1 . There is a lot of losing in sports. Only one team can win at a time, and only one champion escapes the season without tears. But that doesn’t stop Americans from spending nearly $56 billion a year on sporting events. Is fandom(运动迷) worth it?

At first glance, the evidence isn’t encouraging. Following a loss, fans are more likely than usual to eat unhealthy food, be unproductive at work, and –in the case of the Super Bowl-die from heart disease. What about fans of the winning team? Well, they are more likely than other fans to suffer a postgame traffic fatality(死亡) if the score is close.

Rival(竞争的) fans’treatment of one another is hardly more encouraging. A recent study found that fans experienced greater pleasure when watching a rival team fail. Fans in another study reported schadenfreude, a feeling of satisfaction, when reading about the injury of a rival team’s player, and gluckschmerz or unhappiness when later reading about the player’s unexpectedly speedy recovery.

Yet a great deal of research shows that being a fan can also have positive effects. It can prevent depression and build a sense of belonging and self-worth---in case that the object of one’s devotion is a local team. Much of this is due to social bonds among fans, but not all--- sports worship also provides fans with a number of skills at dealing with life’s emotional challenges. A landmark 1976 study found that after a win,fans were more likely than usual to wear clothes connected with the winning teams, and to claim credit for the team’s success by describing the team as “we” instead of “they” in conversation.

Along with schadenfreude and gluckschmerz, being a fan seems more than anything else to be a matter of managing responses to things that cannot control. Sports fans tend to respond to reminders of death with optimism, and to remember victories much more clearly than defeats.

1. Which of the following statement is especially true as for the winning side’s fans?

A．They might die from heart disease.

B．They tend to live an unhealthy life.

C．They can have good work efficiency.

D．They might have a traffic accident.

2. What does the underlined sentence mean in paragraph 3?

A．Rival fans usually hold bad or even extreme attitude to each other.

B．Rival fans often fight with each other.

C．Fans can face their rival team bravely.

D．Fans never lose heart when facing their rival team.

3. What did the 1976 study show?

A．Being a fan could show great devotion to study.

B．Being a fan could create a sense of belonging.

C．Being a fan could develop a spirit of optimism.

D．Being a fan could test social bonds.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．How to be a fan

B．What it’s like to be fan

C．Being a fan can be good for you

D．A fan’s emotional challenges

2 . A walk through the galleries of Quebec's Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) places individuals face-to-face with some 43,000 artworks ranging from Chinese ceramics (陶瓷制品) to Inuit sculpture.

While the visiting is an incredible cultural experience, a group of local physicians will soon be able to prescribe(开处方) museum visits as treatment for some illnesses.

Hélène Boyer, vice president of a Montreal-based medical association, explains that museum visits have been shown to increase levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter (神经传导物质) known as the "happy chemical" which helps to lift mood.

According to Boyer, the small increase in hormones(荷尔蒙)associated with enjoying an afternoon of art is similar to that offered by exercise, making museum prescriptions ideal for the elderly experiencing pain that prevents them from regularly joining in physical activity.

The museum visits are designed to improve traditional methods. As Bondil notes, spending time in a peaceful environment can provide a welcome distraction. "What is most important is this experience can help them escape from their own pain," she says. "When you enter the museum, you escape from the speed of our daily life."

"I am convinced that in the 21st century, culture will be what physical activity was for health in the 20th century," said Bondil. " Some people would do well to recall that just in the 19^th century, sports were believed to do harm to the body. Just as doctors now prescribe exercise, they will be able to prescribe a visit to the MMFA."

1. What does Hélène Boyer think of museum visits?

A．They can cheer people up.	B．They can reduce physical activity.
C．They can slow down our life pace.	D．They can increase levels of art appreciation.

2. How do museum visits affect people?

A．Stop them concentrating on pain.

B．Stop them focusing on traditional methods.

C．Encourage them not to be absent-minded.

D．Encourage them to slow their steps while walking.

3. What does the last paragraph suggest?

A．Physical activities were popular in the 19th century.

B．Sports are considered to be harmful to the body.

C．Ideas of treating illnesses are changing over time.

D．Doctors prescribe museum visits regularly now.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Museum visits are ideal for the elderly.	B．Happy chemical helps to lift mood.
C．Peaceful environment helps escape pain.	D．Cultural activities will promote health

3 . Humans really do have a sixth sense that lets us detect magnetic fields (磁场), but we’re not aware we have it. It has long been known as ESP, Spider Sense, or the ability to see things before they happen. But now scientists have proved that humans really do have a sixth sense-that lets them detect magnetic fields. Tests have shown that mankind may have the same inborn sense of Earth’s magnetic field that has long been proved to exist in animals.

