1 . Parents are an enormously powerful force in the lives of children. Whether Johnny can read, whether Johnny knows right from wrong, whether Johnny is a happy, well-adjusted kid or shy and bad-tempered, has a whole lot to do with the kind of parenting Johnny has received. If Johnny’s mom and dad have been able to come through with lasting, determining loving attention, the odds (可能性) are that Johnny is on track to become a productive, compassionate citizen. If they have not, Johnny is in trouble—and so is our nation.
Thirty years ago Chicago sociologist James S. Coleman showed that parental involvement mattered far more in determining school success than any quality of the formal education system. Across a wide range of subject areas, in literature, science and reading, Coleman estimated that the parent was twice as powerful as the school in determining achievement at age fourteen. Psychologist Lawrence Steinberg, who recently completed a six-year study of 20,000 teenagers in nine different communities, confirms the importance of parents. Steinberg shows that one out of three parents is “seriously disengaged” from his or her adolescent’s education, and this is the primary reason why so many American students perform below their potential—and below students in other rich countries.
A weight of evidence now shows obvious links between absent parents and a wide range of behavioral and emotional problems in children. A 2017 study of 90,000 teenagers—the Add Health Project undertaken by the Carolina Population Center and the Adolescent Health Program at the University of Minnesota—found that youngsters are less likely to get hopeless, use drugs or become involved in crime when they spent significant time with their parents. This study found that only the physical presence of a parent in the home after school at dinner and at bedtime significantly reduces the incidence of risky behavior among teenagers.
1. What can be inferred from paragraph 1?| A．Children should be taught to be successful in life. |
| B．Children are affected by many factors during the growth. |
| C．Parents’ character has a deep influence on children. |
| D．Parents should be strict with their children about behaviors. |
| A．Odds. | B．Parents. | C．Citizens. | D．Children. |
| A．To know the importance of parents’ company. | B．To find out why there are so many crimes. |
| C．To get ways to prevent teenagers’ bad behaviors. | D．To find links between parents’ education and crimes. |
| A．Dismissive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Favorable. | D．Unclear. |
2 . It can be tough to pull kids away from their computers and mobile devices these days. While they’re playing games, wouldn’t it be great if they could be learning at the same time? Good educational apps offer fun challenges that teach specific grade-level skills. Here are four apps that combine fun and learning.
Understanding Math ($3.99; iOS)
Understanding Math goes beyond basic comprehension to gain a deeper understanding of the whys and hows of math. The app tracks your child’s progress to determine strengths and weaknesses in different skill areas, and you can customize (改制) your child’s learning experience to suit the needs.
Word Creativity Kit ($2.99; iOS)
Word Creativity Kit aims not only to make creative writing fun but also build up grammar rules. The app presents a series of words from seven categories, such as space or fantasy. Kids add their own words to finish the complete thoughts that these words have inspired.
Barefoot World Atlas ($4.99; iOS)
Barefoot World Atlas helps kids learn about geography and world cultures with a touch of the screen. Each region features a set of subtopics from wildlife and natural features to native, and architecture. These facts and illustrations are delivered in photographs, sounds, and hundreds of mini videos.
My Grades & Homework ($80.99; iOS)
A combination of grades and homework tracker, My Grades &Homework can help your child stay organized and on top of the progress in school. A convenient calendar and course list format offer a glance at your child’s assignment schedule that he or she might not normally get from standard homework planners.
1. Which app is beneficial to children’s writing skills?| A．Understanding Math. | B．My Grades & Homework. |
| C．Barefoot World Atlas. | D．Word Creativity Kit. |
| A．They need purchasing when downloading. | B．They help children improve their grades. |
| C．They make studies fun by mini videos. | D．They inform parents of their children’s progress. |
| A．To encourage parents to prevent their children from playing games. |
| B．To advocate more educational apps combining fun and learning |
| C．To introduce four educational apps for readers to buy and use. |
| D．To ask readers to design more interesting educational apps for children. |
3 . In 2020, Pink launched the world Regret Survey, the largest survey on the topic ever undertaken. With his research team, Pink asked more than 15, 000 people in 105 countries, “How often do you look back on your life and wish you had done things differently?” Most of them said regret was at least an occasional part of their life. Roughly 21 percent said they felt regretful all the time. Only 1 percent said they never felt regretful.
