1 . Humans have many unique behaviors among animals. For example, we have a formal language that permits communication about things that exist in the past, present, and future. Yet we share at least one emotion with many other species fear.
To really understand our fears we have to go further to study how animals long before humans came into being assessed (评估) and managed predation (捕食) risk in the wild. All animals, past and present, must assess life-threatening predation risks (风险) and make decisions to avoid or otherwise manage those risks. It is a proper balance: being too fearful is costly if fear means that you miss out on getting food, mates, or other important resources. However, being too brazen could end very poorly indeed. It is the context that influences all decisions. If they’re hungry, it’s wise to take more risks or they will go hungry. And, if they’re powerful and can steal food from others at will, perhaps it’s OK to be a bit more careful. Successful individuals are those that make right assessment, and because of this, leave more descendants.
Natural expressions of fear influence the structure of ecological communities, and the removal of predators changes entire ecosystems. To manage predation risks, animals modify(调整) their activity patterns, habitat selection, and their diet. Fear of predators can also reduce an individual’s reproductive(繁殖)success. All of these fear-driven modifications can have a great influence on both the environment and the diversity of many species. Fear, as it turns out, is an essential part of healthy ecosystems and helps keep biodiversity.
Fear is a natural emotion, and that it’s impossible to completely avoid it. It is comforting to know that fear comes from a long line of ancestors, both human and nonhuman. It is a compass(指南针)that, when used I properly, guides us away from danger and toward opportunity.
1. What do we know about animals’ risk assessment and management according to paragraph 2?A.Animals are too fearful to make right assessments. |
B.Animals will fail to get food when they are fearful. |
C.Animals have to make proper decisions based on different situations. |
D.Animals which arc more fearful are more likely to make right assessment. |
A.brave | B.afraid | C.hungry | D.strong |
A.The ways animals manage fear |
B.The influence fear has on ecosystem |
C.The approaches to keeping a healthy ecosystem |
D.The problems fear brings about to the ecosystem |
A.Fear from Our Deep Past | B.Survival of the bravest |
C.Emotion from human and nonhuman. | D.Path to risk management |
2 . Health and fitness help a person live a good and healthy life. Often due to various pressures, we tend to ignore our health. This makes our body suffer and we will catch other diseases. It is the fitness level of our body that helps us fight these diseases.
Health and fitness are interrelated to each other. We need to be fit to have a healthy body.
Similarly, if we are healthy we shall naturally be attracted towards maintaining the fitness of our body. Health is the state of our body at a given time. We may not have any disease but still have a weak body, which is ready to be targeted by viruses. For instance, we may have a tendency to catch a cold easily. This does not definitely mean that we are not healthy. It means the fitness level is not in accordance with our age and the climatic conditions we live in.
It is important for everyone to devote some time to health and fitness. There are some activities which everyone should do in our life. For instance, we must exercise daily regardless of our age and working style. There are different levels of exercises for different age groups and we must do them according to our own health and age.
Additionally, it is important to relax our body. We should have at least six to eight hours of sleep every day. It helps in improving our immune(免疫) system and protects us against diseases. It also helps in keeping us calm and relaxes our mind. This, in turn, gives us new goals of health and fitness.
1. According to the passage, what will be the result of ignoring our health?A.Our body will fight disease more easily. |
B.Viruses will attack our body easily |
C.We will be under great pressure |
D.Our immune system will work for us. |
A.in control of.. | B.at the sight of | C.in agreement with | D.in favour of |
A.Health and fitness are related to our age and working style. |
B.It is important to keep the fitness of our body. |
C.Health are closely connected with fitness. |
D.Health and fitness help people live a good life. |
A.New goals of health and fitness |
B.Ways to fight discase |
C.Work out on a daily basis |
D.Health and fitness |
3 . The British Museum is filled with some of the world’s most famous historical items. If you love history, it’s a good place to visit. It is said to be the top museum in London. The museum has millions of objects, making you worry about your first visit.