By putting a protein from the human retina (视网膜) into fruit flies, researchers noticed that the insect adjusted its flight path just as if its eye had not been changed. This suggests that the “sixth sense” does exist in humans but we might not be aware of it. Animals use such sight to navigate long distances during migration or, in the case of birds, to “see” where they are going. The complex tests involved examining the process by which light goes through a bird’s eye, which has interested the scientific community for more than 30 years. In the late 1970s, the physicist Klaus Schulten concluded that birds fly by relying on geomagnetically (地磁) sensitive biochemical reactions in their eyes.

Tests have shown that the special cells in the eye carry out this function using the protein cryptochrome (蛋白隐色素). Professor Reppert’s team used wild fruit flies, replacing their version of cryptochrome with the human equivalent (等价物), and then put them in a maze (迷宫) with each wing wrapped in a metal coil (金属圈). They then sent electricity through it so that the coil was magnetised in a way which is just like Earth’s electromagnetic field (电磁场). The flies responded in exactly the same way as if they had their own cryptochrome, by either avoiding the magnetic fields or moving towards them if the researchers had placed sugar nearby.

The new study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

1. What do we know about humans’ sixth sense?

A．Humans have been aware of it since ancient times.

B．It is quite different from the animals’.

C．It is the ability to predict what will happen.

D．It is also a sense developed after birth.

2. Why did researchers put a protein from the human retina into fruit flies?

A．To change fruit flies’ flight path.

B．To test if humans have a sixth sense.

C．To examine the process of birds’ flying.

D．To allow researchers detect magnetic fields.

3. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．the maze	B．each wing
C．cryptochrome	D．the metal coil

4. After being replaced the cryptochrome, how are the wild fruit flies?

A．They responded normally as if there had been nothing changed.

B．They couldn’t avoid the magnetic fields like before.

C．They lost the sense of direction completely.

D．They couldn’t find the sugar the researchers had placed nearby.

4 . As is often the case, when we wake up feeling sleepy and with dark circles under eyes, many of us often make a decision: “I’m going to bed earlier tomorrow!” we are so determined.     1     We are still absorbed in what we are doing without realizing it is already too late the next day. This behavior is called “bedtime procrastination” (睡眠拖延症), and results from lack of self-control and our body clock.

    2     According to a study carried out by a group of health psychologists, 53 percent of the 2,400 participants said they didn’t follow their sleep schedule, delaying it at least twice a week. They delayed bedtime because they couldn’t stop doing other trivial things (琐事), which were keeping them up in the first place.

People who generally have trouble resisting temptations (诱惑) and following their intentions firmly are also more likely to delay going to bed. They find it hard to control themselves.     3     Our body clock also plays an important role when it comes to bedtime. Those who get up late are more likely to postpone their bedtime than those who wake early every morning. Night owls would go to bed late at the very beginning of the weekday, even though they had to get up early for work and school.     4    

Therefore, if we want to cure our bedtime procrastination, the intention to go to bed earlier is not enough.     5     We should have a clear understanding that bedtime procrastination is a big problem. The choices we make could turn out to be pretty important for our health.

A．Bedtime procrastination is a common problem.

B．It will have extreme effect on our health sooner or later.

C．Yet, lack of self-control is not the only thing to blame.

D．Unfortunately, chances are that we don’t stick to our promise.

E．It’s their special body clock that plays a part in delaying their bedtime.

F．Biological processes need to support this intention.

G．So we just need to take action to change our sleep model.

5 . People in Japan tend to live longer and stay healthier in their later years, with an increasing number of old people living alone. Japan is on a fast track to “ultra-age” with people aged 65 or above accounting for 28 percent of its total population in 2019；it was 26.7 percent in 2017. On the other hand, the number of births in 2019 fell to its lowest (about 941,000) since records began in 1899.

Demand for care services for elderly people has increased. A shrinking (缩小) working population means fewer able-bodied adults are available to look after the elderly. State-provided facilities for the elderly are not enough, which causes elderly people to turn to private ones but they are expensive.

The country will be short of 380,000 of health nurses by 2025. The government has to turn to advanced robots to meet the shortage. A study found that using robots encouraged one third of the people to become more active and independent. Yet there is no robot that can provide the emotional support to the elderly.