If you are of the “no regrets” school of life, you may think that all this regret is a recipe for unhappiness. But that isn’t the case. Letting yourself be overwhelmed by regret is indeed bad for you. But going to the other extreme maybe even worse. To extinguish your regrets doesn’t free you from shame or sadness but causes you to make the same mistakes again and again. To truly get over our guilt requires that we put regret in its proper place.
Uncomfortable as it is, regret is an amazing cognitive (认知的) feat. It requires that you go back to a past scene. Imagine that you acted differently to change it, and with that new scene in mind, arrive at a different present — and then, compare that fictional present with the one you are experiencing in reality. Not all regrets are the same, of course. Pink says they come in four basic varieties, and an instance of regret may involve just one combination.
Many connection regrets overlap (重叠) with moral regrets, which can come about after you go against your own values. For example, you may pride yourself on being a loving person, and thus regret not living up to this image in the relationship you harmed. Moral regrets can also involve (涉及) just yourself. Maybe you regret not living up to your commitment (承诺、保证) to your health when you ate a whole pizza or skipped the gym.
If not analyzed and managed, any variety of regret can be harmful to your health. Regret is linked to depression and anxiety, and excessive regret can have a bad effect on your immune system. But regret doesn’t have to be put aside and ignored.
1. What could be concluded from Pink’s research ?| A．Half of the people felt regretful. |
| B．Most people lived without regrets. |
| C．None could live a life without regrets. |
| D．The majority of the people had regrets. |
| A．Admit. | B．Destroy. | C．Treasure. | D．Advance. |
| A．The harm of moral regrets. |
| B．The importance of commitment. |
| C．The relationship between regrets and values. |
| D．The connection between reality and imagination. |
| A．Types of regrets. | B．Causes of regrets. |
| C．Benefits of experiencing regrets. | D．Ways of dealing with regrets. |
4 . Anyone who’s lived through middle school knows those years can be particularly challenging. Some researches show youths across the U.S. are struggling with mental health. The physical health benefits of bike riding have been well-documented. Wilson, a researcher at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and his co-authors carried out a new study to see if taking part in a cycling program could result in measurable changes in mind for teenagers.
The study involved more than 1,200 students, ages 11 to 14. Students participated in a cycling class for at least three days a week, for a period of 6 weeks. They learned cycling safety and practicing skills outdoors while raising their heart rate and just having fun. The students completed standardized questionnaires before and after the program designed to measure their health.
“We know cycling can benefit the body. Our research shows how it benefits the mind and social relationships as well. Bike riding can be an ideal activity for adolescents because of the benefits it offers,” said Wilson.
“Cycling engages several parts of brain function. You are looking at your hearing, you’re balancing, you’re navigating and turning. Oftentimes, you’re doing it with someone else, so there’s the positive effect of company or group activity,” said Allan Reiss, a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.
While exercise has powerful mental health benefits, it’s not universal. For example, previous research has shown that teenage girls are at higher risk of mental health problems like depression and anxiety than boys. The current study found that, while middle school girls reported increased well-being after participating in the cycling program, that increase “may just reach the kind of baseline level for male students,” Wilson said. And other aspects of healthy living are also important, noted Wilson. The study found that teenagers who didn’t limit screen time to a maximum of two hours a day, or who got less than the recommended 8.5 hours of sleep, saw less improvement in their well-being, he said.
