1 . Having hundreds of friends online is no substitute for a handful of close friends in real life. Researchers discovered that people with only a few friends were at least as happy as those with far more if many of theirs were online. The number of ''peripheral others'', someone connected with online — former classmates and coworkers, for example — had no connection with how satisfied they felt.
Scientists did their study using data from two online surveys conducted on 1,496 people by a non-profit research organization. People taking part in the study revealed their ages, the make-up of their social networks, how often they had different types of social interactions, and their own feelings of well-being. They included details of how often and how they interacted with family or neighbours, and whether they included people who provided services for them in their networks. The number of close friends someone had was the only thing that influenced how satisfied they were with their social life.
''Loneliness has less to do with the number of friends you have, and more to do with how you feel about your friends,'' said Dr Bruine, an expert of the study. ''If you feel lonely, it may be more helpful to make a positive connection with a friend than to try and seek out new people to meet.''
In the study, they found older people tended to have smaller social networks. Younger people's were larger but this was mostly made up of ''peripheral others'' — not true friends, just people they knew — and did not contribute to their happiness.
Even variations in the number of family members or neighbours somebody spent time with did not affect how happy they were with their social life. Dr Bruine said her research echoed other findings showing people would be happier if a larger proportion of their online friends were actually their friends in reality.
She added, ''Stereotypes of aging tend to paint older adults in many cultures as sad and lonely. But the research shows that older adults' smaller networks didn't weaken social satisfaction and well-being. In fact, older adults tend to report better well-being than younger adults.''
1. What has a good influence on one's happiness according to the study?| A．Having impersonal networks of friends. |
| B．Meeting with close friends face to face. |
| C．Helping familiar coworkers. |
| D．Keeping in touch with family members online. |
| A．Keep off using the Internet. |
| B．Show their attitudes to happiness. |
| C．Reveal their social life thoroughly. |
| D．Find ''peripheral others'' from their friends. |
| A．Parents living with their children. |
| B．Older adults with fewer friends online. |
| C．Those having fewer relatives or neighbours. |
| D．Young people without friends in reality. |
| A．treat | B．draw |
| C．describe | D．criticize |
2 . Researchers have recorded penguins making sounds underwater for the first time — the first time such behavior has been identified in seabirds. These animals, like other seabirds, are highly vocal on land. They are known to communicate when their heads are above the water in the ocean, possibly for the purposes of group formation.
However, until the latest study — published in the journal Zoological Science — it was not known whether penguins made sounds underwater, like some other air-breathing marine predators, such as whales and dolphins. For their research, a team of scientists led by Andréa from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, wanted to investigate this issue. To do so, they fitted adult penguins from three species with video cameras featuring built-in microphones.
To the surprise of Andréa and her colleagues, the team recorded a total of 203 underwater vocalizations from the penguins in the underwater footage they captured over a month-long period in 2019. These are the first recordings of seabirds producing vocalizations underwater. “I couldn’t believe it. I had to replay it many times,” Andréa said.
The vocalizations that the team recorded — which sound like rapid whoops — were very short in duration, lasting about 0.06 seconds on average. And all of these sounds were emitted（发出）during dives in which the animals were searching for food. Currently, it is not clear why the penguins are making these sounds; however, they only produce them while hunting. In fact, more than 50 percent of the vocalizations were immediately preceded by an acceleration movement or followed by an attempt to hunt.
According to the researchers, this suggests that the sounds are related to hunting behavior — especially because the penguins tend to be alone when they make them, indicating that communication was not the purpose. The researchers guess that the penguins may be using the vocalizations to stun(使昏迷) their prey. However, much more research is required to determine why the penguins make these sounds, the scientists note.
