1 . Inconvenient Truths

If doctors lie, it is surely inexcusable. One of the basic_________ the public have of doctors is honesty. But what would you think if I told you that research has shown that 70 per cent of doctors   _________ to lying to their patients? If I am honest, I have told lies to my patients.

Mrs Walton was in her eighties and _________ to see her husband. She would try to get up to find him, despite being at risk of falling. “He’s on his way, don’t worry,” the nurses would say this to calm her down. I said the same thing to her. But it was a lie. He died two years ago. The truth, if I can use that word, is that it is a _________ to lie sometimes.

Mrs Walton is one of the dementia (痴呆) sufferers, who lose their short-term memory and the memory of_________ events, but hold memories from the distant past. Sufferers are trapped forever in a confusing past that many realize bears little   _________ to the present, but are at a loss to explain. Those with dementia often feel upset, scared and confused that they are in a strange place, _________ by strange people, even when they are in their own homes with their family, because they have gone back to decades ago.

They look at their adult children   _________ and wonder who they could be because they think their children are still little kids. I have had countless families break down in tears, not knowing how to react as their loved one moves further away from them back into their distant past and they are   _________ in the present. And how, as the doctor or nurse caring for these patients, does one manage the anger and outbursts of distress that comes with having no   __________ of your life for the past ten or 20 years? The lies that doctors, nurses and families tell these patients are not big, elaborate lies — they are   __________ comforts intended to calm and allow the subject to be swiftly changed.

__________ with them about this false reality is not heartless or unprofessional — it is actually kind. That’s not to say that lying to patients with dementia__________ is right or defensible. But what kind-hearted person would put another human being through the unimaginable pain of learning, ________ again and again, that they have lost their beloved ones. It would be an unthinkable cruelness.

Sometimes honesty is __________ not the best policy.

1.

A．expressions

B．expectations

C．reputations

D．regulations

2.

A．objected

B．contributed

C．admitted

D．appealed

3.

A．ashamed

B．delighted

C．nervous

D．desperate

4.

A．cruelty

B．kindness

C．pain

D．pleasure

5.

A．recent

B．popular

C．distant

D．major

6.

A．opposition

B．connection

C．attention

D．similarity

7.

A．attacked

B．isolated

C．surrounded

D．attracted

8.

A．puzzled

B．satisfied

C．amused

D．motivated

9.

A．cut off

B．thrown away

C．put down

D．left behind

10.

A．knowledge

B．control

C．imagination

D．record

11.

A．brief

B．constant

C．permanent

D．secret

12.

A．Competing

B．Plotting

C．Matching

D．Mixing

13.

A．unnecessarily

B．inaccurately

C．impatiently

D．impolitely

14.

A．ahead of time

B．in no time

C．for the last time

D．for the first time

15.

A．mostly

B．informally

C．simply

D．finally

2 . As Frans de Waal, a primatologist (灵长动物学家), recognizes, a better way to think about other creatures would be to ask ourselves how different species have developed different kinds of minds to solve different adaptive problems. Surely the important question is not whether animals can do the same things humans can, but how those animals solve the cognitive (认知的) problems they face, like how to imitate the sea floor. Children and some animals are so interesting not because they are smart like us, but because they are smart in ways we haven’t even considered.

Sometimes studying children’s ways of knowing can cast light on adult-human cognition. Children’s pretend play may help us understand our adult taste for fiction. De Waal’s research provides another interesting example. We human beings tend to think that our social relationships are rooted in our perceptions, beliefs, and desires, and our understanding of the perceptions, beliefs, and desires of others — what psychologists call our “theory of mind.” In the 80s and 90s, developmental psychologists showed that pre-schoolers and even infants understand minds apart from their own. But it was hard to show that other animals did the same. “Theory of mind” became a candidate for the special, uniquely human trick.

Yet de Waal’s studies show that chimps (黑猩猩) possess a remarkably developed political intelligence — they are much interested in figuring out social relationships. It turns out, as de Waal describes, that chimps do infer something about what other chimps see. But experimental studies also suggest that this happens only in a competitive political context. The evolutionary anthropologist (人类学家) Brain Hare and his colleagues gave a junior chimp a choice between pieces of food that a dominant chimp had seen hidden and other pieces it had not seen hidden. The junior chimp, who watched all the hiding, stayed away from the food the dominant chimp had seen, but took the food it hadn’t seen.