Japan provides a case study for China, which is also faced with a fast aging population. 17.23 million babies were born in China in 2019, about 630,000 fewer than in 2018. People aged 60 accounted for 17.3 of China’s population in 2019. With a shortage of elderly care facilities and unbalanced supply, China may find it hard to deal with the rapidly increasing number of senior citizens.

To meet the challenge, the Chinese government should make policy changes, which Japan is unwilling or unable to do or even consider. China should pay attention to the signals its aging population is sending and take proper and timely action.

1. What do we learn about the old Japanese?

A．More and more old Japanese prefer to live on their own.

B．A lot of old Japanese have to continue working at old age.

C．Some old Japanese remain active with the help of robots.

D．Japanese aged 65 or above make up one third of its population.

2. What can we know about state-provided care facilities for the elderly in Japan?

A．They are expensive.	B．They are inconvenient.
C．They are affordable.	D．They are fashionable.

3. What do the Japanese do to deal with the shortage of health nurses?

A．They hire foreign health nurses.

B．They employ advanced robots.

C．They set up more nursing schools.

D．They train the elderly to tend themselves.

4. What is the main idea of the last two paragraph?

A．Japan has to take action to deal with the aging population.

B．Robots can’t provide emotional support to the elderly.

C．China is now faced with a fast aging population.

D．Japan’s aging population issue is a timely lesson for China.

6 . The Mystery of Dark Matter

If you look at the night sky, you'll often see stars moving very quickly. In fact, they move much more quickly than they should according to their size and the laws of physics. Scientists do not completely understand why the speed of these stars is so high. But many believe the reason is that much of the universe is made up of something called "dark matter". Groups of stars called galaxies, such as the Milky Way, might even consist of ninety per cent dark matter.

How much something weighs depends on where it is. The same object weighs only half as much on Mars as it does on Earth and almost three times as much on Jupiter. So scientists prefer to talk about the mass of something rather than how much it weighs, because mass does not change. They can work out the mass of galaxies by measuring the distance between them and the speed they move. Recently, Dr. Jorge Penarrubia and a team from Edinburgh University discovered something interesting. The mass of the Milky Way is only half as much as the mass of another nearby galaxy, Andromeda. This seems strange, but dark matter may explain why.

Finding out more about dark matter could help us understand how the universe began, but this is not easy. Lots of scientists with different types of expert knowledge are working on the problem. The Edinburgh team is working with many other universities like the University of British Columbia.

We can't see dark matter, it's very difficult to measure and we can't find out its mass. Unlike stars, dark matter doesn't produce or reflect light. But we can make a good guess that it is there because of the way things move and the way light bends. Experts now think dark matter may be very different from the matter which we find on Earth. There may also be five times as much dark matter in the universe as ordinary matter.

The Swiss scientist Fritz Zwicky first gave dark matter its name in the nineteen-thirties. Researchers have been looking for it ever since. Today, technology such as the Large Hadron Collider is collecting more and more information but this technology cannot tell us everything. New ways of finding dark matter will be needed. Investigating dark matter may even mean we will need to start asking questions about the way we look at the universe, including the ideas of Albert Einstein.

1. In what way do scientists find out the mass of galaxies？

A．Depending on where they are.

B．Depending on how much they weigh.

C．According to the way they move and the laws of physics.

D．By calculating how far between them and how fast they move.

2. Which of the following statements about dark matter is NOT TRUE？

A．It can't be seen.

B．It doesn't reflect light.

C．It is not unlike ordinary matter.

D．It affects the movement of things.

3. What may get researchers looking for dark matter？

A．To change the way light bends.

B．To prove the ideas of Albert Einstein.

C．To collect more and more information.

D．To help understand the origin of the universe.

4. How is the article organized？
(P: Paragraph)

A．	B．
C．	D．

5. Which heading best matches Paragraph 5?

A．It's there but we can't see it.

B．Sharing ideas leads to success.

C．We may need to change the way we think.

D．What your eyes can see can't be fully explained,

7 . Imagine being face-to-face with a woolly mammoth (猛犸象) . It would be quite a sight. Scientists believe it would tower above 11 feet tall and have a sloping back, a long, powerful trunk, and sharp, curved tusks that stretch up to 10 feet. Its thick hair would be up to three feet long. It would weigh six tons—about as heavy as a bus.

