1 . We talk continuously about how to make children tougher and stronger, but whatever we’re doing, it’s not working. Rates of anxiety disorders and depression are rising rapidly among teenagers. What are we doing wrong?
Nassim Taleb invented the word “antifragile” and used it to describe a small but very important class of systems that gain from shocks, challenges, and disorder. The immune (免疫的) system is one of them: it requires exposure to certain kinds of bacteria and potential allergens (过敏原) in childhood in order to develop to its full ability.
Children’s social and emotional abilities are as antifragile as their immune systems. If we overprotect kids and keep them “safe” from unpleasant social situations and negative emotions, we deprive (剥夺) them of the challenges and opportunities for skill-building they need to grow strong. Such children are likely to suffer more when exposed later to other unpleasant but ordinary life events, such as teasing and social rejection.
In the UK, as in the US, parents became much more fearful in the 1980s and 1990s to those rare occurrences of crimes and accidents that now occur less and less. Outdoor play and independent mobility went down; screen time and adult-monitored activities went up.
Yet free play in which kids work out their own rules of engagement, take small risks, and learn to master small dangers turns out to be vital for the development of adult social and even physical competence. Depriving them of free play prevents their social-emotional growth.
What can we do to change this situation? How can we raise kids strong enough to handle the ordinary and extraordinary challenges of life? We can’t guarantee that giving primary school children more independence today will bring down the rate of teenage suicide tomorrow. The links between childhood overprotection and teenage mental illness are suggestive but not clear-cut. Yet there are good reasons to suspect that by depriving our naturally antifragile kids of the wide range of experiences they need to become strong, we are systematically preventing their growth. We should let go — and let them grow.
1. Why does the author mention the immune system in Paragraph 2?| A．To stress its importance. | B．To help understand a new word. |
| C．To question the latest discovery. | D．To analyze the types of anxiety. |
| A．Because their children are not independent enough. |
| B．Because they want to keep their children from being teased. |
| C．Because parent-monitored activities are a must. |
| D．Because they are concerned about their children’s safety. |
| A．It can reduce children’s risky behavior. | B．It can strengthen children’s friendship. |
| C．It can promote children’s toughness. | D．It can develop children’s leadership skills. |
| A．Parents should stop trying to protect their children. |
| B．Parents should try their best to raise their children on their own. |
| C．Parents should try to teach their children all about life. |
| D．Parents should prepare the children for the road, not the road for the children. |
注意：1．词数80左右；2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
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3 . According to Americans for the Arts, more than two-thirds of U.S. adults say that the arts “lift me up beyond everyday experiences.” Still, only 30 percent attended a concert of any type in 2017; 23 percent visited an art museum; six percent attended a literary event. Fewer than half actively created art of any kind.
What has caused this phenomenon is that we do not have time for art — we are weighed down by our day-to-day responsibilities. Maybe you like to play a little background music while you work but most of us rarely, if ever, went to see a live performance, let alone visited a gallery. And reading poetry? Perhaps not since high school.
Too often, we let the realities of life get in the way of the arts, which can feel insignificant by comparison. But this is a mistake. The arts might be the single most in-depth experience you will ever be given to explore the nature and meaning of life. And if you make time to consume and produce art, you will find your life become fuller and happier.
Some philosophers address the problem of life consumed by work and material pursuits. They argue that art provides relief from this routine, expanding our perspective and bringing us closer to true reality.
Think of a time when you heard a piece of music and wanted to cry. Or recall your fast heartbeats as you stared at a delicate lifelike sculpture. Chances are that it probably stimulated (刺激) a sudden awakening, much like the shock from a lungful of pure oxygen after breathing in smoggy air.
If you are among those who feel that art is “pure pleasure to experience and participate in,” you might see it the same way you see eating out, or skydiving: as a luxury (奢侈品) item in your limited budgets of time and money. As such, it probably gets the same sort of treatment as any minor hobby. Don’t make this error. Treat art more like exercise or sleep: a necessity for a life full of deep satisfaction.
1. What does paragraph 1 focus on?| A．The opinion of U.S. adults about art. |
| B．The types of art that U.S. adults engage with. |
| C．The mismatch between value and behaviour as to art. |
| D．The connection between everyday experiences and art. |
| A．Art reveals the nature of life. | B．Art gives way to material pursuits. |
| C．Life without art is meaningless. | D．Background music is a kind of art. |
| A．Art awakes people’s talents. | B．Art improves physical health. |
| C．Art brings us closer to nature. | D．Art makes life fuller and happier. |
| A．Art: A Habit, Not a Luxury | B．Art: A Bridge, Not a Barrier |
| C．Art: A Decoration, Not a Reality | D．Art: A Pleasure, Not a Burden |
As I was packing up, I noticed my colleague had left his laptop bag in my office. Since he was already home, I decided to bring it to him. It was 4:30 p. m. The snow wasn’t supposed to start until later according to the previous warning, but just to be safe, I decided to use the country roads near his home instead of the highway, which could fast become a skating rink (滑冰场).