1. How does Andréa’s team conduct the study about penguins?| A．By recording penguins’ sounds on land. |
| B．By fixing electronic devices on the penguins. |
| C．By observing penguins’ activities underwater. |
| D．By catching different kinds of adult penguins. |
| A．Penguins’ sounds are too low to hear. |
| B．She doubts if penguins could make sounds. |
| C．Penguins seldom make sounds underwater. |
| D．It’s not easy to obtain penguins’ sounds underwater. |
| A．When they take a deep breath. |
| B．When they dive to hunt for food. |
| C．When they teach their babies diving. |
| D．When they communicate with their partners. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Negative. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Indifferent. |
3 . You cannot judge a book by looking at its cover! That's what a group of parents and students in Hangzhou has found out this term.
When they came to school in September, the students were shocked to learn that their class teacher was to be a P.E. teacher. How could someone who teaches table tennis and basketball know anything about academics? Their parents were equally worried and pressured the school to replace ''Miss Muscle'' with a ''Miss Brain. '' However, the principal(校长) did not give in to the pressure and now the parents and students are happy that the school firmly insisted.
After three months, the P.E. teacher, whose name is actually Miss Su, has turned out to be a wonderful class teacher. She is intelligent, kind and helpful. She is a good leader who keeps her students active in their studies and participate in school activities. And she has won the parents over with her real caring for their children. In other words, Miss Su, the P. E. teacher, is ''pretty extraordinary. ''
The early negative reaction against Miss Su is an example of bias(偏见). A ''bias'' is wrong in thinking that has an influence on a person's opinions and decisions. For example, in business, tall men are more likely to be bosses. In the United States, anyone who is above 190 centimeters tall can expect to have a higher salary and to get more promotions than his shorter co-workers. Similarly, women have a difficult time climbing the career ladder because their bosses(mostly men!) think that women lack leadership skills and the necessary toughness to make difficult decisions. Neither of these opinions is based on facts or the talents of the individual. They're just bias.
1. What seemed to be the parents' early reaction to Miss Su?| A．They were excited. | B．They were amazed. |
| C．They were worried. | D．They were interested. |
| A．She is an excellent P. E. teacher. |
| B．She was finally removed. |
| C．She really cared about her students. |
| D．The headmaster was proved to be wrong. |
| A．tall men are usually excellent | B．people are often judged with bias |
| C．opinions should be based on facts | D．women lack leadership skills |
| A．Disagreeable. | B．Acceptable. |
| C．Careless. | D．Curious. |
4 . A ship that sank off the coast of California decades ago was recently reconstructed in detail. The 3D digital model even included hundreds of sponges (海绵动物) that have gathered on the ship’s surface since it sank.
Named American Heritage, the supply ship sank in Santa Monica Bay on May 4, 1995, and for decades its exact location was unknown. Researchers with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) spotted a strange shape in that area in 2008. But it wasn’t until May 2018 that MBARI scientists identified its exact location and mapped the site in detail, showing what appeared to be a shipwreck (失事船只).
Even then, the identity of the shipwreck was uncertain. Yet another MBARI team revisited the location to do further exploration. They sent remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and took photos of the damaged ship. Though it was covered with deep-sea sponges and other animals, the scientists were able to spot letters spelling out its name, confirming that the shipwreck was American Heritage.
As one of the MBARI scientists who found American Heritage, chief ROV pilot Knute Brekke had worked on the ship before. And he was on duty with the diving company American Pacific Marine — the owner of American Heritage — the night the ship began taking in water and eventually sank.
MBARI spokesperson Kim Fulton -Bennett said to Live Science about the discovery, “The model is not complete, as floating ropes and poor visibility kept the pilots from getting too close to the wreck. But the 3D reconstruction is detailed enough to show that American Heritage is now home to thousands of sponges. Shipwrecks often turn into the shelter for diverse communities of ocean life.”
1. What is the main idea of the text?| A．A valuable treasure was discovered. |
| B．Special sponges were found under sea. |
| C．3D model reconstructed a sunken ship. |
| D．A sunken ship was gotten out of water. |
① Something strange was found in the area.
② ROVs were sent under sea to take photos.
③ A ship sank in Santa Monica Bay.
④ The identity of the ship was confirmed.