You’ve probably never seen a giant furry elephant before. Actually, you definitely haven’t. The species has been extinct for thousands of years.

But a few years from now, you might be able to see a woolly mammoth in person. Scientists believe they have the technology to recreate it.

A team of South Korean and Russian scientists plan to clone a woolly mammoth. How will they do it?

Several woolly mammoth bodies have already been discovered in Siberia, an icy region in Russia. The scientists plan to take cells from these frozen mammoths. In a laboratory, they’ll use them to create a new cluster (群) of cells called an embryo. The embryo will be placed into the womb of a living female elephant. That elephant will then give birth to a baby woolly mammoth.

The scientists believe the whole process will take five years. Many scientists and animal lovers can’t wait. It will be so exciting to be able to bring a creature that has been extinct for thousands of years back to life. People would travel from around the world for the chance to see a living woolly mammoth. By observing the way the creature looks and acts, scientists might make brand-new discoveries about the history of animal life.

Other experts aren’t so sure about the woolly mammoth project. One big question is what to do with a mammoth. The Earth has changed in the thousands of years since these animals roamed the planet. Where would the creature live, and would it be able to survive in today’s climate ? Some believe that the money being spent on the experiment could be better spent on other important scientific projects, such as fighting diseases.

But the South Korean and Russian scientists are sticking to their plan. They admit they have a big challenge ahead. There is no guarantee that they will succeed, but they’ re hopeful.

1. The first paragraph describes the mammoth’s ________.

A．habitat	B．food
C．appearance	D．lifespan

2. What is the challenge for scientists to clone a mammoth?

A．Whether they have enough money for the project.

B．Whether the mammoth can adapt to the new environment.

C．Whether the mammoth can survive the modern diseases.

D．Whether their plan wins support from the public.

3. The last paragraph implies that the attitude of scientists to cloning mammoths is ______.

A．negative	B．disapproving
C．optimistic	D．doubtful

4. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Scientists are finding ways to deal with mammoths.

B．Scientists try to find out the history of animal life.

C．Scientists plan to bring the mammoth back to life.

D．Scientists pay little attention to the return of the mammoth.

8 . There's a new frontier in 3D printing that's beginning to come into focus: food. Recent development has made possible machines that print, cook, and serve foods on a mass scale. And the industry isn't stopping there.

Food production

With a 3D printer, a cook can print complicated chocolate sculptures and beautiful pieces for decoration on a wedding cake. Not everybody can do that---it takes years of experience, but a printer makes it easy. A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to" re-create forms and pieces" of food that are" exactly the same,” freeing cooks to complete other tasks. In another restaurant, all of the dishes and desserts it serves are 3D-printed, rather than farm to table.

Sustainability(可持续性)

The global population is expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050, and some analysts estimate that food production will need to be raised by 50 percent to maintain current levels. Sustainability is becoming a necessity. 3D food printing could probably contribute to the solution. Some experts believe printers could use hydrocolloids( 水解胶体)from plentiful renewables like algae(藻类) and grass to replace the familiar ingredients(烹饪原 料). 3D printing can reduce fuel use and emissions. Grocery stores of the future might stock "food" that lasts years on end, freeing up shelf space and reducing transportation and storage requirements.

Nutrition

Future   3D   food   printers   could   make   processed   food   healthier.   Hod   Lipson,   a professor at Columbia University, said, "Food printing could allow consumers to print food with customized nutritional content, like vitamins. So instead of eating a piece of yesterday 's bread from the supermarket, you' d eat something baked just for you on demand."

Challenges

Despite recent advancements in 3D food printing，the industry has many challenges to overcome. Currently, most ingredients must be changed to a paste( 糊状物)before a printer   can   use   them,   and   the   printing   process   is   quite   time-consuming,   because ingredients interact with each other in very complex ways. On top of that, most of the 3D food printers now are restricted to dry ingredients，because meat and milk products may easily go bad. Some experts are doubtful about food printers, believing they are better suited for fast food restaurants than homes and high-end restaurants.

1. What benefit does 3D printing bring to food production?

A．It helps cooks to create new dishes.

B．It saves time and effort in cooking.

C．It improves the cooking conditions.

D．It contributes to restaurant decorations.

2. What can we learn about 3D food printing from Paragraph 3?

A．It solves food shortages easily.

B．It quickens the transportation of food.

C．It needs no space for the storage of food.

D．It uses renewable materials as sources of food.

