1
“But you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said, encouraging and comforting me as usual.
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Paragraph 2
After the play, I took home the flower.
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It was a dark night in Texas when Luke Armstrong drove into town. He had a lot of things on his mind, and he was driving slowly, thinking of solutions to his problems. He had a sick daughter named Anne, and he was worried she would give in to her illness before he could gather enough money to pay for the surgery (外科手术).
Suddenly, he noticed a flashy sports car parked by the side of the road. It looked like it had a broken tire, but Luke couldn’t be too sure. He passed it without giving it a second thought and continued down the road.
He was so lost in thought that he almost missed the prone (俯卧的) figure of a human lying just by the side of the road. “What is it?” he said to himself and his truck stopped beside the figure.
It was a woman, and she was weak. Luke immediately knew he had to help her as soon as possible. He noticed her expensive outfit as he lifted her. “Perhaps she owns the fancy car I saw a few minutes ago,” Luke said to himself as he moved her to his truck and turned on the heater.
He noticed that she seemed to be having trouble breathing, so he called 911 and reported his exact location as well as the predicament (困境) he found the woman in.
Soon the ambulance came, and the woman was carried away.
After checking on his daughter the next day, Luke decided to see how the woman he rescued was feeling. He had been told she was getting treated in the same hospital. It turned out that she was no longer in danger. She was very grateful for his kindness. After learning about his daughter, she expressed great sympathy (同情).
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。
A week passed with Luke trying his best to work something out for his child.
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Who might be kind enough to pay for the surgery?
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注意：1.写作词数应为80左右；不得透露考生的姓名，学校等真实信息；
2.请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
China in 100 Years
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7 . Don’t you just hate it when you have to answer an important phone call and you’re surrounded by potential eavesdropper (偷听者) ? You either have to whisper or go outside to keep the conversation private. Now, a new device (设备) aims to solve this problem by blocking your voice.
Hushme is a high - tech mask (口罩) that blocks the sound of the wearer’s voice. It connects to your phone by Bluetooth. It also comes with a pair of earphones. When you get a private call, all you have to do is put the mask on and it will do a good job of blocking your voice. But to ensure nothing gets through, Hushme also features external speakers that play a variety of sounds when you speak.
The Hushme mask comes in a variety of colors. It can be worn around the neck, like a regular pair of earphones. It attaches in front of your mouth thanks to a couple of very powerful magnets (磁铁). The sound options for covering your voice currently include the wind, ocean, rain, bird, monkey, squirrel, R2D2, laughing Minion and Darth Vader breath, but new ones could be added in the future. While Hushme is promoted as a phone call privacy protection device, you could always use it to protect your ears from loud mouth co - workers at the office. Just put this baby over their mouths and you can go on with your work.
Advertised as the “world’s first voice mask for mobile phones”, Hushme was shown at Centre for Environmental Studies (CES) at the beginning of this year. It’s not commercially available yet, but its makers plan to start a crowdfunding campaign, and to start selling it by the end of the year. Engadget reports that it will cost around $ 200.
1. What is the major function of the high - tech mask?| A．Offering you all kinds of pleasant sounds. | B．Blocking your voice to keep calls private. |
| C．Protecting you from serious air pollution. | D．Making your voice sound more beautiful. |
| A．Consumers can’t buy Hushme now. | B．There were no voice masks in the past. |
| C．CES is a company that produces masks. | D．Engadget will spend $ 200 buying masks. |
| A．Hushme makes your phone a safe device. |
| B．One can monitor others’ phone by Hushme. |
| C．Hushme can keep your phone from being stolen. |
| D．Hushme assures you of your phone calls’ privacy. |
| A．A course plan. | B．An exam paper. |
| C．A scientific journal. | D．An advertisement poster. |
8 . Buildings with windows filled with water could save energy greatly, according to researchers backing the new technology.
Traditional glass windows increase the heat and temperature in the room in summers, and let the heat inside escape in winters, resulting in more electricity consumed for air-conditioners and more carbon emissions (排放). Now, researchers at Loughborough University (UK) have created a water-filled window that can overcome these problems.
The “water-filled glass” (WFG) system, designed by Dr. Matyas Gutai, involves a sheet of water being trapped between a panel (嵌板) of glass, and the water is practically invisible. The windows are connected to an indoor storage tank (箱) using pipes hidden in the walls, allowing water to flow easily between the windows and the tank.
