1 . If you find yourself crossing one of London’s busy bridges and look down, you may notice that the height of the Thames changes over the course of the day. When the tide (潮水) is out, you may see people move down hidden stairs to walk slowly along the foreshore (前滩). These are “mudlarks” — and they play a key role in preserving the history of the Thames by picking up objects and artefacts (手工艺品) hidden in the river’s mud (泥).

Walking along the foreshore of the Thames is not everyone’s idea of a hobby — it can be cold and dirty. When the tide turns, it turns fast. You must always be aware of your way off of the foreshore. The mud is another hazard. A more experienced mudlark said he had once fallen into the mud. He was lucky to have a bucket to move out the mud.

Historically, being a mudlark was a low station in life. The term came about in the 18th and 19th centuries when the Thames was one of the major ways to transport goods into the city. At this time, the banks of the river would be full of mudlarks, mostly poor women and children. As the tide dropped, they would walk into the mud to pick up lumps of coal, pieces of rope or anything else careless boatmen had dropped overboard that they could sell.

Mudlarking is experiencing a renaissance (复兴). It has never been easier for people to explore the Thames: anyone looking for inspiration just has to follow the mudlarking posts on the Internet. The Thames Discovery Programme, a group of historians and volunteers, run guided tours of the foreshore where experts guide you and ensure that you stay safe and stick to Port of London Authority rules.

1. Why do people go mudlarking these days?

A．To take more exercise.	B．To keep the river clean.
C．To find historical objects.	D．To study how the tide changes.

2. What does the underlined word “hazard” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Power.

B．Danger.

C．Attraction.

D．Waste.

3. Which of the following best describes mudlarking in the 18th and 19th centuries?

A．It was considered as a hobby.	B．It was loved by most people.
C．It promoted the development of transport.	D．It allowed poor people to make a living.

4. What is the purpose of the guided tour of the foreshore?

A．To give support to mudlarks.	B．To test mudlarks’ working skills.
C．To inspire mudlarks’ love for art.	D．To encourage mudlarks to volunteer.

2 . Do you know how to be a proud traveller? The following can tell you.

• Travellers get excited and a bit nervous before travel.

Nervousness is typical of travellers. It does not matter whether the person travels once a year or far more frequently.    1    This happens simply because we can’t predict the future event that may occur during the trip.

•     2    

To plan trips is an exciting activity; however, once you have planned everything, get ready to break all your plans in case that things go wrong or not the way you expected them to go!

• Travellers may start a trip alone, but they end up with friends all over the world.

    3    Travellers are always ready to make new friends.

• Travellers are not just on a vacation.

People travel for a variety of reasons. People who stay in a foreign country need to challenge themselves in a variety of ways.     4    

•Travellers know that they’re lucky.

While travelling be prepared to see the real living around the globe. You will see that there are people who struggle to survive.     5    Be grateful for being able to travel since travelling is something only the lucky can afford.

A．Travelling is good to our health.

B．Travelling makes people excited and expectation makes our blood boil.

C．It’s hard to travel without meeting strangers.

D．Travellers love to make plans, but they also like to break them.

E．They learn new languages, meet new people and try to get to know new cultures.

F．The travelling plan is very important to the travellers when they go out for travelling.

G．At the same time, there are plenty of those who can afford the most necessary things.

3 . Every few years, snowshoe hare (白靴兔) numbers in the Canadian Yukon climb to a peak. As hare populations increase, so do those of their predators (捕食者): lynx and coyotes. Then hare populations fall and their predators start to die off. The cycle is a famous phenomenon among ecologists and has been studied since the 1920s.

In recent years, though, researchers have found hare numbers fall from their peak not just because predators eat too many of them. Long-lasting stress from living surrounded by killers causes mother hares to eat less food and bear fewer babies. The trauma (创伤) of living through such threats causes lasting changes in brain chemistry, keeping the hares from reproducing at normal levels.

