1 . When you choose a friend, you should be very careful. A good friend can help you study. You can have fun together and make each other happy. Sometimes you will meet fair weather (晴天) friends. They will be with you as long as you have money or luck, but when you are down, they will run away. How do I know when I have found a good friend? I look for certain qualities of character, especially understanding, honesty and reliability .
Above all else, I look for understanding in a friend. A good friend tries to understand how another person is feeling. He is not quick to judge. Instead, he tries to learn from others. He puts himself in the other person’s place, and he tries, to think of ways to be helpful. He is, also a good listener.
At the same time, however, a good friend is honest. He does not look for faults in others. He notices their good points. In short, good friends will be honest to each other and accept each other.
Another quality of a friend is reliability. I can always depend on a good friend. If he tells me he will meet me somewhere at a certain time, I can be sure that he will be there. If I need a favour, he will do his best to help me. If I am in trouble, he will not run away from me.
There is a fourth quality that makes a friend special. A special friend is someone with whom we can have fun. We should enjoy our lives, and we would enjoy our friendship. That is why I especially like friends who are fun to be with. A good friend likes the same things I like. We share experience and learn from each other. A good friend has a good sense of humour, too. He likes to laugh with me. That is how we share in the joy of being friends. And I know that he is looking for the same quality in me.
When I meet someone who is reliable, honest, and understanding, I know I’ve found a friend!
1. If you have fair weather friends, what will happen to you?| A．You will become rich. |
| B．You can be sure that you get real friends. |
| C．You will be refused when you get into trouble. |
| D．They will give you all that they have when you need help. |
| A．Honesty. | B．Reliability. | C．Understanding. | D．A sense of humour. |
| A．Cloudy. | B．Unusual. | C．Unhappy. | D．Pleased. |
| A．He will look for faults in others. | B．He will do his best to help me. |
| C．He likes to laugh at me. | D．He is funny. |
| A．the qualities of a friend | B．where to choose friends |
| C．how to get along with friends | D．the importance of having a friend |
2 . Teenagers are self-contradictory. That’s a mild and objective way of saying something that parents often express with considerably stronger language. But the-self-contradiction is scientific and personal. In adolescence, helpless and dependent children who have relied on grown-ups for just about everything become independent people who can take care of themselves and help each other. At the same time, once cheerful-and obedient children become rebellious teenage risk-takers.
A new study published in the journal Child Development, by Eveline Crone of the University of Leiden and colleagues, suggests that the positive and negative sides of teenagers go hand in hand. The study is part of a new wave of thinking about adolescence. For a long time, scientists and policy makers concentrated on the idea that teenagers were a problem that needed to be solved. The new work emphasizes that adolescence is a time of opportunity as well as risk.
The researchers studied “prosocial”(亲社会)and rebellious traits in more than 200 children and young adults, ranging from 11 to 28 years old. The participants filled out questionnaires about how often they did things that were selfless and positive, like sacrificing their own interests to help a friend, or rebellious and negative, like getting drunk or staying out late.
Other studies have shown that rebellious behavior increases as you become a teenager and then fades away as you grow older. But the new study shows that, interestingly, the same is true for prosocial behavior. Teenagers were more likely than younger children or adults to report that they did things like unselfishly help a friend.
Most significantly, there was a positive correlation between prosociality and rebelliousness. The teenagers who were more rebellious were also more likely to help others. The good and bad sides of adolescence seem to develop together. Is there some common factor that underlies these apparently contradictory developments? One idea is that teenage behavior is related to what researchers call “reward sensitivity.” Decision-making always involves balancing rewards and risks, benefits and costs. “Reward sensitivity” measures how much reward it takes to outweigh risk.
Teenagers are particularly sensitive to social rewards—winning the game, impressing a new friend, getting that boy to notice you. Reward sensitivity, like prosocial behavior and risk-taking, seems to go up in adolescence and then down again as we age. Somehow, when you hit 30, the chance that something exciting and new will happen at that party just doesn’t seem to outweigh the effort of getting up off the couch.
1. According to Paragraph 1, children growing into adolescence tend to .| A．see the world in an unreasonable way |
| B．develop opposite personality traits |
| C．have fond memories of their past |
| D．show affection for their parents |
| A．provides a new insight into adolescence |
| B．explores teenagers’ social responsibilities |
| C．examines teenagers’ emotional problems |
| D．highlights negative adolescent behavior |
| A．It results from the wish to cooperate. |
| B．It tends to peak in adolescence. |
| C．It is cultivated through education. |
| D．It is subject to family influence. |
| A．overstress their influence on others |
| B．become anxious about their future |
| C．endeavor to live a joyful life |
| D．care a lot about social recognition |
| A．Why teenagers are risk-sensitive. |
| B．How teenagers develop prosociality. |
| C．Why teenagers are self-contradictory. |
| D．How teenagers become independent. |
3 . Exams never made me break out in a nervous sweat—but this one did. Even booking my piano exam reduced me to a mess of anxiety.