Anyone who has gone to an academic conference will recognize that we may be in the same situation. We may say that we sign up because we’re eager to find out what other human beings think, but we’re just as interested in who’s on top. Many of the political judgments we make there don’t have much to do with our theory of mind. We may show our respect to a famous professor even if we have no respect for his ideas.

Until recently, however, there wasn’t much research into how humans develop and employ this kind of political knowledge. It may be that we understand the social world in terms of dominance, like chimps, but we’re just not usually as politically motivated as they are. Instead of asking whether we have a better everyday theory of mind, we might wonder whether they have a better everyday theory of politics.

1. According to the first paragraph, which of the following shows that an animal is smart?

A．It can behave like a human kid.

B．It can imitate what human beings do.

C．It can find a solution to its own problem.

D．It can figure out those adaptive problems.

2. Which of the following statements best illustrates our “theory of mind”?

A．We talk with infants in a way that they can fully understand.

B．We make guesses at what others think while interacting with them.

C．We hide our emotions when we try establishing contact with a stranger.

D．We try to understand how kids’ pretend play affects our taste for fiction.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Neither human nor animals display their preference for dominance.

B．Animals living in a competitive political context are smarter.

C．Both humans and some animals have political intelligence.

D．Humans are more interested in who’s on top than animals.

4. By the underlined sentence in the last paragraph, the writer means that ________.

A．we know little about how chimps are politically motivated

B．our political knowledge doesn’t always determine how we behave

C．our theory of mind might enable us to understand our theory of politics

D．more research should be conducted to understand animals’ social world

3 . Globalization has significantly influenced food consumption in most parts of world, but one country whose food has a long history of being globalized is Italy. If you walk down any main street in any major world city, you will find at least one Italian restaurant. Furthermore, Italy has seen changes in its own eating habits due to influence from other countries.

Food has always been very important for Italian families. Italians take a lot of pride in the making and preparation of food. Until recently, pastas — a basic Italian food — would have been made by people in their local area. Families would also have made the sauces to eat with the pasta at home.     1    

Nowadays, however, Italian eating habits appear to have changed. People no longer spend so much time preparing their meals. Indeed, frozen or takeaway Italian meals have become very popular in Italy. Furthermore, dried pasta is now mass-produced and sold relatively cheaply in the last five years, according to one manufacturer.     2     This trend is more common in urban areas such as Rome, Milan and Venice, although many smaller towns are also experiencing similar changes.

These changes have both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, globalization has increased the range of food available in Italy. Italians now have much more choice in terms of what they eat. They also do not need to spend so long preparing and making food, unless of course they want to. In contrast, it can be argued that large restaurant chains are becoming increasingly powerful, resulting in the destruction of local and national specialties.     3    

    4     Convenience foods have replaced many of the traditional home-cooked meals, and the availability of foreign fruits has greatly increased. While this extra choice is welcomed by some, others fear that the damage it may cause to Italian traditions.

A．There is a difference between the food that people eat in the countryside and the food people eat in big cities.

B．Consequently, many Italians worry that they are losing their sense of nationality, as foreign food becomes more common.

C．In addition, people’s opportunity to experiment with foreign food was very limited, since only pizza and pasta were available in the local town square.

D．Possibly the global popularity of Italian eating habits is the increasing popularity of foreign cuisine, especially Indian, Chinese and Japanese foods.

E．Another important change in Italian eating habits is the increasing popularity of foreign cuisine, especially Indian, Chinese and Japanese foods.

F．Globalization has had a significant influence on the way that Italians eat.

4 . Disneyland’s opening day, July 17, 1955, was a terrible experience. Rides broke down. Restaurants ran out of food and drink and drinking fountains were in short supply... All in front of a national audience of 90 million, then the largest live broadcast in television history on a day that would be known in Disney history as Black Sunday.