After I dropped off the laptop case and got right back on the road, the snow started. Within minutes I was in a whiteout. I rolled down my window, thinking I could follow the edge of the road and keep to a straight line. But really, I hadn’t a clue where I was or even which side of the road I was on. I had to stop because I was afraid of driving into a farmer’s field, or worse. I called 911, only to be told that nobody was coming to get me until morning at the earliest.
Those seconds after the call were the worst of my life. Getting out to walk in a whiteout and high winds when it was -10°C wasn’t an option. So I texted my colleague whose laptop bag I had just returned. I joked about my good deed ending in disaster. But he had an idea. “Pin your location on Google Maps and send it to me,” he said.
I did, and soon he texted me back a screenshot of the satellite view of where I was. We figured out that I was on a road in between two farms. I posted this new information to my Facebook community group, pleading (恳求) for anyone who knew someone living here to help me get rescued.
Soon enough, people started responding on my post. I got a message from someone who was going to put me in touch with the family living there. At 8 p. m., my mobile phone rang. It was the son of the farmer who owned the land beside the road I was stranded (使滞留) on. He told me that his dad was coming to get me!
Then, about 45 minutes later, I saw a tall figure walking toward me in the dark, carrying a flashlight.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As his wife treated me to hot drinks, André went into the storm again and brought back another two families stranded on the road.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . Tsunamis are one of the most terrifying natural phenomena that the world suffers. The series of waves generated by the displacement (位移) of a large volume of water can be caused by several events, including earthquakes, underwater explosions and landslides. Once triggered (引发), a tsunami can hit the coast within minutes and its destructive power can be enormous.
At present, early warning systems rely on measuring the movement of dart buoys (浮标), which record changes in the sea level, or assessing the bottom water pressure of the developing tsunami. But they require the tsunami to physically reach the measurement location. The buoys could be fixed in the deep ocean, but this requires an unrealistically big number of buoys. Or people can fix the buoys along the shoreline, but due to the high speed of the tsunami, this method may leave no warning time for people on the land.
Instead, there is a new system — using sound waves to predict tsunamis. Sound waves caused by an earthquake can travel much faster than the tsunami that has been triggered. Using standard underwater microphones, we can record these sound waves long before the tsunami arrives regardless of the direction in which the tsunami will travel. The sound signals come from changes in pressure, so what we actually analyze is a series of data on how the pressure is changing over time. Though buoys also show changes in pressure, the tsunami front must actually reach the buoys to inform us that there is an increase in the water surface. By using underwater microphones, however, we only need to catch the sound signals.
Though the idea of using sound waves to predict tsunamis has been put forward previously, the key to our idea is a new mathematical method that can be used to analyze these recorded sound signals in near real-time. Once this is worked out, we can not only warn people of a tsunami but also more accurately estimate its size long before it reaches the shoreline.
1. From Paragraph 1, we know ______.| A．what can trigger off tsunamis |
| B．how to predict tsunamis effectively |
| C．why tsunamis are the worst natural disaster |
| D．how to protect the coastal areas from tsunamis |
| A．The dart buoys. | B．The changes in the sea level. |
| C．The changes in water pressure. | D．The present early warning systems. |
| A．It has high accuracy. | B．It can increase warning time. |
| C．It can monitor changeable sea levels. | D．It can adapt to various water wave conditions. |
| A．Survival Stories. | B．Disaster Rescue. |
| C．Scientific Invention. | D．Natural Environment. |
1. 表示欢迎；
2. 介绍社团并推荐；
3. 你的愿望。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 开头语和结束语已为你写好。
Dear John,
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Yours,
Li Hua
7 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
Catherine was the coolest kid in her class. Whenever she went, she was in the spotlight, with a bunch of kids following her and doing everything she did.
Her deskmate, Landy, however, was not in the cool kids’ group. Being the tallest kid in her class, she was teased by her classmates, who were always chanting “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti (意大利面 )”. Every time Landy heard those silly chants, she could feel her face burst into flames. God knew how she wished the ground to crack and swallow her!
Catherine didn’t really like it when the kids chanted “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti”. But she never told them to stop either, and nor did she ever talk to her. She liked being popular.