Advice on your visit
If you need help in exploring the museum’s displays, about 80,000 objects from a total collection of 8 million items, try joining a guided tour. There are various free tours. You can also rent audio guides.
Ticket information
Entry to the museum is free, but access to some exhibitions will charge you. The museum limits the number of people in the museum to ensure there’s room for you to safely enjoy your visit. You’re advised to book a free ticket to guarantee the entry. Self-led groups of 10 or more people will need to book a group ticket. School groups should contact the box office to book their visit to the museum.
Opening times
Daily: from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (Fridays: 8:30 pm)
Last entry: 4:00 pm (Fridays: 7:30 pm)
The museum is closed from 24 December to 26 December.
Cafes and restaurants
Court Cafés: from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Great Court Restaurant: from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm
Transport
Bicycle racks are available inside the gates of the main entrance on Great Russell Street. If you’re planning to visit by car, please be aware that the museum doesn’t offer parking facilities. There is a taxi rank on Great Russell Street at the museum’s main gates. Going to the museum by bus or subway is very convenient, which can be your first choice.
For more information, visit the British Museum’s website.
1. What may trouble you when initially visiting the museum?A.Free access. | B.Abundant collection. |
C.Beautiful architecture. | D.Breathtaking sculpture. |
A.4:00 pm. | B.5:00 pm. | C.8:30 pm. | D.10:00 pm. |
A.The bike. | B.The bus. | C.The subway. | D.The car. |
4 . Family vlogging — the frequent recording and uploading of personal videos of the family, usually on video sharing website — has become big business nowadays, especially among parents of young children. The more viewers such videos can get, the more money the family can make. At first thought, it does seem like an easy way to make money. However, are we doing right by putting their lives up for public attention?
For one thing, as the children grow up, they increasingly become aware that what they do needs to be admirable enough for the public to enjoy — Being young children, they also would want to do whatever it takes to please others. They then feel the pressure to be perfect, and as that is something not always possible, they become anxious and stressed. Comments from viewers and the expectations of sponsors (赞助者) can also affect the parents’ reactions towards their children.
Another problem is the lack of privacy in the children’s lives. As the children reach adolescence, there is a greaser need for personal space. At 12 or 13, very few children would appreciate being filmed while eating or having a conversation with their friends. Teenhood is a time of significant change in an individual, both physically and emotionally, and is a time when parents need to protect their children and guide them, instead of exposing them to the eyes of the public.
Family vlogging can be irresistible, given how it allows parents to bring greater fun to their family lives. There is also the easy money and the fame to look forward to. Indeed, all would probably go well, but only as long as parents keep in mind that, if not managed well, making their children live their lives in the unforgiving eyes of the public could prove to be a big mistake.
1. How does vlogging about children’s lives influence the family?A.Children will get used to public attention. |
B.Children may suffer from too much pressure. |
C.Parents may show no concern for their children. |
D.Parents become addicted to exposing their children to the public. |
A.By providing examples | B.By listing numbers |
C.By making comparisons | D.By analyzing causes |
A.To introduce a new big business |
B.To show how vlogging influence people’s lives. |
C.To persuade parents to watch out for comments from viewers. |
D.To convince parents of the danger of vlogging about children’s lives. |
A.negative | B.positive | C.neutral | D.uninterested |
5 . Directed by the AFM private company, National University of Science and Technology(NUST)MISIS engineers, together with the Karfidov Lab design group, have invented a machine named Salatomat that could serve meals to users in a very short time. The engineers say this machine cooks dishes from vegetables and cereals(谷物)in 30-60 seconds, so it can produce between 150 and 500 meals per day.
The cooking machine contains 16 basic ingredients-vegetables, cereals, potatoes, noodles-and 20 dressings and toppings. With this set, Salatomat can cook up to 1, 000 different dishes, with the user able to make a personal choice of products. These dishes are especially fit for those who live a healthy lifestyle or have some health problems.