But Disney’s story actually started two decades earlier with what Walt Disney called “Daddy’s Day”. On Saturdays in the 1930s and 1940s, Disney would take his two daughters to ride the Griffith Park merry-go-round, which they’d enjoy while he sat on a bench dreaming of ways for families to have fun together. Disney disliked the amusement parks they often visited, seeing them as dirty, unimaginative places run by rude employees.

He thought he could do better. In 1939 he asked two animators (动画片制作者) at his movie studio to work on a plan for an amusement park. By 1952 the idea had expanded into a $1.5 million amusement park proposal that he presented to Burbank. The City Council, which feared such a project would create a carnival (嘉年华) atmosphere, rejected the proposal. Disney counted the rejection as fortunate setback. By now, his dream for a theme park had gone beyond the space available in Burbank. He searched locations throughout Southern California. A 160-acre orange garden, 22 miles south of Los Angeles, was soon selected.

The ABC television network offered $5 million in loans and investments if Disney agreed to produce and host a one-hour weekly show called "Disneyland". The deal amounted to months of free advertising for the park and allowed Disney to introduce TV audiences, particularly kids, to the park.

Disneyland opened then. The 5,000 expected guests increased to 28, 154, thanks to fake tickets. After the madness of opening day, Disney and his new park were criticized in the press. The media predicted a quick and early end. But the public didn’t listen. Visitors arrived in large groups, and within weeks Disneyland was a success.

Over sixty years later, Disneyland’s popularity continues to grow, with total overall attendance topping 700 million and showing no signs of slowing down.

1. What mainly led to Walt Disney’s plan to build his own amusement park?

A．His ambition to expand beyond the movie industry.

B．His animators’ suggestion on an entertainment plan.

C．His wish to create a better place for family recreation.

D．His daughters’ unpleasant experience in the Griffith Park.

2. By “Disney counted the rejection as a fortunate setback” in paragraph 3, the author means the rejection ________.

A．brought good luck to Disney and his park

B．contributed to the difficulty of opening the park

C．was viewed as a financial obstacle to the design of the park

D．presented Disney with a favorable opportunity to rethink his plan

3. What can be learned about Disneyland from the passage?

A．Everything went on smoothly before it opened.

B．It spent $5 million on advertising for its opening.

C．People’s enthusiasm for it increased despite criticism.

D．Only invited guests could get into it on its opening day.

4. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Disneyland: How It All Began	B．Disneyland: An Overnight Success
C．Disneyland: How It Developed	D．Disneyland: A Park with a Long History

5 . Warning: Don’t make big decisions from high elevations

You definitely don’t want to have your head in the clouds when making a crucial financial decision. But who could have thought our decisions are literally influenced by altitude?

As in, what floor you happen to be on when considering something. If it’s a high elevation, like the top floor of an office tower, chances are you’ll embrace ______ a little more than you would on the ground floor, according to researchers from Miami University. The study, published this month in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, suggests you may want a(n) ______ advisor to work from a ground-floor office rather than the top floor. And it gives new, literal ______ to the idea that you should stay grounded when making big decisions. “When you increase elevation, there is a(n) ______ effect on the sense of power,” lead author Sina Esteky, PhD, noted in a release. “This heighted feeling of power ______ in more risk-seeking behavior.”

For the study, Esteky’s team interviewed people as they were ascending and descending in the glass elevator of a tall building. They found the ______ of the elevator strongly influenced the level of risk-aversion among participants. They were more likely, ______, to take more gambles on the way to the 74th floor—but their decisions became far more grounded as they neared, well, the ground.

Another experiment ______ people who were either on the ground floor or the third floor of a university building. Each group was asked to make 10 decisions of ______ risk levels. Guess which group made the most risky decisions? What was it about higher elevations that made the participants feel braver? Researchers theorized it could have something to do with the perception that elevation gives people a(n) ______ of power and authority.

Risk seems a lot smaller when seen from above — literally. That idea seemed to hold ______ in further experiments. When participants were told their decisions were being influenced by elevation, the effect ______ disappeared. Likewise, “elevation effect” wasn’t a factor for people mired in cubicles (困在隔间里) who couldn’t see how high up they were.

