1 . Some shy people find that they can talk fine with their old friends, but struggle with strangers. They want to “fit-in” with new people, but it’s really not easy for them.
Work on Raising Self-confidence
Having high self-confidence helps you to be outgoing because you get recognition from yourself.
Be in the Present Moment
Shy people spend too much time in their heads.
Say No to Limiting Beliefs
Some people are so careful in conversations. They don’t want to say “wrong things”. They don’t like themselves around new people and can’t stand out because they’re afraid even to try.
Little by little you’ll get better. As you succeed, you’ll grow confident to be more outgoing, which will lead to more social success.
| A．Then, you’re in a positive state of finding more friends. |
| B．The real problem is that the feeling is based on completely false beliefs. |
| C．When you feel good about yourself, what others think of you doesn’t matter so much. |
| D．Here are some tips on how to be more outgoing and be social with people. |
| E．They could improve their social skills through these ways. |
| F．Because of this, they don’t catch helpful details of the moment. |
| G．You’ll know you can fit in whenever and wherever you like. |
2 . Binge-watching (追剧) your favorite TV series is bad for your brain. Dr. Randall Wright, based in Texas, said the need to watch episode (集) after episode has a similar influence on the brain to gambling (赌博). What’s more, it often leads to social loneliness, snacking on junk food and a shortage of exercise and sleep, which, over time, is bad for the brain.
When you let auto play start the next episode, you can find out what happens next and your brain receives good feedback, Dr. Wright wrote in an article. This right-away satisfaction is similar to gambling where even after a win, you are not satisfied and want to continue playing. With binge-watching, you are not satisfied with stopping after episode five and want to continue watching. This cycle coupled with the snacking and the long time sitting can lead to unhealthy changes in your brain and body over time.
Dr. Wright said, “Binge-watching itself is not bad. It becomes problematic when you are watching a third, fourth or fifth episode instead of doing healthy activities.” But he said it is possible to avoid the bad influence of binge-watching with four tips, including staying away from salty, fatty, calorific foods, exercising before a binge-watching, setting an alarm for sleep and balancing TV viewing with socializing.
If you add these tips to your binge-watching practice, you can create lasting healthy habits and still enjoy the now-and-then binge-watching time without hurting your brain.
1. What might “it” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Gambling. | B．Binge-watching. |
| C．TV series. | D．Brain. |
| A．The long time sitting. | B．The changes of feeling. |
| C．The snacking on junk food. | D．The immediate satisfaction. |
| A．The tips on how to develop a healthy lifestyle. |
| B．The reasons why binge-watching is problematic. |
| C．The ways to keep away from binge-watching. |
| D．Do’s and don’ts of binge-watching. |
| A．Ill Health: The Result of Addiction |
| B．Healthy Habits: A Must of A Better Life |
| C．Binge-watching: A Killer of Your Brain |
| D．TV-Viewing: Gradual Harm on Your Health |
3 . Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, turned 200 years old in 2018! It has been called the first true work of science fiction and the first English horror novel. The story has been told over and over again—not just in books, but in movies and television shows. To celebrate, New York City s Morgan Library & Museum has a special exhibit on the writer and the book.
The reason for the success is that Doctor Frankenstein and his creature, the monster, live on in numerous remakes, shows, and even comic books.
Mary Shelley’s classic is one of the most famous horror stories of all time. But Frankenstein is so much more than that. It presents ideas or themes that are still important today. Knowing something about her suffering can help readers have a good knowledge of her work. Shelley wrote the book when she was only 18 years old. And it relates to her own sad life. Her mother died 10 days after she gave birth to her. She knew what it meant to be a child without a mother. It is no surprise that Shelley wrote a story about a motherless creature one that is very much alone in the world.
Losing her mother shortly after her birth in 1797 was only part of her life story. Mary Shelley gave birth to four children, but only one child survived to adulthood.
Around the age of 17, she fell in love with the poet Percy Shelley. The two writers got married in 1816. However, the marriage of Percy and Mary Shelley was short-lived. Her husband died in a sailing accident in 1822. She was still in her twenties when she became a widow. In some ways, it’s not entirely surprising that she ended up with a story about a monster without a mother.
After the publication of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley continued to write. She died from brain cancer on February 1,1851. Her most important legacy is a monster that is still very much alive today.