And it’s not just snowshoe hares, as behavioral ecologists Liana Zanette and Michael Clinchy, who study what they call the ecology of fear, have shown. They’ve found that fear of predators can cause other wild mammals (哺乳动物) and songbirds to bear and raise fewer young. The offspring of frightened voles and song sparrows are less likely to succeed in reproducing. These findings add to a growing body of evidence showing that fearful experiences can have long-lasting effects on wildlife and suggesting that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not only unique to humans, but shared among other creatures.

Rudy Boonstra, a population ecologist at the University of Toronto, sees the response of snowshoe hares as an adaptation that allows the animals to make the best of a bad situation. Animals stressed by many predators spend more time hiding and less time feeding, so they produce fewer young—but that may allow more adult hares to survive to rebuild the population when the cycle starts again.

Despite the evidence that a wide range of animals experience the long-term impacts of extreme stress, some psychologists still hold their human-centric (以人为本的) view of PTSD. “It is defined in terms of human responses,” says neurobiologist David Diamond. “There is no biological measure—you can’t get a blood test that says someone has PTSD. This is a psychological disease, and that’s why I call it a human disorder. Because a rat can’t tell you how it feels.”

1. What did researchers find about snowshoe hares lately?

A．Their predators are in danger of dying out.

B．Their numbers decline partly because of stress.

C．Their safety is threatened by lynx and coyotes.

D．Their populations rise and fall every few years.

2. Which of the following would Zanette and Clinchy agree with?

A．PTSD exists among wild animals.

B．It is hard for animals to remember trauma.

C．Snowshoe hares suffer more than other mammals.

D．Birds attract fewer predators than land animals do.

3. What does Diamond express in the last paragraph?

A．PTSD is a uniquely human problem.

B．Blood tests help identify animals’ PTSD.

C．PTSD is a normal adaptive response.

D．More animals are suffering from PTSD.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To give a brief introduction to PTSD.

B．To talk about how to get over trauma.

C．To discuss how fear might hurt animals.

D．To call for the protection of snowshoe hares.

4 . Cultural heritage is an essential part of our identity, history and traditions. It includes buildings, monuments, artworks, books, music and other artefacts.    1    . However, the preservation of cultural heritage is not always guaranteed, and many valuable pieces have been lost or destroyed over time.

So, what can we do to protect our cultural heritage? The first step is to raise awareness about its importance. People need to understand that cultural heritage is not just a collection of old things.     2    . We should appreciate and respect it, and encourage others to do so as well.

Another way to protect cultural heritage is through legislation.     3    . They can also provide funding for restoration and maintenance projects, and impose penalties on those who damage or destroy cultural heritage.

Education plays a crucial role in preserving cultural heritage. Schools and universities can teach students about the value of cultural heritage and how to care for it     4    .

Technology can be a useful tool in protecting cultural heritage. Digitization allows us to preserve and share cultural artefacts with a wider audience, while also reducing the risk of damage or loss. Virtual reality can also be used to recreate historical sites and buildings, allowing people to experience them in a new and immersive way.

    5    . By raising awareness, establishing laws, educating people and using technology, we can ensure that our cultural heritage is preserved for future generations to enjoy and appreciate.

A．Historic buildings are climate friendly.

B．It is also a symbol of our cultural diversity and creativity.

C．Protecting cultural heritage requires a collective effort.

D．To be kept alive, cultural heritage must be related to its community.

E．This non-renewable treasure should be passed down from one generation to another.

F．Governments can establish laws and regulations to protect historic sites, buildings and artifacts.

G．Museums and other cultural institutions can offer exhibitions and events that show the importance of cultural heritage.

5 . Myspace launched in September 2003. Friendster gave inspiration to the founders of Myspace, and the social network officially went live on the web in January 2004. After its first month online, over one million people signed up. By November 2004, that number grew to 5 million. By 2006, Myspace was visited more times than Google Search and Yahoo, becoming the most visited website in the United States. In June of that year, Myspace was reportedly responsible for nearly 80 percent of all social media traffic.