“The important lesson is that when people become aware of the ______ impact of elevation, it doesn’t happen anymore,” Esteky says. ‘The brain is very sensitive to subtle ______ factors, but also really good at correcting for such effects, so ______ can help us be more rational in our decisions.”

1.

A．function

B．risk

C．process

D．sense

2.

A．crucial

B．social

C．financial

D．economical

3.

A．emphasis

B．conflict

C．power

D．pressure

4.

A．subconscious

B．aware

C．unconscious

D．conscientious

5.

A．takes

B．results

C．leads

D．comes

6.

A．field

B．respect

C．direction

D．period

7.

A．in general

B．by contrast

C．in conclusion

D．for instance

8.

A．resulted in

B．concerned with

C．accounted for

D．taken over

9.

A．increasing

B．rising

C．varying

D．decreasing

10.

A．sense

B．change

C．difference

D．impression

11.

A．deliberate

B．delicate

C．real

D．true

12.

A．fortunately

B．completely

C．mostly

D．barely

13.

A．potential

B．huge

C．extra

D．eager

14.

A．temporary

B．past

C．seasonal

D．situational

15.

A．discipline

B．satisfaction

C．awareness

D．confidence

6 . In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an unclear and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience. Opportunities for misinterpretation are everywhere.

Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as early forms of science and are full of potential. But it takes collective inspection and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.

Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and battle between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.

Two problems exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of current knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies repetition and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or contradiction by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.

In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim — a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”

1. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its ________.

A．uncertainty and complexity	B．misconception and falsehood
C．logicality and objectivity	D．systematicness and regularity

2. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires ________.

A．strict inspection

B．shared efforts

C．individual wisdom

D．persistent innovation

3. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi would most likely agree that ________.

A．scientific claims will survive challenges	B．discoveries today inspire future research
C．efforts to make discoveries are justified	D．scientific work calls for a critical mind

4. Which of the following would be the best title of the test?

A．Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Discovery	B．Collective Inspection in Scientific Discovery
C．Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science	D．Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science

7 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. increases B. investigated C. comparison D. sustainable E. advertised F. accessible G. process H. footprint I. discourage   J. causes   K. promote

Clothing rental is a hot new industry and retailers are demanding to get on board in hopes of attracting green shopper.

But is renting fashion actually more environmentally-friendly than buying it, and if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline     1     this question and concluded that it’s not as     2     as it seems.

Take shipping, for example, which has to go two ways if an item is rented-receiving and returning. Cline writes that consumer transportation has the second largest carbon     3       of our collective fashion habit after manufacturing.

She writes, “An item ordered online and then returned can send out 20 kilograms of carbon each way, and     4     up to 50 kilograms for rush shipping. By     5     the carbon impact of a pair of jeans purchased from a physical store and washed and worn at home is 33.4 kilograms, according to a 2015 study by Levi’s.”

Then there’s the burden of washing, which has to happen for every item when it’s returned, regardless of whether or not it was worn. For most rental services, this usually means dry cleaning, a high impact and polluting     6    . All the rental services that Cline looked into have replaced perchloroethylene, an air pollutant that     7     cancers, still used by 70 percent of US dry cleaners, with alternatives, although these aren’t great, either.

Lastly, Cline fears that rental services will increase our appetite for fast fashion, simply because it’s so easily     8    . There’s something called “share washing” that makes people waste more precisely because a product or service is shared and thus is regarded as more eco-friendly. Uber is one example of this,     9     as “a way to share rides and limit car ownership.” and yet “it has been proven to     10     walking, bicycling, and public transportation use.”

Renting clothes is still preferable to buying them cheap and throwing them in the dustbin after a few wears, but we shouldn’t let the availability of these services make us too satisfied. There’s an even better step-that’s wearing what is already in the closet.

9 . Progressives often support diversity missions as a path to equality and a way to level the playing field. But all too often such policies are an insincere form of virtue-signaling that benefits only the most privileged and does little to help average people.

A pair of bills sponsored by Massachusetts state Senator Jason Lewis and House Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad, to ensure “gender equality” on boards and commissions, provide a case in point.