1. What do we know about Frankenstein?| A．It exists in different forms of art. |
| B．It is a romantic fiction. |
| C．It is not popular with modern readers. |
| D．It has been made into the most interesting science fiction movie. |
| A．They were quite creative. | B．They felt lonely. |
| C．They had the same character. | D．They behaved badly at home. |
| A．To show pity to her. | B．To introduce her to readers. |
| C．To make readers understand her novel better. | D．To show her difficulty in writing the novel. |
| A．Success comes from struggle. |
| B．Hardship creates a great person. |
| C．Shelley’s experiences contribute to the success of Frankenstein. |
| D．Frankenstein comes into the market. |
4 . Sam is a fourth-year student at Harvard Medical School，but poetry is still a big part of his life，now with a new teacher，Rafael Campo，who believes poetry can benefit every doctor’s education and work. Rafael is a physician，professor and a highly respected poet.
“Poetry is in every encounter(邂逅)with my patients. I think healing is really in a very great way about poetry. And if we do anything when we’re with our patients，we’re really immersing(使沉浸于)ourselves in their stories，really hearing their voices. And，certainly，that’s what a poem does，”he said.
Rafael worries that something important has been lost in medicine and medical education today：humanity，which he finds in poetry. To end that，he leads a weekly reading and writing workshop for medical students and residents(住院医生).
He thinks medical training focuses too much on distancing the doctor from his or her patients，and poems can help close that gap.
Third-year resident Andrea Schwartz was one of the workshop regulars. She said. “I think there’s no other profession other than medicine that produces as many writers as it does. And I think that is because there’s just so much power in doctors and patients interacting when patients are at their saddest. ”Not everyone believes that’s what doctors should do，though.
Rafael said，“I was afraid of how people might judge me，actually. In the medical profession，as many people know，we must always put the emergency first. But，you know，that kind of treatment，if it’s happening in the hospital，very regrettably，sadly，results in a bad outcome. The family is sitting by the bedside. The patient hasn’t survived the cancer. Don’t we still have a role as healers there?”
In a poem titled“Health”，Rafael writes of the wish to live forever in a world made painless by our incurable joy. He says he will continue teaching students，helping patients and writing poems，his own brand of medicine.
1. What do we know about Rafael Campo?| A．He works as a doctor. | B．He is under medical care. |
| C．He is a literature professor. | D．He knows little about poetry. |
| A．The importance of medical training. |
| B．The effect of poetry in medical treatment. |
| C．The similarity involved in poetry and medical work. |
| D．The present relationship between patients and doctors. |
| A．It comforts patients’family. |
| B．It contributes to medical work. |
| C．It has nothing to do with doctors. |
| D．It keeps doctors away from patients. |
| A．It requires a lot of spare time. |
| B．It can provide a useful tool for doctors. |
| C．It has little effect on patients’conditions. |
| D．It should be included in emergency treatments. |
5 . The ruins of a Maya city have been discovered in Guatemala with the help of the remote sensing technique LiDAR. This lost city envelops sites like Tikal, Holmul, and Witzna, but shows that these famous areas are a small part of this lost urban network.
Hidden under the jungles of the Maya Biosphere Reserve site, more than 60,000 human-made features — homes, canals, highways, and more — have been identified in aerial (从飞机上的)images collected by some international researchers headed by the PAGUNAM Foundation, a Maya cultural and natural heritage organization. Those have experts rethinking the outlines and complexity of the Maya Empire.
These ancient peoples obviously created these imaginative cultures based on their known relics (遗迹), but the new research has suggested that the size of this lost society is far beyond what experts imagined. The findings will be explored in a one-hour documentary called “Lost Treasures of the Maya Snake Kings”, to be broadcast on the National Geographic Channel.
This breakthrough was possible thanks to LiDAR sensors, which can survey lands in 3D by bouncing pulses off the ground from unmanned air vehicles and others. LiDAR is exceptionally useful for detecting archeological(考古的)sites, as it gets through jungles and other features that hold up exploration on the ground. The technique has made many discoveries become a reality in recent years. For instance, major finds at Angkor, Cambodia and Caracol, Belize can explain what it did. The final goal is to survey Guatemala’s lowlands with it.