One weekend, Catherine went over to her grandfather for Thanksgiving. Her grandfather lives on a farm at the opposite end of town, where he keeps chickens. While helping to feed the chickens, Catherine noticed a peculiar one. Curling in the corner, it looked smaller than the others and was almost half-bare!
“What’s the matter with it?” She asked her grandfather, with a puzzled frown on her face. Her grandfather told her how chickens could act. “They have a pecking (啄) order,” he explained, wrinkles of concern spreading around his forehead. “If one chicken is different, the others will push it away and keep pecking it. Sometimes they peck it so much that it dies.”
“Oh, what a poor little thing!” Catherine let out a sigh as she scooped the frightened chicken up in her arms, whose heart was beating fast in the bony little body. Suddenly, she thought of Landy, the girl being “pecked” by her classmates. “I’m going to take it home and take good care of it,” she said with a determined look.
Back in school, Catherine told the cool kids about the chicken. “It’s looking healthy,” she said proudly. “It’s fatter and its feathers are growing. Even the cat likes it. She carries it around the garden, and...” Everyone was entertained by Catherine’s story of her lovely chicken, laughter lingering around the classroom.
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。
Paragraph 1. Then Catherine spotted Landy sitting by herself in a corner.
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Paragraph 2. But Catherine walked directly toward Landy, regardless of what they said.
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A comforting cup of tea is
The art of tea extended to its fancy
9 . I was getting ready to go to bed when the phone rang. This could not be good. My mind
“Lindy, this is Lesley.” I didn’t know Lesley well. We did
Minutes later came a huge freezer truck. Lesley stepped down and
“For helping them out?” We opened our freezer door. Inside were all expensive foods we never bought but often
| A．walked | B．raced | C．competed | D．crossed |
| A．voice | B．picture | C．vision | D．discussion |
| A．consistently | B．regularly | C．routinely | D．occasionally |
| A．stimulate | B．reach | C．fascinate | D．impress |
| A．Therefore | B．Consequently | C．Additionally | D．Instead |
| A．break down | B．break away | C．break in | D．break up |
| A．explained | B．reasoned | C．concluded | D．questioned |
| A．tried out | B．drawn out | C．run out | D．worked out |
| A．take | B．cut | C．drop | D．put |
| A．Ignoring | B．Noticing | C．Praising | D．Complaining |
| A．premier | B．middle | C．first | D．last |
| A．laughed | B．sobbed | C．screamed | D．frowned |
| A．tolerated | B．doubted | C．longed | D．rejected |
| A．as | B．yet | C．since | D．so |
| A．requirements | B．conditions | C．needs | D．cost |
10 . John von Neumann was the oldest of 3 children of a banker, and his speed of learning new ideas and loving problems stood out early. At 17, his father tried to persuade him not to become a mathematician because he might lead a poor life being a mathematician, so von Neumann agreed to study chemistry as well. In 1926, at 23, he received a degree in chemical engineering and a Ph. D. in mathematics. From then on, mathematics provided well enough for him, and he never had to turn to chemistry.
In 1930, von Neumann visited Princeton University for a year and then became a professor there. His first book was published in 1932. In 1933, the Institute for Advanced Study was formed, and he became one of the 6 full-time people in the School of Mathematics (Einstein was one of the others).
World War Ⅱ hugely changed von Neumann’s areas of interest. Until 1940 he had been a great pure mathematician. During and after the war, he became one of the best mathematicians who put mathematical theories into practice. During the last part of the war, he became interested in computing machines and made several fundamental contributions. After the war, von Neumann continued his work with computers, and was generally very active in government service. He received many awards, was president of the American Mathematical Society and was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. He died of cancer in 1957.
Von Neumann made several great contributions and any one of them would have been enough to earn him a firm place in history. He will be remembered as one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.
Von Neumann really was a legend in his own time, and there are a number of stories about him. His driving abilities is a part of his legend. He reported one accident this way: “I was driving down the road. The trees on the right were passing me in an orderly fashion at 60 miles per hour. Suddenly one of them stepped in my path.”
1. According to the text, von Neumann’s father believed that _________.| A．a mathematician needed a good memory |
| B．von Neumann had the ability to learn two subjects at the same time |
| C．von Neumann had the gift for solving problems at a high speed |
| D．a mathematician couldn’t earn a lot of money |
| A．25. | B．26. | C．29. | D．32. |
| A．He lost interest in chemistry. |
| B．He began to research how to put mathematics into practice |
| C．He realized the importance of engineering. |
| D．He left college and served at the government department. |
| A．humorous | B．intelligent | C．brave | D．calm |