As explosive as Myspace was, it paled in comparison to how quickly Facebook grew into the internet giant it is today. In April 2008, both Facebook and Myspace attracted 115 million unique global visitors per month, with Myspace still winning in the U. S. alone. In December 2008, Myspace experienced peak (顶峰) U. S. traffic with 75. 9 million unique visitors. As Facebook grew, Myspace sustain a series of downsizing and redesigns as it tried to redefine itself as a social entertainment network. It was estimated (估价) in March 2011 that the site had dropped from attracting 95 million to 63 million unique visitors within the past year.

Although several factors triggered Myspace’s fall, one argument held that the company never figured out how to innovate well enough to keep up with the competition. Officially, however, Myspace is far from dead. If you go to myspace.com, you’ll see that it is very much still alive, though it has mostly transitioned away from social networking to become a site for planning music and entertainment. As of 2019, the site boasted over 7 million monthly visits. On Myspace’s front page, you’ll find a variety of entertainment news stories not just about music, but also movies, sports, food, and other cultural topics. Profiles are still a central feature of the social network, but users are encouraged to share their own music, videos, photos, and even concert events.

1. How long has it taken Myspace to become the most visited website in America since its establishment?

A．About 2 years.	B．About 3 years.
C．About 5 years.	D．About 8 years.

2. What does the underlined word “sustain” mean in the second paragraph?

A．adapted

B．acquired

C．challenged

D．experienced

3. What is one of the main reasons for Myspace’ failure?

A．Lack of improvement.	B．Too much competition.
C．Unclear business positioning.	D．Cutting down too many workers.

4. What does Myspace mainly feature right now?

A．Profiles.	B．Social networking.
C．Entertainment news.	D．Music and entertainment.

6 . How Did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die?

On November 20th, 1791, Mozart suddenly came down with fever and was wracked with pain. His arms and legs were severely swollen. In the following days his health significantly deteriorated. He died on December 5 after lapsing into a coma. The death certificate states he died of “severe miliary fever”. Exactly which disease led to Mozart’s death has been a mystery for the last 200 years.

Speculations

Many myths —some more plausible than others — entwine (缠绕) Mozart’s early demise. One of the most popular myths — that Mozart was poisoned by his rival Antonio Salieri — rose to prominence due to the popularity of the film Amadeus. This theory is supported by the fact that Mozart had been living through a phase of depression before his death, suffering from paranoia and existential fear. Mozart himself suspected that the cause of his deteriorating health was being poisoned over a long time. However, it is highly likely that this was just his subjective view of reality.

Many other speculations circulate. Syphilis and trichinellosis are frequently mentioned. In 1905, a French physician assumed uric acid poisoning due to a never fully healed nephritis. In 1961, lead poisoning was suggested as a possible cause of death.

Scientific attempts to explain Mozart’s death

In 2000, a group of American scientists proposed rheumatic fever caused by a strep infection after conducting meticulous detective work. The symptoms stated in literature and the reports of Mozart’s contemporaries yielded the clues. Without antibiotics, such an infection would inevitably lead to death. Rheumatic fever causes a weakening of the heart, which could explain Mozart’s swollen limbs.

In 2009, the Dutch scientist Richard Zegers extensively studied surviving documents and concluded that Mozart had been suffering from pharyngitis, a throat infection with symptoms including cramps, fever, rashes and a swollen neck. Mozart’s sister-in-law Sophie Haibel had described these symptoms. The death registry of Vienna for winter 1791 lists several deaths caused by this disease.

Whatever the cause of Mozart’s death, it came far too early. Let us thank him for his manic urge to create art and remember him on December 5th!

1. Which of the following is similar in meaning to the underlined word “deteriorate” (Paragraph 1)?

A．To become worse.	B．To change greatly.
C．To recover quickly.	D．To be harmed rapidly.