I feel permanently scared inside churches, where piano exams are held—no longer admiring their beauty because over the years I have received terrible marks from examiners. Despite being 15—too old, too cool to be frightened—I remember trembling inside the bathroom before my tests. I wished I never had to play in front of others.
This time, after booking my Level 8 Royal Conservatory of Music piano exam, I went back to my normal routine. A little practice here; a little practice there. And then it happened. My trusty, 10-year-old electric piano gave out. When I told my father what had happened to my piano, he only glared at me with disappointment, “When I was your age, I learned to be resourceful.”
Hmm. I had a broken piano, an exam coming up in a few months and a father who refused to buy me a new piano because he wanted to teach me a “life lesson”. I finally came up with a decision: I’d practice at school.
The school had many pianos but only a few in tune. Within a few days of searching, I headed off to a music room at every available opportunity. I loved finding new pianos in hidden corners of the school and spent hours practicing.
As my exam drew near, all the music teachers knew to look for me in the piano rooms after school. In anticipation of my assessment, one of my music teachers let me perform for her as a mini practice exam. To my surprise, she was greatly impressed.
Music had never been the love of my life but that was changing. When I played, my worries about how others judged me and how I viewed myself merged to reveal who I really am. All my adolescent thoughts made me feel like I was in a cage, but music gave me the key.
Within a few months I went from not caring about my playing to feeling actually kind of proud of my work. In my favorite, soundproof music room, I discovered that behind the piano, I could become anyone. Talking to other people never came easy to me, but I was able to express myself through music. I became overjoyed.
When the time came to play in front of an examiner, all the anxiety I had about going up on stage dimmed, and all I could think about was the marvelous journey I’d had to get here. Trilling the keys reminded me of the bittersweet music experiences of past years and my happiness nowadays.
Many days later, I received my mark—a rarely mentioned “well done”.
Now whenever I get caught up in the daily struggle, I remember the hard work that it took to reach my goal. Whenever I feel discouraged, I never forget to look at the gleaming keys of my new upright piano. As my father always says, some lessons are just learned the hard way.
1. What made the author so stressful inside churches these years?| A．The religious atmosphere. | B．The artistic performance. |
| C．The horrible surroundings. | D．Her colorful fantasy. |
| A．The author’s family was too poor to afford a new piano. |
| B．The father was quite angry about the author’s bad behavior. |
| C．The father wanted the author to address the problem independently. |
| D．The author showed great dissatisfaction about her father. |
| A．her hard work and determination |
| B．her own understanding of musical: value |
| C．her teachers’ constant encouragement |
| D．her family’s enthusiastic support |
| A．Mixed. | B．Separated. | C．Interacted. | D．Exploited. |
| A．Nervous—disappointed—angry—calm |
| B．Curious—frustrated—hopeful—grateful |
| C．Depressed—satisfied—disappointed—peaceful |
| D．Frightened—indifferent—passionate—proud |
| A．An important Music Test | B．A Hard but Enjoyable Life |
| C．My Favorite Piano | D．The “Key” to Happiness |
4 . In the first series of the BBC television comedy Flying Circus, broadcast in 1969, a man tells a slightly nervous woman on her doorstep that he would like to come into her house and steal a few things. Suspiciously, she asks him: “Are you an encyclopedia (《百科全书》) salesman?” No, he announces, he is a burglar. Eventually, she lets him in. Once inside, he says: “Mind you, I don’t know whether you’ve really considered owning a really fine set of modern encyclopedias…” The self-proclaimed thief was, after all, a successful encyclopedia salesman.
Author and journalist Simon Garfield quotes this comedy in his book, All the Knowledge in the World, his “history” of the encyclopedia. Garfield’s passion for encyclopedias began as a child in the 1960s and continues to this day. Although now, like everyone else, he searches for information online too, he asks at the end of the book “Is the information we receive today more or less reliable than the information we received in our childhood?” It is a fascinating question, which his book goes at least some of the way toward answering.