“The machine has its own ‘brain’. It can remember users’ choices and medical history. And it knows what is in it and what it can produce with the help of the RFID chip,” said Aleksey Karfidov, head of the department of technological equipment engineering at NUST MISIS.
“The process begins with the preparation of products -putting ingredients into the robot, cutting vegetables, and controlling the temperature (cooling or heating, depending on the dish),” said Aleksey Karfidov. According to the developers, the robot is able to ensure the safety of food and quick preparation of well-balanced meals. The machine will also be completely non-contact-all cooking steps are carried out by itself.
All ingredients inside Salatomat are put into clean containers. Ingredients can be stored in the containers for eight hours at most, and if not used, they must be removed and cleaned.
1. What is Salatomat designed to do?A.Store different foods. | B.Help prepare meals. |
C.Wash the dishes. | D.Grow vegetables. |
A.It’s smart. | B.It’s unworkable. | C.It’s expensive. | D.It’s space-saving. |
A.The way Salatomat works. | B.The change Salatomat brings. |
C.The cost of buying ingredients. | D.The importance of food safety. |
A.Clean it up after each use. |
B.Mix everything together before it works. |
C.Keep a close eye on its temperature. |
D.Take out its ingredients stored over eight hours. |
6 . Born in an unknown village in Huarong county, Hunan province, Yi had few opportunities to play instruments when he was young.
At the age of 6, when most performers have already begun studying the piano at music academies, Yi learned the traditional stringed instrument the erhu from a group of people lodging at his home. It was not until much later that he first saw a piano when he visited his cousin’s house in Huarong.
“My family was too poor to buy a piano for me, so I often used to visit my cousin, even though it took about an hour to travel the 20 kilometers to his home over rocky roads just for the opportunity to sit at the keyboard,” Yi said.
Yi first arrived in Shenzhen 19 years ago and worked in factories, on construction sites and in kitchens. He had not played a piano for nearly 30 years.
The public pianos in Huaqiangbei offered him a fresh start. On a hot summer’s day, while taking a break from work at a nearby construction site, Yi and his son passed one of the instruments. Encouraged by his son, Yi decided to give it a try.
He rubbed his hands nervously on his clothes, but the moment he placed his fingers on the keys, he felt more comfortable and his confidence returned. Although his masterly performance at the piano keyboard quickly made him an online sensation in China and overseas, Yi is not the only one to benefit from the pianos in Huaqiangbei.
Inspired by the British artist Luke Jerram, who has placed more than 2,000 street pianos in over 70 cities worldwide since 2008 with the words “Play Me, I’m Yours” printed on their sides, the public piano project in Huaqiangbei was launched by the local government in 2018.
Zhang Chen, deputy director of the Huaqiangbei subdistrict office, said: “Huaqiangbei is located in the commercial district in the center of Shenzhen. We have been trying to provide diverse facilities to bring high-quality public cultural services to the area. We are surprised that the public piano project has attracted so many people to play the instruments, and others to watch them perform.”
1. What do we learn about young Yi from the passage?A.He smoothed the path to piano lessons. |
B.He was fascinated by musical instruments. |
C.He received musical training at the age of 6. |
D.He familiarized himself with erhu at his cousin’. |
A.Awkward. | B.Confident. | C.Amazed. | D.Refreshed. |
A.The artist’s popularity. | B.The project’s origin. |
C.The artist’s creativity. | D.The project’s challenge. |
A.A city culture featuring the piano needs changing. |
B.The street piano project fuels urban development. |
C.Huaqiangbei gets in tune with its cultural ambitions. |
D.Shenzhen takes the lead in promoting cultural prosperity. |
7 . One night, as I was driving down the road, I found something was sitting in the middle of the road. A few seconds later, I realized I was looking at a large turtle (海龟). Afraid of it being crashed by cars, so I pulled over, ran across the road and dragged the turtle to safety. But I’d made one big mistake.