“There are entire cities we didn't know about now showing up in the survey data,” Francisco Estrada-Belli, one of the lead archeologists on the project, said in Nat Geo's coming documentary. “There are 20,000 square kilometres more to be explored and there are going to be hundreds of cities about the mysterious people who built this urban network there that we don’t know about, and we will push back the frontiers with the technology,” he added.
1. What does the underlined word "Those" in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Jungles. | B．Human-made features. |
| C．Researchers. | D．Aerial images. |
| A．The working principle of LiDAR sensors. |
| B．The process of researching Maya civilization. |
| C．Great importance of Guatemalans lowlands. |
| D．LiDAR’s contribution to discovering the relics. |
| A．Small and hidden. | B．Famous and high-tech. |
| C．Vast and complex. | D．Fully-explored and imaginative. |
| A．Continue to explore the unknown. | B．Upgrade the LiDAR technology. |
| C．Study the documentary carefully. | D．Build a massive urban network, |
6 . To see the world is one thing. To have someone to share it with is another. Indeed the travel becomes more interesting when you have a travel partner. A travel partner can be a close friend, a family member, a pal you’ve met online, or a business
You can have someone to talk to
Traveling alone is fun，but wouldn’t you feel lonely? Having a travel partner can remove the feeling of loneliness. This is especially true if you can get a travel companion who is very familiar with the place you, re traveling to. You don’ t have to ask any information from the locals, and you can increase the time you spend in the country.
One of the major headaches in traveling is the costs involved. You can’t simply ignore the rising price of hotels or plane tickets. You should also think about your daily needs, such as your food. Of course, you can’t simply go back without bringing any souvenirs (纪念品)to your friends and family. All these can ruin your budg- et(预算).However, when you have a travel friend, you can have someone to share the expenses with.
You can meet a good friend
Having a travel mate is a good way of meeting a new friend or even a lifelong partner. You can never count the number of couples who actually found their way into each other’s heart while traveling together in another country.
You can have someone to watch out for you
When you’re in a foreign land, you’ll never be really safe. You don’t know the rules as well as the culture of the people. A travel mate will be perfect to remind you of your duties in the country and to watch your back just in case you get lost. So why don’t you find a travel companion now?
Let’s find out how ...
1. What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?| A．To introduce a travel company. |
| B．To encourage us to have a travel partner. |
| C．To explain how to be a perfect travel partner. |
| D．To tell an interesting experience with a travel partner. |
| A．You can have someone to share the expenses with. |
| B．You can know the local culture well. |
| C．You can enjoy food with your partner. |
| D．You can save money by bargaining together. |
| A．Traveling alone is not fun. |
| B．Buying souvenirs isn’t necessary. |
| C．Many people fall in love when traveling. |
| D．It’s better to choose a stranger as a travel partner. |
| A．how to get along with a travel partner |
| B．how travel can benefit people |
| C．what we can learn from travel |
| D．how to find a travel partner |
7 . In our annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey, we asked our readers to rate their favorite cities in the world for arts and culture. These cities are centers of music and dance, museums,and theaters. Here are four of them where you can find inspiration in the arts,starting with the top spot.
Rome, Italy
At its peak, the Roman Empire extended over nearly two million square miles of land across Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa. Today, that history is on display everywhere. The city’s main attractions are famous not because of tourist advertisements,but because they are really so impressive. No wonder it’s known as the Eternal City:You could spend forever here and find new artistic and cultural treasures every day.
Paris, France
Hemingway famously called Paris “a moveable feast”, but wherever you go while in the city, there is always something to see, hear, taste or feel. With some 150 museums, Paris doubles as an art history class, offering the very best of the discipline across centuries and styles.
London, United Kingdom
London is inspiration and setting for the rise of Shakespeare, Dickens, Orwell and Eliot and the breeding ground for all those iconic (标志性的) bands: The Kinks, The Clash and The Stones. London is also Banksy’s favorite canvas, home to more than 1,000 galleries, and the kind of place where you can spend a whole day in a single museum and still be ready for more when it opens the next morning.
Vienna, Austria
As we all know, Western music would be unrecognizable without Austria’s capital, which nurtured many famous musicians. It’s also the site of the Vienna Secession, a revolutionary art movement founded in 1897 by Gustav Klimt. Visitors today can see the fruits of all that creativity in the city’s 100 – odd museums.