Despite a large variety of encyclopedias, Garfield’s account is dominated by Britannica, launched in the United Kingdom in 1768 and Wikipedia, launched in the United States in 2001. Britannica’s contributors have always been selected for their expertise. During the 20th century, named contributors included Cecil B. DeMille on motion pictures, Albert Einstein on space-time, J. B. Priestley on English literature and George Bernard Shaw on socialism. Most were paid a fee, however modest; Einstein, for example, received $86.40 for his entry. The contrast with Wikipedia is sharp: Anyone may contribute to it, contributors are anonymous, and none receives payment.
Authority is therefore the key feature of Britannica, although it certainly contains errors — whereas Wikipedia claims to be full of expertise, leaving itself open to both praise for its unparalleled diversity and criticism for its elementary errors. Even so, “You could still consider,” writes Garfield, “Wikipedia as the most influential and enduring representative of the internet as a force for good.” Yet he also wryly notes that “wiki” is the Hawaiian word for “quick”. Wikipedia tends to be quickly written, quickly consumed, sometimes quickly corrected, and often quickly forgotten.
“I hope this book has encouraged you to think twice about throwing out an old set of encyclopedias,” concludes Garfield. As it controversially suggests, despite — or perhaps because of — the continuing growth of the internet, we are sometimes less reliably informed today than the 1960s. After all, anyone can be a contributor nowadays.
1. The author begins the article with a comedy to .| A．criticize the quality of information found in encyclopedias |
| B．highlight the reliability of encyclopedias as a source of information |
| C．illustrate the declining popularity of encyclopedias in the modern age |
| D．introduce the topic of encyclopedias in a lighthearted and engaging way |
| A．To explain where the fees of Britannica went to. |
| B．To illustrate the high level of professional knowledge of Britannica. |
| C．To highlight the diversity of its contributors’ backgrounds. |
| D．To give typical examples of its world-famous contributors. |
| A．Britannica contributors were paid more than Wikipedia contributors. |
| B．Britannica contributors were paid a descent fee, while Wikipedia contributors were not. |
| C．Britannica contributors were selected for their expertise, while anyone can contribute to Wikipedia. |
| D．Britannica contributors were nameless while Wikipedia contributors were selected for their expertise. |
| A．ironically | B．bitterly | C．objectively | D．seriously |
| A．Because we have too much information available to us. |
| B．Because we are too reliant-on social media for news and information. |
| C．Because the internet has led to an increase of inaccurate information. |
| D．Because we have lost the sense of expertise that encyclopedias used to represent. |
5 . The phrase “digital nomads (游民)” suggests joyful people who escape their daily work to travel the world, working with laptops on beaches. Relevant statistics regularly made the headline “There will be one billion digital nomads by 2035”.
I started researching digital nomads in 2015, and it took me three years to develop an understanding of what might be going on. I’ve met hundreds of people who think of themselves as digital nomads and many more who have dreamed about becoming one. The first thing I learned is that how people feel about the label “digital nomad” changes over time. People starting out often assume it’s a permanent lifestyle, but that’s rarely the case. One of my respondents explained, “I don’t go around calling myself a digital nomad now. It’s a bit silly.” Indeed, there’s still debate about whether it’s a buzzword (时髦用语) or a real phenomenon. Some have even tried to figure out how “authentic” a digital nomad is, by how much they move from place to place. And there has been heated debate online about who’s a real digital nomad, and who is merely self-promoting.
Most of the digital nomads I spoke to, who once had well-paid jobs, told me that they were escaping from deeply-rooted problems in the contemporary Western workplace. One of my respondents, Lisette, a skilled translator from Hamburg, Germany, is able to produce high-quality work quickly. She is soon tired of the culture of presenteeism (出勤主义) at her workplace. She explained, “I’m efficient and I like to get the work done and leave on time. Others were obviously scared to leave first, so they would sit at their desks and play with their computers.”
Nearly 40% of British adults believe their jobs don’t make sense. Their housing is of poor quality and too expensive, and the economies don’t provide young people with wages they can live on. With these challenges, it’s hardly surprising that those new to the world are already desperate to escape. Yet there are certain complexities that come with living as a citizen of the world. As Lisette said, “Digital nomads can quickly become isolated.” Digital nomads have to shoulder responsibility for almost every aspect of modern life: their mental health, daily routine, income, safety and shelter. Most digital nomads travel on tourist visas, which requires them to move regularly-an experience my participants have described as disorienting (使人迷失方向的).
Being a digital nomad can be rewarding and offers an escape from the boring office hour. But it’s important that digital nomads think deeply about the importance of community and mental health in their lives. Freedom does not mean the same thing for everyone.