Haddad and Lewis are concerned that more than half the state-government board are less than 40 percent female. In order to ensure that elite women have more such opportunities, they have proposed imposing government quotas (配额). If the bills become law, state boards and commissions will be required to set aside 50 percent of board seats for women by 2022.

The bills are similar to a measure recently adopted in California, which last year became the first state to require gender quotas for private companies. In signing the measure, California Governor Jerry Brown admitted that the law, which clearly classifies people on the basis of sex, is probably unconstitutional.

The US Supreme Court frowns on sex-based classifications unless they are designed to address an “important” policy interest. Because the California law applies to all boards, even where there is no history of prior discrimination, courts are likely to rule that the law violates the constitutional guarantee of “equal protection”.

But are such government mandates even necessary? Female participation on corporate boards may not currently mirror the percentage of women in the general population, but so what?

The number of women on corporate boards has been steadily increasing without government interference. According to a study by Catalyst, between 2010 and 2015 the share of women on the boards of global corporations increased by 54 percent.

Requiring companies to make gender the primary qualification for board membership will inevitably lead to less experienced private sector boards. That is exactly what happened when Norway adopted a nationwide corporate gender quota.

Writing in The New Republic, Alice Lee notes that increasing the number of opportunities for board membership without increasing the pool of qualified women to serve on such boards has led to a “golden skirt ”phenomenon, where the same elite women occupy multiple seats on a variety of boards.

Next time somebody pushes corporate quotas as a way to promote gender equity, remember that such policies are largely self-serving measures that make their sponsors feel good but do little to help average women.

1. The author believes that the bills sponsored by Lewis and Haddad will __________.

A．help little to reduce gender bias.

B．pose a threat to the state government.

C．raise women’s position in politics.

D．greatly broaden career options.

2. ________ has a part to play in enabling the “brute force” approach to gradually bear fruit?

A．the harm from absolute board decision.

B．the importance of constitutional guarantees.

C．the pressure on women in global corporations.

D．the needlessness of government interventions.

3. Norway’s adoption of a nationwide corporate gender quota has led to __________.

A．the underestimation of elite women’s role

B．the objection to female participation on boards.

C．the entry of unqualified candidates into the board.

D．the growing tension between labor and management.

4. Which of the following can be inferred from the text?

A．Women’s need in employment should be considered.

B．Feasibility should be a prime concern in policy making.

C．Everyone should try hard to promote social justice.

D．Major social issues should be the focus of the government.

10 . Directions: After reading the passages below, fill in the blanks to make the passages 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.

Convenience vs Health: the Takeaway Dilemma (纠结)

Feeling hungry? If you’re feeling so, what’s the easiest way to satisfy your hunger? Many of us will reach     1     a takeaway menu and order some delicious, but possibly unhealthy food. And our increasingly busy lives add to our need to buy ready-made food.

Eating options are endless, and new technology means we can feed our cravings at the push of a button. Takeaway delivery apps make     2     (order) food quick and convenient, and during the recent coronavirus crisis, it provided a lifeline to those     3     (stick) at home with nothing to cook or who lacked the skills to prepare a meal for     4    . It is estimated that in the UK alone, people cat three million takeaway meals a day, and the three biggest delivery apps together offer a choice of 100 cuisines from 60,000 restaurants. Amelia Brophy, Head of UK Data Products at YouGov, told the BBC that “its research suggests that the frequency of takeaways ordered     5     (expect) to increase in the future.”

    6     is no wonder that we are tempted     7     (skip) the grocery shopping, bypass the kitchen, and tuck into something     8     someone else has prepared. But ordering a deep crust pizza, a spicy curry or a box of noodles,     9     come at a price both financially and to our health. Eating too much processed and unhealthy fast food bas some effect on obesity and the risk of developing certain metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. A few years ago, The BBC Good Food Nation Survey found that most people ate fast food on average two days per week. But, in the 16 to 20-year-old category, one in six ate fast food at least twice a day.

Of course, reducing salt, sugar and fat is one way to make takeaway food healthier, as well as offering smaller portion sizes. But     10     (good) advice you might want to take away from this Takeaway English is to find a recipe book and try making your own nutritious meal. And if you haven’t got time, try ordering a healthier alternative from the menu.