⑤ Scientists tried to locate the shipwreck.
| A．②③⑤④① | B．③①⑤②④ |
| C．⑤③①④② | D．④③①②⑤ |
| A．He was familiar with the sunken ship. |
| B．He was in charge of a diving company. |
| C．He was responsible for the rescue work. |
| D．He was the first one to witness the accident. |
| A．Critical. | B．Doubtful. | C．Amazed. | D．Objective. |
5 . In the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies the tiny island nation of Tuvalu，the fourth smallest country in the world. This group of four islands and five atolls (islands made from coral) is famous for its sandy beaches and turquoise (蓝绿色的) waters and has long been a popular tourist destination for nearby New Zealanders. However, the nation of Tuvalu is at risk of soon no longer existing; not because of war or political change, but because it will be covered by the rising ocean.
Tuvalu is experiencing the harmful effects of global warming. As global temperatures rise, so does the ocean temperature. Due to the scientific law of “thermal expansion,” when water heats it get bigger.
Even before Tuvaluans began to suffer from the effects of climate change, lift on Tuvalu was tough.
More serious than Tuvalu’s lack of home-grown food has been its lack of drinking water.
Tuvalu’s problems have led some of its 11, 000 inhabitants to consider migrating to Australia or New Zealand.
| A．It was a desperate situation and, but for emergency shipments from New Zealand and Australia, many Tuvaluans would have died. |
| B．This is largely due to the geological makeup of atolls. |
| C．Unlike normal islands, atolls have no rivers or streams, which means that most of Tuvalu has no groundwater to use for drinking. |
| D．Tuvalu’s representatives demanded that nations should take a more responsible rote in reducing gas emissions. |
| E．Therefore, sea levels are rising and for low-lying Tuvalu, this spells disaster. |
| F．However, they ate not willing to abandon the land of their forefathers so easily. |
| G．And as a member of the United Nations, they are doing just that. |
6 . For top students from low-income families，the challenge of applying to colleges is particularly difficult. 1 in 4 deal with all of that—the writing，the studying，the researching and applying—completely on their own. One approach to make this whole process easier? Pair students up with an adviser.
That’s the idea behind CollegePoint，an initiative to help gifted students go to schools that match their intellectual(智力的)ability. When a high school student takes a standardized test—the PSAT，SAT or ACT——and they score in the 90th percentile，and their families make less than$80，000 a year，they get an email from the program offering them a free adviser. The advisers listen，guide and answer students’questions.
Connor Rechtzigel，an adviser in Minnesota，sees the importance of his role，for research shows that low-income students are far more likely to undermatch because they don’t think they have what it takes to get in and because many don’t even know what schools are out there. He helped high school senior Justice Benjamin，the first in his family to apply to college，think about what his ideal learning experience was. Finally，Justice narrowed in on smaller schools where he could study environmental science and made his final choice：Skidmore College in New York. He felt empowered by the process.
Figuring out how to pay for college is a major part of what，CollegePoint advisers do. Nakhle，an adviser in North Carolina，is working with Hensley，an Ohio high school senior who can’t get extra financial help from her family. They spent a lot of time comparing and analyzing her financial-aid award letters，which made her decision much clearer. Finally，the Ohio State University offered an option where she would pay nothing. Staying in-state wasn’t her first choice，but it was the best option for her.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．How CollegePoint works. | B．The goal of CollegePoint. |
| C．Ways to apply for a free adviser. | D．The challenge of choosing colleges. |
| A．Overestimating their abilities. | B．Knowing little about colleges. |
| C．Lack of enough learning experience. | D．Failure to get support from their families. |
| A．She didn’t want to stay far from home. |
| B．Her favorite major was provided there. |
| C．She would show her talents to the full. |
| D．The university met her financial needs. |
| A．How to Be a Financial Adviser |
| B．Steps for Top Students to Select Ideal Colleges |
| C．Advisers Help Poor Students Apply to Suitable Colleges |
| D．CollegePoint—a Program Helping Students Score High |
7 . “If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect,” the media giant Ted Turner supposedly said sometime in the 1990s. Why be modest? Aristotle said: “All men by nature desire to know.” Intellectual humility is a particular instance of humility, since you can be down-to-earth about most things but still ignore your mental limitations.