1. Why is Rome regarded as the Eternal City?| A．It had an important role in history. |
| B．Its history can be seen everywhere. |
| C．People can easily find new art and culture. |
| D．People can spend money well there. |
| A．Produced. | B．Affected. |
| C．Attracted. | D．Changed. |
| A．History. | B．Art. |
| C．Education. | D．Life. |
8 . How to protect your privacy when you travel
It hasn't been an easy year for the privacy of travelers，at least so far．Data leaks，surveillance（监视）worries and those troublesome cameras in airplane seatbacks and hotel rooms are enough to make passengers anxious．
Some homeowners renting their residences may install security cameras．Travelers should find out if the hosts are required to disclose the presence of surveillance devices．If the rental comes with cameras，ensure they aren't in a sensitive area by conducting a careful sweep
Although you can't control how a hotel or airline handles-or mishandles-your data，you can take reasonable steps to ensure the information it has won't get you into trouble．
But some of the worst data leaks happen when you're staying at a hotel．For example，a hotel clerk sometimes asks for your name and then announces your room number after you've checked in．You're better off handing the employee your ID when he or she asks for your name and asking the employee to write your room number on a piece of paper．Why？
| A．It's never been better． |
| B．Perhaps they should be． |
| C．Travelers say they're taking privacy seriously． |
| D．Never broadcast your journey on social media． |
| E．There are other people on the other side of the wall． |
| F．Some travelers only offer the bare minimum，such as a P．O．box instead of a home address． |
| G．Report anything doubtful to the host immediately-and if you don't like what you hear， leave． |
9 . Birthdays are especially important to the very young and the very old. On their birthdays, people receive birthday cards and birthday presents from their family and friends. Children’s cards often have a large number on them showing how old they are. Cards for adults have pictures of flowers or scenery, or humorous or rude cartoons. Inside there is usually a simple greeting, such as “Happy Birthday” or “Many Happy Returns of the Day.”
In the US, children who have their birthdays during the school year take a cake to school and have a small party with their classmates. In Britain, children sometimes get Bumped (lifted off the ground horizontally and put down again sharply) by their friends.
In the US, the 16th birthday is called sweet 16. It is the age at which a person can get a US driver’s license, and some wealthier parents give their children a car as a present. At 18, in Britain and in the US, young people become adults and many have a big party. In most parts of the US, 21 is the age at which people can drink alcohol legally.
In Britain, people celebrate 21st birthday less. Many adults dislike getting older and a few lie about their age. But in general older people are now much more willing to tell others their age. You may see a sign by the side of a road saying: “Dave Ell is 40 today!”, put there by Dave’s friends. At about 65, people retire, and those who have reached this age are called senior citizens. Few people live to be 100, so a 100th birthday is very special. In Britain, people reaching this age may receive card containing a printed message from the Queen.
1. What’s the main characteristic of children’s birthday cards?| A．They are full of pictures of scenery. |
| B．There are some flowers on them. |
| C．There is a large number on them. |
| D．They have greetings written on them. |
| A．The 40th birthday is very special |
| B．Many adults like lying about their age |
| C．Dave’s friends like playing jokes on him. |
| D．Older people don’ t mind telling others their age now |
| A．be called a senior citizen | B．refuse to talk about his age |
| C．receive a card from the queen | D．be invited to dinner with the Queen |
| A．Bars in the US are forbidden to sell alcohol to young people under 21. |
| B．In Britain, 18 means young people become adults. |
| C．Young people will get a car as the 16th birthday present in the US. |
| D．British young men love to celebrate the 21st birthday. |
10 . Small talk is a good way to make friends. If you travel to other countries or have friends from abroad, do you know how to use small talk to make conversation?
In Britain, the best topic is the weather. British weather is changing all the time.
Besides weather, it's good to talk about gardens with British. You could say "Those roses look really beautiful, don't they?'*
In America, people like to talk about sports news, such as American football and basketball.
| A．English people love their pets. |
| B．Americans also talk about clothes. |
| C．Politics or religion is not a good topic. |
| D．Only a few topics are not used for small talk. |
| E．There are also a lot of topics to avoid during small talk. |
| F．You can start chatting by saying "It's a lovely day today, isn't it?" |
| G．Friends are important to us all, but how to make friends is a problem. |