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．It is generally believed that Mozart was poisoned by his friend.

B．Mozart’s depression paranoia and existential fear led to his death.

C．Mozart had been poisoned sustainably for a long time before he died.

D．Mozart once got a nephritis and it was never healed.

3. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?

A．Mozart’s disease was recorded in contemporary literature and reports.

B．Antibiotics were not discovered at that time.

C．Rheumatic fever can only be caused by strep infection.

D．Mozart’s illness cannot be cured even today.

4. What is the author’s purpose mentioning Mozart’s sister-in-law’s words?

A．To back up the Dutchman’s study.

B．To prove they were common symptoms causing death in 1791.

C．To prove Mozart did have such symptoms before his death.

D．To emphasize her special identify as a witness to Mozart’s death.

7 . It’s a well-known fact that volunteering brings positive changes to communities.     1     As research has shown, people who donate their time to help others can experience a significant boost in their own mental and physical health. There are several reasons why volunteering is good for our mental state. By volunteering, we strengthen connections with others, which helps keep loneliness and depression away.     2     According to another study, the feelings of pleasure and satisfaction we get from helping others tend to last longer than those same feelings do when they are from activities such as shopping or dining out.

Volunteering has positive effects on our physical health too.     3     Several studies have even shown that volunteering can reduce physical pain in those suffering from an illness. Clearly, people who aren’t volunteering already would do well to consider it.

    4     One place that often needs volunteers is nursing homes. As a nursing home volunteer, you get to interact with residents through stimulating activities, such as arts and crafts, music and dance, or board games. Many times, though, nursing home residents simply want someone to chat with.

You could also volunteer at a museum.     5     Not only do these volunteers learn about the museum’s collection, but they also develop important vocational skills.

Volunteering teaches you skills that can come in handy for your future career, and of course, it will keep you healthy both mentally and physically.

A．But do you know that volunteers themselves can benefit from it too?

B．It lowers our stress level and blood pressure, thus contributing to a long life.

C．Volunteering really is one of the most rewarding things you can do in your free time.

D．One study indicates that the people who often volunteer are less likely to achieve success.

E．Places like this often rely on volunteers to provide services such as supplying visitors with information.

F．In one British study participants who had volunteered often reported feeling more satisfied with their lives than those who had not.

G．If you’re ready to do some volunteer work but don’t know where to begin, you’ll be glad to know there are plenty of choices out there.

8 . When students get home, they usually sit down at the table and pull out their homework. Piles of papers rise all the way to the ceiling. American students should get less homework on a daily basis.     1    

Loads of homework can cause stress in a student and lead to health issues in the body and mind. Stress causes lack of sleep, slipping grades, tiredness, unhealthy eating habits, depression, and so on. Nervous breakdowns can make completing homework much more of a struggle and also effect the health and life of a student.

    2     The recommended amount is 10 minutes times the grade level. So first grade gets 10 minutes; second grade gets 20 minutes; third grade gets 30 minutes, and so on, but kids are doing much more than that. Twenty three percent of 13-year-olds do more than 2 hours a night.     3     There is no academic benefit for high school students after 2 hours and there are no academic benefits for middle school students after 1 and a half hours.

Doing homework all night can take away a student’s free time and sleep. Always doing homework can lead to less time for sports and after-school activities.     4     Worse still, hanging out with friends is decreased, so that means there is less socializing. Staying up late and doing homework takes away a student’s time to sleep. Not enough sleep can leave students tired, and at school they might focus less or fall asleep during class.

Shouldn’t students get less homework so that they can be happy and have more time with family and friends?     5     If teachers and parents tried to reduce the amount of homework, there would be a decrease in stress and anxiety and an increase in happiness!

A．Lack of sleep can cause great stress.

B．The more the students do, the less they get out of doing it.

C．Administrators, teachers, and parents need to address this issue.