1. What does the author think of digital nomads?| A．Easy to get on with. | B．Extremely hard to be accepted. |
| C．Difficult to define. | D．About to disappear. |
| A．Fierce competition. | B．Inflexible working system. |
| C．Economic pressure. | D．Violation of personal space. |
| A．Travelling the world. | B．Enjoying more free time. |
| C．Receiving steady incomes. | D．Being free from real-life pressures. |
| A．Think twice before becoming a digital nomad. |
| B．Share your real life and job on the Internet. |
| C．Have a much more comfortable lifestyle. |
| D．Resign from a dead-end job as soon as possible. |
| A．Digital nomads: what future jobs will be like |
| B．Digital nomads: a trend that will take over the world |
| C．Digital nomads: an effective way to escape your everyday work |
| D．Digital nomads: what it’s really like to work while traveling the world |
6 . Researchers in the psychology department at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered a major difference in the way men and women respond to stress. This difference may explain why men are more likely to suffer from stress-related disorders.
Until now, psychological research has maintained that both men and women have the same “fight-or-flight“ reaction to stress. In other words, individuals either react with aggressive behavior, such as verbal or physical conflict (“fight”), or they react by withdrawing from the stressful situation (“flight”). However, the UCLA research team found that men and women have quite different biological and behavioral responses to stress. While men often react to stress in the fight-or-flight response, women often have another kind of reaction which could be called “tend and befriend. ” That is, they often react to stressful conditions by protecting and nurturing their young (“tend”), and by looking for social contact and support from others—especially other females (“befriend”).
Scientists have long known that in the fight-or-flight reaction to stress, an important role is played by certain hormones (激素) released by the body. The UCLA research team suggests that the female tend-or-befriend response is also based on a hormone. This hormone, called oxytocin (催产素), has been studied in the context of childbirth, but now it is being studied for its role in the response of both men and women to stress. The principal investigator, Dr. Shelley E. Taylor, explained that “animals and people with high levels of oxytocin are calmer, more relaxed, more social, and less anxious.” While men also secrete (分泌) oxytocin, its effects are reduced by male hormones.
In terms of everyday behavior, the UCLA study found that women are far more likely than men to seek social contact when they are feeling stressed. They may phone relatives or friends, or ask directions if they are lost.
The study also showed how fathers and mothers responded differently when they came home to their family after a stressful day at work. The typical father wanted to be left alone to enjoy some peace and quiet. For a typical mother, tackling a bad day at work meant focusing her attention on her children and their needs.
The differences in responding to stress may explain the fact that women have lower frequency of stress-related disorders such as high blood pressure or aggressive behavior. The tend-and-befriend regulatory (调节的) system may protect women against stress, and this may explain why women on average live longer than men.
1. The UCLA study shows that in response to stress, men are more likely than women to ____________.| A．turn to friends for help | B．solve a conflict calmly |
| C．seek comfort from children | D．find an escape from reality |
| A．Men have the same level of oxytocin as women do. |
| B．Oxytocin used to be studied in both men and women. |
| C．Oxytocin has more of an effect on women than on men. |
| D．Both animals and people have high levels of oxytocin. |
| A．Biological differences lead to different behavioral responses to stress. |
| B．In a family a mother cares more about children than a father does. |
| C．Male hormones help build up the body’s resistance to stress. |
| D．The UCLA study was designed to confirm previous research findings. |
| A．anticipating | B．managing | C．claiming | D．dealing |
| A．How researchers handle stress-related disorders |
| B．How men and women suffer from stress |
| C．How researchers overcome stress problems |
| D．How men and women get over stress |
7 . I never see myself as a miracle. I was just an
On February 17, 1981, a
It took me a lot of hard work but I
Early, during my therapy, my father
I thought of those
| A．excellent | B．outstanding | C．ordinary | D．outgoing |
| A．terrible | B．small | C．expected | D．mild |
| A．agreed | B．breathed | C．prayed | D．survived |
| A．at least | B．at first | C．in public | D．in time |
| A．possessed | B．abandoned | C．transferred | D．encounter |
| A．finally | B．gradually | C．slowly | D．quickly |
| A．missing | B．dying | C．hurting | D．injuring |
| A．smooth | B．easy | C．rough | D．relaxing |
| A．interest | B．fact | C．truth | D．beauty |
| A．much | B．best | C．worst | D．first |
| A．boring | B．busy | C．dull | D．empty |
| A．besides | B．but | C．except | D．except for |
| A．practiced | B．conducted | C．received | D．improved |
| A．stopped | B．kept | C．avoided | D．practised |
| A．prospect | B．origin | C．liberty | D．trial |
| A．complaints | B．comments | C．lectures | D．words |
| A．honestly | B．strongly | C．differently | D．calmly |
| A．diploma | B．praise | C．advice | D．money |
| A．admiration | B．envy | C．pride | D．sorrow |
| A．assistants | B．teachers | C．scholars | D．graduates |
(1)学校的体育场馆；
(2)主要的运动项目；
(3)你喜欢的项目；
(4)……
注意：
1. 词数不少于100；
2. 可适当增加细节，使内容充实，行文连贯。
Dear Peter,
How is everything going?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Yours,
Li Jin
9 . Global Works provides international travel programs that help teens learn about the world.