Intellectual humility means recognising that we don’t know everything. Actually, it means we should acknowledge that we're probably biased in our belief about just how much we understand and seek out the sources of wisdom that we lack.
The Internet and digital media have created the impression of limitless knowledge at our fingertips. But, by making us lazy, they have opened up a space that ignorance can fill. The psychologist Tania Lombrozo of the University of California explained how technology enhances our illusions (错觉) of wisdom. She argues that the way we access information is critical to our understanding—and the more easily we can recall an image, word or statement, the more likely we’ll think we’ve successfully learned it, and so withdraw from effortful cognitive processing. Logical puzzles presented in an unfriendly font (字体), for example, can encourage someone to make extra effort to solve them. Yet this approach runs counter to the nice designs of the apps and sites that populate our screens, where our brain processes information in a “smooth” way. What about all the information that presents online? Well, your capacity to learn from it depends on your attitudes. Intellectually humble people don’t hide or ignore their weaknesses. In fact, they see them as sources of personal development, and use arguments as an opportunity to refine their views. People who are humble by nature tend to be more open-minded and quicker to resolve disputes, since they recognise that their own opinions might not be valid.
At the other end of the scale lies intellectual arrogance. Such arrogance almost always originates from the egocentric bias – the tendency to overestimate their own virtue or importance, ignoring the role of chance or the influence of other people’s actions on their lives. This is what makes these people credit success to themselves and failure to circumstance. From an evolutionary perspective, intellectual arrogance can also be seen as a way of achieving dominance through forcing one’s view on others. Intellectually arrogant people hardly invest mental resources in discussion or working towards group consensus, thus making it hard for groups to work successfully.
The Thrive Center for Human Development in California, which seeks to help young people turn into successful adults, is funding a series of major studies about intellectual humility. Their hypothesis is that humility, curiosity and openness are key to a fulfilling life. “Without humility, you are unable to learn,” Laszlo Bock, Google’s Head of People Operations, notes.
1. The passage is mainly about ______.| A．the harm arrogance does to us |
| B．the key elements to a fulfilling life |
| C．the significance of intellectual humility |
| D．the way people access information online |
| A．enables people to think critically |
| B．offers too much unreliable information |
| C．allows easy access to abundant information |
| D．makes it hard for people to recall information |
| A．value others’ opinions more than their own |
| B．use online information to better themselves |
| C．are unwilling to show their strengths |
| D．prefer to solve difficult problems |
| A．intellectual arrogance is the result of evolution |
| B．intellectually arrogant people often lack team spirits |
| C．successful people are often unaware of their limitations |
| D．circumstances don’t favor intellectually arrogant people |
8 . Financial Education-Awareness Dilemma
When it comes to financial education, the majority of today's youth will regard it as a necessity for certain specific people who want to make their career in the financial world.
Suppose you have $100 in a saving account that pays simple interest at the rate of 2%per year. lf you leave the money in the account, how much will you have accumulated after 5 years: more than $102, exactly $102, or less than $102? The test might look simple, but only half of the people surveyed gave the correct answer.
On the contrary, people who have a lower degree of financial literacy tend to borrow more, accumulate less wealth, and pay more in fees related financial products. They are less likely to invest, more likely to experience difficulty with debt, and less likely to know the terms of their mortgages and other loans. Thus, the cost of this financial ignorance is very high.
What is the solution?
| A．Financial education must start early. |
| B．However, they miss an important point. |
| C．Why does each of us have to face a financial challenge? |
| D．Why does financial literacy matter so much in our society'? |
| E．Rich people are generally better educated on financial management. |
| F．Besides, these people have more than double the wealth of people who don’t. |
| G．For example, they frequently make late credit card payments, overspend their credit limit, etc. |
9 . Being "young is associated with all the good things in life - beauty, hope, and energy. But youth also has negative associations - impulsiveness, trouble -making, and irresponsibility. This negative side seems to be what society focuses on more, which is why young people have mostly been considered as idle and difficult.