1. What does the new study mainly focus on?| A．Challenges in middle school. | B．Youths in America. |
| C．Physical benefits of cycling. | D．Mental effects of bike riding. |
| A．Attend the cycling class for a week. |
| B．Learn how to keep safe while cycling. |
| C．Raise their heart rate by cycling indoors. |
| D．Design questions to measure their health. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Unclear. | D．Negative. |
| A．Application of the research results. |
| B．Doubts about the research methods. |
| C．Further explanation of the research findings. |
| D．Supporting evidence from previous research. |
5 . I was 6 years old when my father told me we were leaving the Big Apple Circus (马戏团). Until that point, I had spent most of my life on the circus lot, playing with the other circus kids. The circus, by its nature, is one that has a loose structure. So the early years after my leaving the circus to sit in a classroom all day felt more like a prison.
But years later, I found areas that interested me. I took the skills I had learned from being onstage and applied them to broadcasting. And so when Boston’s news station WBUR offered me a job out of college, I jumped at the chance. Along the way, I found I really enjoyed the work. I became WBUR’s news reporter. The flexibility and adaptability I’d learned in the circus as a child helped me do my job naturally and easily in a stressful situation — whether it was a destructive tornado outside Boston, or the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013.
But then a serious infectious disease appeared. Suddenly, for the first time in my adult life, I went for a year without doing any shows. But it became clear to me that performing was what I truly wanted. For me, the circus symbolizes who I am. And stages have always been where I’ve felt the most free. Some people get nervous before they go onstage, but by assuming (扮演) the character of Jacques ze Whipper and drawing a stupid moustache on my face, all my social anxiety disappears.
Circus performances go beyond age, socioeconomic status (地位), and even language. It’s the type of performance where you can go anywhere in the world to entertain anyone — help anyone forget their troubles for 5, 10, and even 30 minutes. And most importantly, for me, it means coming home.
1. How did the author feel in the early years of school?| A．Curious. | B．Unfree. | C．Loose. | D．Impatient. |
| A．He did it for his father. | B．He did it against his will. |
| C．He risked his neck doing it. | D．He took to it like a duck to water. |
| A．A means of living. | B．A chance to go anywhere. |
| C．A part of his identity. | D．A way to forget his troubles. |
| A．To express his love for circus performances. |
| B．To stress the value of performing. |
| C．To share his personal experiences in a circus. |
| D．To discuss the problem of choosing a job. |
6 . Hello, everyone. Welcome to our school. Now let’s take a look at some interesting school publications (出版物).
ColumbusIt is our literary (文学的) magazine; the name shows the place where we live. Editorial training includes developing skills for creative writing. Published twice yearly, many excellent students are also recognized as Scholastic Writing Awards winners.
DiversionIt is our language publication. Published once a year, it impresses readers with student works presented in Chinese, French, and Spanish. Working with advisors who teach these languages, student editors help in presenting their classmates’ work including poems, essays, short stories and art. Diversion is often used by our language teachers in the classroom as well.
The BrunerIt is Trinity’s yearbook. Serving the entire school, it is a yearly testament (证明) to the many aspects of Trinity life. Editorial positions are named in May, allowing editor s to attend a two-day summer meeting at NYU. This meeting allows students to develop their ability to get knowledge before the start of the school year. Work on the yearbook begins immediately thereafter, as students work to create an impressive K-12 publication.
The Trinity TimesIt is the upper school newspaper, written, edited, photographed and produced completely by students as an extracurricular activity. Its contents include Arts and Innovation, Trinity Life, NY Culture, Science, Opinion and Editorial, and Sports.
1. What is special about Diversion?| A．It is published in different languages. | B．It publishes teachers’ works. |
| C．It comes out once a month. | D．It focuses on sports. |
| A．To prove the advantages of Trinity life. |
| B．To present students’ poems and essays. |
| C．To make students better at gaining knowledge. |
| D．To develop students’ skills for creative writing. |
| A．The Trinity Times. | B．Diversion. |
| C．The Bruner. | D．Columbus. |
7 . It is a bright cold day in April and Paul Blachut is busy as usual. From behind the bar of a restaurant, he has a good view of the river. He can see that, along the shore, many visitors are cooling their feet in the river.