This system allows the house to cool and reheat themselves automatically. When sunlight streams through the glass, the windows keep the buildings cool as the water takes in external and internal heat. This warm water then flows back to the tank. And when the outdoor temperature drops, the stored warm water is brought back to the walls to reheat the building using a monitoring system similar to central heating. The heated water can also be used for domestic (家用的) purposes. Although some electricity is required to pump the water back and forth, it uses much less energy than traditional air-conditioners or heaters.
Dr. Gutai claimed that WFG can save energy from 47% to 72% compared to when using traditional windows. Once launched into the market, the windows will surely make a real splash, appealing to a large crowd of environmentalists and contributing to reducing our carbon footprint. Currently, the inventor team is testing the windows in two areas with different weather conditions. The research reveals that WFG systems perform well in any inhabited climate—keeping buildings in hot climates cool and buildings in cool settings warm—without requiring an additional energy supply.
1. What’s the weakness of traditional glass windows?| A．They are easy to break into. | B．They release carbon dioxide. |
| C．They fail to trap the heat. | D．They lead to more energy consumption. |
| A．The structure of the WFG system. |
| B．The working process of the WFG system. |
| C．The advantages of water-filled windows. |
| D．The appearance of water-filled windows. |
| A．It is operated by man. |
| B．It needs no electricity at all. |
| C．It recycles the water in many ways. |
| D．It reheats the house via central heating. |
| A．Make a big fortune. | B．Draw lots of attention. |
| C．Form a huge waterfall. | D．Take immediate effect. |
9 . Recently my wife and I were flying across the country and were about to board our plane when a woman sitting across from us at the gate had a medical
The woman, Jackie,
In one hand I held her and with my other hand I
I stood up
Fortunately, Jackie just needed someone to listen to her and
| A．exam | B．card | C．report | D．condition |
| A．track | B．sight | C．control | D．memory |
| A．changed | B．introduced | C．considered | D．pretended |
| A．ordered | B．needed | C．arranged | D．prepared |
| A．pointed | B．showed | C．believed | D．explained |
| A．felt | B．checked | C．covered | D．supported |
| A．yes | B．much | C．hello | D．sorry |
| A．lift | B．buy | C．mark | D．request |
| A．safely | B．quickly | C．actively | D．secretly |
| A．for | B．against | C．before | D．after |
| A．liked | B．tried | C．agreed | D．remembered |
| A．fine | B．ready | C．outgoing | D．friendly |
| A．pay | B．beg | C．fight | D．look |
| A．doctors | B．helpers | C．strangers | D．managers |
| A．opinions | B．battles | C．decisions | D．mistakes |
10 . Doctors have long advised patients to do physical activity to help keep their brains healthy. New research suggests that even a simple exercise program might help older people with light memory problems.
Researchers found around 300 inactive older adults with memory changes called mild cognitive impairment(MCI) (轻度认知障碍). Half of the older adults did aerobic (有氧) exercises, and the rest did light exercise that raised their heart rates a little.
“After a year, testing of cognitive skills showed neither group had worsened.” said lead researcher Laura Baker of Wake Forest School of Medicine in the state of North Carolina. “Brain examinations did not show the shrinkage (收缩) that often goes with worsening memory problems.”
By comparison, similar MCI patients in another long-term study of brain health—but without exercise—experienced cognitive reduction over a year.
The results suggest “this is doable for everybody—not just seniors healthy enough to work up a hard sweat,” said Baker at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. “Exercise needs to be part of the prevention strategies for at-risk seniors.”
The new study is especially interesting because the COVID-19 pandemic (疫情) began halfway through the study. That meant the study members became separated from others. Less social contact has long been known to increase people’s risk of memory problems. “For me, to show that we have a positive message even during a pandemic means that it could be a believable finding in the situation of other challenging life events,” Baker said.
1. What does the new research find?| A．Light exercise protects the brain of MCI older people. |
| B．Doctors have long given wrong advice on brain health. |
| C．Light memory problems can be solved after a programme. |
| D．People’s memory problem comes from poor exercise habits. |
| A．Why the adults were chosen. | B．Who took part in the research. |
| C．How the study was carried out. | D．What the research was based on. |
| A．The pandemic stopped the research halfway. |
| B．The influence of the pandemic was rather bad. |
| C．The study members were interested in the pandemic. |
| D．The pandemic proved the finding is more dependable. |