But when it comes to Generation Z - those born between 1996 and 2010 - this stereotype doesn't seem to apply anymore.
In Japan, for example, Gen Z-ers are less likely to buy on impulse, but take into consideration more a product's true value. They' re looking at the companies, not just the products," Masahiko Uotani, CEO of Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido, told Bloomberg. They're asking, 'Are they really delivering value to the society? Are they promoting diversity and inclusion?"
Gen Z-ers are also more grounded than we' ve expected them to be. According to a recent survey by Bank of America, more than half of young adults aged between 18 and 23 said they were planning to buy a house within five years. And they' re not just saying it - they are willing to make sacrifices for it, including getting a second job and saving money for down payment instead of spending it on a vacation.
"Despite their young age, this group is pragmatic and actively planning for their future," D.Steve Boland, head of Consumer Lending at Bank of America, told USA Today. "They have a clear vision how they are willing to help themselves in order to make it happen.
Social issues are also at the center of concern of Gen Z-ers, who take themselves as a changing force of the world. In India, for example, young people who have just reached the voting age are eager to vote for a new leader who is capable of solving problems that matter the most to them, including pollution, unemployment and women' s safety.
As a Gen-Zer yourself, what is your plan for the future?
1. What do the underlined words this stereotype" in paragraph2 refer to ?| A．Being young is good. |
| B．Gen Z-ers are born after 1996. |
| C．The traditional poor impressions on the youth. |
| D．The associations with young people. |
| A．Gen Z-ers in Japan are picky |
| B．The Gen Z-ers are self-centered |
| C．The Gen Z-ers care little about products |
| D．The Gen Z-ers are wise when shopping |
| A．Approving. | B．Negative. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Critical. |
| A．Confident and independent. | B．Visionary and responsible. |
| C．Persistent and down-to-earth. | D．Active and creative. |
10 . Life on the street is a constant struggle for homeless people. In times of extreme weather conditions, that struggle becomes even more difficult. Recently, homeless people across Chicago faced freezing to death if they couldn't find shelter for the night.
Thankfully, one local woman refused to let that happen. On January 30，2018, 34-year-old Candice Payne, a local managing broker, was lucky enough to have shelter from the dangerous conditions.
“It was - 20℃, and I knew they were going to be sleeping on ice and I had to do something,” said Payne. Payne started brainstorming different ways she could possibly help. Finally， she decided to see if there were any rooms available at local inns and hotels that she could get to help those stuck on the street.
For Payne, her mission was personal. According to Payne, her husband, Carlos Callahan， had lived on the streets at one point in his life. Based on his experiences, Payne knew that the homeless people still out on the street desperately needed help and that if she didn't step up to help, no one likely would.
However, when Payne explained what she was trying to do，many of the local hotels refused to allow her to pay for the rooms as they didn't want homeless people to stay in their rooms. “No one wanted them, but one hotel, the Amber Inn, was nice enough to allow me to buy the rooms,” said Payne.
Payne's selfless act made news across the country. However, she insisted she had never done it for attention. “I am a regular person, ” said Payne, who spent thousands of dollars of her own money to help complete strangers.“It all sounded like a rich person did this, but I’m just a little black girl from the South Side. ”
1. What does the underlined word “ that” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Locals living on the street‘ |
| B．The homeless freezing to death. |
| C．The extreme weather. |
| D．The shelter for the homeless. |
| A．By drawing public attention. |
| B．By giving them money directly. |
| C．By taking them to her own house. |
| D．By buying hotel rooms for them. |
| A．Her husband's past experiences. |
| B．The requests from the homeless. |
| C．Her desire to become famous. |
| D．The coldness of local hotels. |
| A．A Black Fighter Changes the World |
| B．A Woman’s Curiosity Brings a Reward |
| C．A Regular Woman Makes a Difference |
| D．A Couple's Brave Act Moves the Country |