Among those are a mother and her two teenage daughters. They’re standing on the edge of the riverbank, playing with an inflatable (充气的) tube when, suddenly, the girls lose their footing and are caught in the river’s current. It all happens so fast. The girls desperately grab on to the tube, which their mother is sitting in, dragging her into the river, too. Now all three are being carried away by the fast current.
A bystander races to the restaurant and shouted for help. Despite having no lifesaving training, Blachut rushes to the riverbank, quickly pulling off his T-shirt. Then he jumps into the river. He doesn’t care about the cold; all he can think about is saving the women.
As Blachut gets closer to them, he can tell that the mother seems to be in the most trouble; her head is now submerged. He recalls how a lifeguard saves people in a movie so he tries this, but in vain. Without hesitation, Blachut dives under the drowning woman, pushing her upward and using that momentum (冲力) to push her toward the shore. Then he dives into the current again, swims quickly downstream and manages to get hold of one of the teenagers, and get her out in the same way he did her mother. He is out of strength and luckily, the girl’s sister is helped out by someone else.
Several onlookers express their admiration for Blachut following the incident, but he is modest about his role. “The whole rescue only took two or three minutes” he says today, adding that he is happy to have received high praise from his boss for his courage. Indeed, it was a job very well done.
1. What might Blachut be?| A．A visitor. | B．A waiter. | C．The boss. | D．A lifeguard. |
| A．She loses her footing while playing. | B．She is dragged into the river by accident. |
| C．She jumps into the river to save her daughters. | D．She loses control of the tube and flows with it. |
| A．Blachut’s rich lifesaving experience. | B．The method Blachut recalls in a movie. |
| C．The slow speed of the river current. | D．Blachut’s ability to make quick decisions. |
| A．Health. | B．Travel. | C．Inspiration. | D．Entertainment. |
8 . Learn about programs, events and much more for students of your age to get opportunities.
Youth and Non-Violent Direct Action
Time: October 18 and November 1,2023
Contact: Robert Croonquist
This interactive workshop for school groups will teach how to appeal to the government for change and how to create safe, non-violent direct action. Students will meet in small groups to discuss issues that are important to them. The fee to participate is $5 per student.
Attend a FREE Architecture and Design College Fair
Time: October 28,2023
Contact: Mary Lib Schmidt
High school students are invited to learn more about applying to architecture school. Representatives from over 30 colleges, universities, and design programs will meet with students and answer questions. The event will be held from 11am-3pm.
Seeds of Knowledge: Teen Tour and Natural Bath Bomb Making Workshop
Time: October 26,2023
Contact: Nicole Leist
Participants will look at 15th- to-17th-century printed herbals on display and learn how modern practitioners （医师） create beneficial natural products today. Teens will create bath bombs using all organic materials. This program is intended only for teens aged 13 to 18. FREE with advance registration.
FREE Saturday Leadership Program for Hispanic Youth
Time: November 2023 through March 2024
Contact: Lisa Pineda
It is a FREE Saturday program serving 100 students. It offers various leadership opportunities and resources with the goal of affirming students in cultural pride and increasing the Hispanic voice in government, community, and institutional spaces. Seats are limited.
1. What can you learn about Youth and Non-Violent Direct Action?| A．It lasts a fortnight. | B．It is free of charge. |
| C．It is organized by the government. | D．It teaches legal ways to communicate. |
| A．Robert Croonquist. | B．Mary Lib Schmidt. | C．Nicole Leist. | D．Lisa Pineda. |
| A．Youth and Non-Violent Direct Action. |
| B．Attend a FREE Architecture and Design College Fair. |
| C．Seeds of Knowledge: Teen Tour and Natural Bath Bomb Making Workshop. |
| D．FREE Saturday Leadership Program for Hispanic Youth. |
9 . A new study in the journal of Tourism Analysis shows frequent travelers are happier with their lives than people who don’t travel at all.
Chun-Chu Chen, an assistant professor at Washington State University, conducted a survey to find out why some individuals travel more frequently than others and whether or not travel and tourism experiences have a lasting effect on happiness and wellness.