I had heard that the best way to pick up a turtle without hurting it was picking it by the tail in order not to get bitten. So I’d made that big mistake. While the turtle turned out OK generally, I was determined to figure out how to move a turtle properly. I needed to find someone who dealt with turtles. I found the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. I talked to Dr. Sue, its Executive and Medical Director.
Dr. Sue told me that the organization dealt with a number of aspects of turtle conservation, including rescue, settlement, birth programs, research, and education. Sue explained that southern Ontario is home to a vast majority of turtles in Canada, but is also one of the vastest road networks of the country.
“Ninety percent of injured turtles brought in are caused by cars. These turtles spend a lot of time on land. And they do travel many kilometers on land for a variety of reasons, to find a nesting spot, or to hang out for the summer or winter. Turtles know where they want to go. So, just keep them going in the direction they want to go and you may have saved a turtle’s life,” Dr. Sue said.
Once an injured turtle arrives at the center, there are medical facilities (设备) ready to go, including an X-ray machine. That’s when the team gets to work with healing injuries, and help their patient.
1. Why did the author stop the car?A.To help the turtle. | B.To see the thing clearly. |
C.To prevent a car accident. | D.To find something good. |
A.It got hurt by people before. | B.It was injured a little bit. |
C.It was run over by a car. | D.It lost its direction. |
A.Leaving the turtles alone. |
B.Making Ontario home to turtles. |
C.Changing the road conditions. |
D.Helping turtles find nesting spots. |
A.The director. | B.The driver. |
C.The author. | D.The turtle. |
8 . Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation (PPIE) was started in 1987 to raise money by organizing running events for local schools. Based in Pleasanton, California, a suburb of San Francisco, the non-profit organization recently hosted a family-focused fitness event for the community. “Our event helps to bring the community together,” said Mindy Louie, events and outreach manager for PPIE. “We have more than 3,000 participants, hard-working volunteers and viewers.”
This year’s fitness event took place on April 30 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It featured races of two miles, five kilometers and ten kilometers. A new Kids Challenge consisted of a quarter-mile run to encourage younger children to participate. When asked to describe the run, 11-year-old Jeremy Louie said, “Fun, exciting and enjoyable.” Jeremy added that he was happy to help support his school.
PPIE supports all 15 schools in the Pleasanton Unified School District, which include more than 14, 500 students and 800 teachers and staff. The nonprofit organization tries to fund programs affected by budget cuts, while encouraging fitness and athleticism. To date, the PPIE has raised over $1 million for the school district.
A local runners’ group called the BURN Youth Development (B. Y. D.) participated in the fundraising. The B.Y.D. has since grown to more than 100 youth members, 30 of whom ran in April’s PPIE event. Jerry Wu, the group’s founder and lead coach, explained that the B.Y.D. was born to keep kids running. “Watching them running strongly and happily makes me smile every time,” Jerry said.
Jerry encourages teamwork and teaches the students valuable running techniques. As a B.Y.D. member, Ollie Gu, an eighth grader, was one of the top finishers in the ten-kilometer run. He completed the race in 40 minutes and 46 seconds and won first place in the 12-to-15 year-old age group. “The race was extremely rewarding,” Ollie said. “I’m looking forward to it next year.”
1. Which race was recently created?A.A ten-kilometer run. | B.A quarter-mile run. |
C.A five-kilometer run. | D.A two-mile run. |
A.To stress the great influence of PPIE. |
B.To show a small budget for education. |
C.To introduce the school district in brief. |
D.To advertise the organization’s programs. |
A.Their duties as athletes. | B.Their feelings as coaches. |
C.Their recognition of the B.Y.D. | D.Their anticipation of the next run. |
A.Sports volunteers. | B.Young sportsmen. |
C.Running with teachers. | D.Racing for education. |
9 . Detecting drugs used to be a special job for dogs, but now a drug detection team is welcoming some new colleagues-squirrels. Six Eurasian red squirrels were trained and approved for work responsibilities by police in Chongqing in February.