D．Family time is also decreased, which can add more family conflict.

E．Homework-related anxiety and stress can affect school work negatively.

F．Kids are doing more than the recommended amount with no academic benefits.

G．Anyway, too much homework can cause quite a few physical and mental problems.

9 . A new study suggests that mindfulness education — lessons on techniques to calm the mind and body — can reduce the negative effects of stress and increase students’ ability to stay engaged, helping them stay on track academically and avoid behavior problems.

After finding that students who self-reported mindful habits performed better on tests and had higher grades, researchers from the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University wanted to know if school-based mindfulness training could help more students reap similar benefits.

They designed a study focusing on sixth-graders in a Boston school. The study showed that sixth-graders who participated in an eight-week mindfulness were less stressed out than their classmates who hadn’t. Practicing mindfulness had helped improve the ability to focus in the moment, expanding students’ capacity to learn and regulate their emotions.

Four times a week, instructors from Calmer Choice, a Massachusetts nonprofit specializing in mindfulness education, taught the group techniques and led them through practices, like focusing on a rock for a minute, then discussing when their mind wandered and refocused on the rock. Another group of sixth-graders took computer coding during that time instead. The students were randomly assigned between the groups.

At the end of the eight weeks, the mindfulness group reported being less stressed than they had been before the mindfulness education, and better able to practice self-control. And their amygdalae, the part of the brain that controls emotion, responded less to pictures of fearful faces than they did prior to the mindfulness work, suggesting their brains were less sensitive to negative stimuli, or, in other words, that they were less likely to get stressed out and lose focus. The group who attended coding classes didn’t see the same benefits.

The findings suggest that the mindfulness instruction helped boost students’ attention skills, as well as develop coping mechanisms for stress. The researchers believe it could be especially useful for schools to support students suffering from severe mental damage and other adversities that trigger stress in the body, hurting students’ ability to succeed.

1. What was the purpose of the study?

A．To examine the techniques for practicing mindfulness.

B．To study the effects of group mindfulness training on students.

C．To see how students help themselves to perform better on tests.

D．To understand why mindfulness training calms the mind and body.

2. How was the study conducted?

A．By listing benefits of mindfulness education.

B．By scanning the brain to see how it controls emotions.

C．By teaching different students different mindfulness skills.

D．By comparing two groups of students attending different classes.

3. What change took place after the students practiced mindfulness work?

A．They felt easier to stay focused.	B．They were better at computer coding.
C．Their mind was wandering more actively.	D．Their brains were more aware of negativity.

4. Who are the most possible target readers of the passage?

A．Stressful parents.	B．Mindful instructors.
C．Emotional students.	D．School educators.

10 . Music is known to have a great deal of mental and physical benefits on humans. From helping to treat physical medical problems to relieving stress, music can be extremely beneficial in helping to improve health.     1    

Animals may have a great deal of stress.     2     Dogs and cats may be stressed when around men because they were badly treated by a man, and they may never forget that. A dog who was attacked by another dog while on a walk may be always afraid to go on walks, or even be afraid to leave the house.

    3     Cats, dogs and horses will not all have the exact same stressors (压力源), so you just have to pay close attention to your animal and what makes them unique, such as changes in eating habits, too much sleep and too little sleep, just to name a few.

Music can be extremely beneficial for animals in high stress situations.     4     In the atmosphere, they feel calm, safe and well protected. Music can be specifically helpful when played at veterinary (兽医的) clinics for animals who are afraid of the vet. This helps calm the owners of the animals and the staff at the office besides the animals.     5     That’s why it is being taken up at a variety of veterinary clinics around the world.

A．It can create a space for them.

B．The same goes for our furry friends, too.

C．They could be stressed for a variety of reasons.

D．It would be a beneficial practice for all parties.

E．Another place where music can be helpful is in car rides.

F．There are ways that you can identify stress in your animals.

G．It’s no wonder loud noises can cause dogs and cats so much stress.