The results of his analysis show individuals who pay more attention to tourism-related information and frequently discuss their travel plans with friends are more likely to go on regular vacations than those who aren’t constantly thinking about their next trip. Additionally, participants in the survey who reported regularly traveling at least 75 miles away from home also reported being about 7% happier when asked about their overall well-being than those who reported traveling very rarely or not at all.
“While things like work, family life and friends play a bigger role in overall reports of well-being. The accumulation (积累) of travel experiences’ does appear to have a small yet noticeable effect on self-reported life satisfaction,” Chen said.
Participants in the study were asked about the importance of travel in their lives, how much time they spent looking into and planning future vacations, and how many trips they went on over a year. They were also asked about their life satisfaction. Out of the 500 survey participants, a little over half reported going on more than four pleasurable trips a year. Only 7% of respondents did not take any vacations.
As travel restrictions (限制) due to COVID-19 pandemic begin to relax in the future, the research could have important effects on both tourists and the tourism industry. Based on the results of the study, Chen said travel companies, resorts and even airlines, could launch social media campaigns, such as creating signs about the scientific benefits of vacation, to spark people’s interest in discussing their opinions about travel.
1. What is the benefit of frequent travelling according to the study?| A．Getting more tourism information. | B．Making more friends. |
| C．Bettering tourism industry. | D．Improving one’s well-being. |
| A．Why the professor carried out the study. |
| B．How the participants felt about the survey. |
| C．What the participants were interviewed about. |
| D．What the participants panned to do in the future. |
| A．Tourism industry should improve their service. |
| B．The results of the study will benefit tourism industry. |
| C．COVID-19 pandemic will be more serious in the future. |
| D．People will live a happier life after COVID-19 pandemic. |
| A．Travel more and be happier | B．Make good use of travelling |
| C．Prepare for the tourism development | D．Make travel plans with friends |
10 . It is generally assumed that one can’t have too many friends. But it seems that there is a natural limit to the number of people we stay in touch with. A study found that when we make new friends, by starting a new job or going to university, we downgrade or even drop old ones. And while the friends may change, the number stays almost the same.
Oxford University researcher Felix Reed-Tsochas asked 24 students in the final months of school to list all their friends and relatives and say how close to them they were. The pupils filled in the questionnaire (问卷) twice more after starting work or going to university. They were also given free mobile phones and agreed that researchers could use their bills to work out who they called, when and for how long.
Putting the two pieces of information together showed, unsurprisingly, that most people have a small circle of close friends, who they spend most of their time talking to. This inner circle is surrounded by group after group of ever more distant friends. As the volunteers’ lives changed, this overall pattern, including the number of best friends, remained almost the same, meaning that some close friends from childhood were dropped or downgraded as new friendships were built.
Dr Reed-Tsochas said, “Maybe my best friend is no longer the same person but the amount of time I allocate (分配) to my best friend is still the same.” He added that this finding suggests that even with the coming of modern technology we are only capable of forming a limited number of true friendships.
Chester University researcher Dr Sam Roberts said, “Our results are likely to reflect limitations in the ability of humans to keep emotionally close relationships both because of limited time and because the emotional capital (情绪资本) that individuals can allocate between family members and friends is limited.”
1. According to Paragraph 1, what is a popular belief about making friends?| A．A friend in need is a friend indeed. | B．We should treat friends as our family. |
| C．The more friends we make, the better. | D．A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody. |
| A．Checking the volunteers’ call records. | B．Learning about the volunteers’ hobbies. |
| C．Tracking the volunteers’ job performance. | D．Interviewing the volunteers’ schoolmates. |
| A．One’s attitude to friendship remains the same. |
| B．People attach great importance to friendships. |
| C．People rarely drop their old friends to make new ones. |
| D．The number of one’s best friends doesn’t change much. |
| A．To add background information. | B．To give a possible explanation. |
| C．To offer some suggestions. | D．To introduce a new topic. |