Squirrels have a sharp sense of smell as they can smell food under a foot (about 30 centimeters) of snow. Being so small and quick, the “newcomers” are able to search for drugs in places where dogs may not be able to reach, such as in narrow spaces or on top of packages stacked (堆) high in warehouses. The squirrels have been trained to use their claws to scratch at boxes in order to catch their handlers’ attention if they detect drugs, according to local Chongqing police authorities.
“Our self-developed training system can be applied to the training of various animals,” Yin Jin, a police dog handler in Chongqing, told Global Times, adding that the training has really good results as the squirrels can quickly identify drugs. Although the system is designed for dogs, it can show some information on how squirrels are trained as well.
According to a research article published in the journal China Working Dog which details the program,conditioning the animals' reflexes (反射) is the key factor. First, the animals are familiarized with the target’s smell and do special gestures when they smell their target. For example, for explosive detection dogs, the handlers place pieces of cloth with the smell of the explosives next to the dogs’ food.
Next, the animals learn to search for the target under various conditions. From a large number of luggage bags to people walking in crowds, the handlers create different situations to test the animals. If the animals successfully identify the location of the target, the animals are then rewarded with snacks and other treats. The animals are soon able to search for targets spontaneously (自动地), showing that the conditioned reflex has been built in them. Their training ends with practice sessions in real-life scenarios.
1. What would the squirrels do once they identify drugs?A.Use their claws to take the drugs. |
B.Enjoy treats from the handlers. |
C.Scratch at the surface of packages. |
D.Search for drugs with the same smell. |
A.Squirrels can detect drugs hidden under the earth. |
B.Squirrels are better at identifying explosives than dogs. |
C.Squirrels can access narrow spaces or high packages in warehouses. |
D.Squirrels requires less training compared to police dogs for drug detection. |
A.Developing the immediate reactions of animals. |
B.Familiarizing the animals with the target’s smell. |
C.Doing special gestures when they smell their target. |
D.Involving practice sessions under different conditions. |
A.The Role of Animals in Drug Detection |
B.A New Member in the Drug Detection Force |
C.The Challenges of Training Squirrels for Drug Detection |
D.Chongqing Police’s Training Program for Sniffer Animals |
10 . Have you ever received a gift that was so clearly, not your taste that you wondered if perhaps it had been handed to you by mistake? Worse, have you ever given a present and watched your friend look as though she had opened the wrong box? Maybe she responded with a polite “Why, thank you,” but you knew you had missed the mark. Why do presents sometimes go wrong? And what do your choices (good and bad) reflect about your personal qualities?
Choosing the right gift is an art, I believe. It calls for empathy—the ability to put yourself into someone else’s head and heart.We’re all able to do this; in fact, we’re born with a kind of natural empathy.After the earliest period of childhood, however, it needs to be reinforced (加强) —by our parents, teachers, friends. When it isn’t, we’re not able to understand other people’s feelings as sharply.This can show in the gifts we select, and so can many other emotional(情感的) qualities.
Think back to the presents you’ve given over the past year, the time and effort you put into your selection, how much you spent, your thoughts while you were shopping, and your feelings when the receiver opened the package.Keep in mind that what you choose displays your inner world.(Of course, you may express yourself differently with different friends, relatives, and other people you know.)
We live in a society where exchanging presents is an important part of communication.Ignoring the tradition won’t make it go away.If you really dislike such a tradition, tell your friends ahead of time.
1. The underlined expression “you had missed the mark” means you had failed to _______.A.make her feel better | B.keep your friendship |
C.get the expected effect | D.receive a present in return |
A.Natural empathy needs to be reinforced. |
B.Emotional changes influence one’s choice of gifts. |
C.Selecting the right gift is an ability people are born with. |
D.Choosing gifts requires one to understand the receivers. |
A.the choice of gifts reflects one’s emotional qualities |
B.one learns from what he did in the past |
C.attention should be paid to the receivers’ responses |
D.one should spend more time choosing gifts |
A.Ways of Choosing Gifts | B.An Important Tradition |
C.Exchanging Presents | D.Message in a Gift |