3. What is the main factor that prevents 3D food printing from spreading widely?

A．The printing process is complicated.

B．3D food printers are too expensive.

C．Food materials have to be dried.

D．Some experts doubt 3D food printing.

4. What could be the best title of the passage?

A．3D Food Printing: Delicious New Technology

B．A New Way to Improve 3D Food Printing

C．The Challenges for 3D Food Production

D．3D Food Printing: From Farm to Table

9 . It’s important to prepare for rainy days. Similarly, it’s important to save money.     1    Why? It’s because they’ve got used to spending all the money they make. Sometimes, the hardest thing about saving money is just getting started. Here are some tips to help you save money.

    2    The first step in saving money is to know how much you’re spending. For one month, keep a record of everything you spend money on. Once you have your data, organize these numbers by category(类别) and get the total amount for each.

You can make a budget. Now that you have a good idea of how much you spend in a month, what can you do now?     3     To plan your spending, you can build a budget. In this way, you can limit over-spending and make sure that you put money away for unexpected situations.

    4    Doing so make it much easier to get started. Begin by deciding how long it will take to reach each goal. Some short-term goals include starting a fund to cover 6 months to a year of living costs and saving money for a vacation. Long-term saving goals are often several years or even decades away and can include saving for retirement and putting money away for a child’s college education.

Make saving money easier with automatic transfers (自动转帐). Automatic transfers to your savings account are very helpful.     5    By moving money out of your checking account, you’ll be less likely to spend money you plan to use for savings.

A．You can keep a record of what you do.

B．You can record your costs.

C．You can plan your spending.

D．You can set savings goals

E．You can move money out of your savings account.

F．However, some people find it hard to save money.

G．They can make saving money much easier.

10 . Preparing Cities for Robot Cars

The possibility of self-driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist’s dream, years away from materializing in the real world. Well, the future is apparently now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles began giving permits in April for companies to test truly self-driving cars on public roads. The state also cleared the way for companies to sell or rent out self-driving cars, and for companies to operate driverless taxi services. California, it should be noted, isn’t leading the way here. Companies have been testing their vehicles in cities across the country. It’s hard to predict when driverless cars will be everywhere on our roads. But however long it takes, the technology has the potential to change our transportation systems and our cities, for better or for worse, depending on how the transformation is regulated.

While much of the debate so far has been focused on the safety of driverless cars(and rightfully so), policymakers also should be talking about how self-driving vehicles can help reduce traffic jams, cut emissions(排放) and offer more convenient, affordable mobility options. The arrival of driverless vehicles is a chance to make sure that those vehicles are environmentally friendly and more shared.

Do we want to copy — or even worsen — the traffic of today with driverless cars? Imagine a future where most adults own individual self-driving vehicles. They tolerate long, slow journeys to and from work on packed highways because they can work, entertain themselves or sleep on the ride, which encourages urban spread. They take their driverless car to an appointment and set the empty vehicle to circle the building to avoid paying for parking. Instead of walking a few blocks to pick up a child or the dry cleaning, they send the self-driving minibus. The convenience even leads fewer people to take public transport — an unwelcome side effect researchers have already found in ride-hailing(叫车) services.

A study from the University of California at Davis suggested that replacing petrol-powered private cars worldwide with electric, self-driving and shared systems could reduce carbon emissions from transportation 80% and cut the cost of transportation infrastructure(基础设施) and operations 40% by 2050. Fewer emissions and cheaper travel sound pretty appealing. The first commercially available driverless cars will almost certainly be fielded by ride-hailing services, considering the cost of self-driving technology as well as liability and maintenance issues(责任与维护问题). But driverless car ownership could increase as the prices drop and more people become comfortable with the technology.

Policymakers should start thinking now about how to make sure the appearance of driverless vehicles doesn’t extend the worst aspects of the car-controlled transportation system we have today. The coming technological advancement presents a chance for cities and states to develop transportation systems designed to move more people, and more affordably. The car of the future is coming. We just have to plan for it.

1. According to the author, attention should be paid to how driverless cars can __________.

A．help deal with transportation-related problems

B．provide better services to customers

C．cause damage to our environment

D．make some people lose jobs

2. As for driverless cars, what is the author’s major concern?

A．Safety.	B．Side effects.
C．Affordability.	D．Management.

3. What is the author’s attitude to the future of self-driving cars?

A．Doubtful.	B．Positive.
C．Disapproving.	D．Sympathetic.