Costa Rica: Wild AdventureThis service program brings you into a wildlife reserve, where you will do some voluntary work to help protect local animals. After an overnight white-water rafting (漂流) trip, you get to work on sea turtle protection projects on Costa Rican beaches!
GRADES: 9—12 DAYS: 21 DESTINATION: Costa RicaFOCUS: Wildlife Protection
AVG. GROUP SIZE:18 Students/3 Staff
Fiji Islands: Sunny Service and Island Immersion (沉浸)
Looking for an unforgettable travel program? Join our Fijian family! Experience Fijian life firsthand and contribute to service projects that bring us to the heart of the local community. In this teen volunteer program, you will have a chance to play with the local kids and teach them English!
GRADES: 9—12 DAYS: 17 DESTINATION: Fiji IslandsFOCUS: Working with Children
AVG. GROUP SIZE:16 Students/2 Staff
Puerto Rico: Hurricane Relief
This is a hands-on service trip focused on hurricane (飓风) relief and disaster prevention efforts. Home repair work is the heart of this program. The projects we work on will help families and communities to deal with a future hurricane.
GRADES: 9—12 DAYS: 8 DESTINATION: Puerto Rico, United StatesFOCUS: Building Services
AVG. GROUP SIZE:18 Students/3 Staff
France: French Immersion
Want more than just a standard France teen travel program? This French adventure has it all! From the Palais de Versailles to the French Alps, your journey introduces you to some of France’s most attractive sites and stories.
GRADES: 9—12 DAYS: 21 DESTINATION: FranceFOCUS: French Immersion
AVG. GROUP SIZE: 18 Students/3 Staff
1. What will you do if you are accepted into the travel program in Costa Rica?
| A．Rebuild homes for local families. |
| B．Enter a local swimming competition. |
| C．Help protect local animals. |
| D．Teach local kids English. |
| A．teach kids French | B．learn about disaster |
| C．work with children | D．visit attractive sites. |
| A．Puerto Rico: Hurricane Relief. |
| B．Costa Rica: Wild Adventure. |
| C．Fiji Islands: Sunny Service and Island Immersion. |
| D．France: French Immersion. |
| A．target grades | B．destination | C．group size | D．focus |
| A．To encourage students to volunteer. | B．To share how to spend holidays. |
| C．To recommend four destinations. | D．To introduce four travel programs. |
10 . A famous philosopher said, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” Travelling can provide different experience and
Last year, I enrolled in a summer vocal(唱歌) institute at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in New Jersey, US. There I truly experienced the kindness and warmth of people all over the world
As a
Later, they even held a party for me, which also showed their
Maybe it was the great atmosphere or the fact that I wanted them to know more about China that
Apart from their warmth, their
Time flew.
| A．provide | B．get | C．broaden | D．enhance |
| A．in need of | B．by means of | C．in terms of | D．regardless of |
| A．reader | B．newcomer | C．loser | D．traveler |
| A．However | B．Besides | C．Therefore | D．Otherwise |
| A．left | B．saw | C．entered | D．found |
| A．laugh | B．relax | C．cry | D．complain |
| A．tiredness | B．happiness | C．loneliness | D．kindness |
| A．related to | B．addicted to | C．opposed to | D．given to |
| A．curiosity | B．bravery | C．indifference | D．anxiety |
| A．learned | B．talked | C．collected | D．answered |
| A．serious | B．famous | C．significant | D．familiar |
| A．asked | B．forced | C．inspired | D．extended |
| A．forgetful | B．wonderful | C．powerful | D．useful |
| A．performance of | B．passion for | C．talent in | D．contribution to |
| A．long-lasting | B．ordinary | C．original | D．experimental |
| A．sent | B．treasured | C．praised | D．threw |
| A．environment | B．holiday | C．game | D．journey |
| A．faster | B．cleverer | C．stronger | D．louder |
| A．Unless | B．If | C．Before | D．Since |
| A．particular | B．careful | C．anxious | D．confident |
