1 . Many high school students look forward to volunteering abroad. Here are some programs that such students can consider.
Spring Break Voluntary Service
Through this program, you’ll volunteer to build schools and community centers in the Dominican Republic, and help with reforestation (重新造林) or water purification (净化) projects. You’ll also have the chance to spend some free time on beaches, and explore freshwater lakes and underwater caves. This eight-day program costs $1,899.
Tanzania Expedition
Raleigh International’s Tanzania Expedition includes an adventurous hike in the Southern Highlands, through which you can help out with some environmental projects, and also pick up wildness survival skills. Except for these, volunteer work includes planting trees, improving access to clean water, and helping with hygiene (卫生) awareness events. This expedition lasts five, seven, or ten weeks, starting at $2,595.
Volunteer in Sri Lanka
Plan My Gap Year (PMGY) is offering a Sri Lanka volunteering experience to travelers aged 16 and 17. For two weeks, you’ll explore and volunteer, with activities including visiting an elephant center, watching animals at Yala National Park, relaxing on the beach and volunteering for different projects which mainly focus on English teaching, elephants, and sea turtles. The cost starts at $1,599.
Volunteer in Morocco
Another volunteer opportunity perfect for teens is the Morocco program provided by Cross-Cultural Solutions, where you will be able to travel across this beautiful country for two or four weeks and help with education, health, technology, or sports leadership activities. The cost (including housing and meals, in-country transport handbooks, and more) starts at $750, plus a $249 registration fee (注册费).
1. What is special about Tanzania expedition?| A．It includes a trip to a national park. |
| B．It puts volunteering and adventure together. |
| C．It aims to raise locals’ environmental awareness. |
| D．It requires volunteers to be equipped with first aid skills. |
| A．They are of the same lasting time. | B．They are for teens aged 16 and 17. |
| C．They both stress environmental protection. | D．They offer volunteers chances to visit beaches. |
| A．Pay a registration fee. | B．Work out an activity plan. |
| C．Make a booking online. | D．Join Cross-Cultural Solutions. |
2 . J. K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.
She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9yearold daughter Bailey.
He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter” and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.
Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud，“Burke explains.” This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”
After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.
1. Why did Burke thank J. K. Rowling according to the text?| A．She guided him how to write a good story. |
| B．She encouraged him when he was in trouble. |
| C．Her books helped him through times of confusion. |
| D．Her books helped him improve his bond with his daughter. |
| A．He has found it interesting to read the series. | B．He was too old to understand the series better. |
| C．He has chosen a better way of reading the series. | D．He hopes to play a role in the drama in the future. |
| A．Useless. | B．Normal. | C．Valuable. | D．Boring. |
| A．J. K. Rowling chooses to help improve kids’ health. |
| B．J. K. Rowling gives a magical gift to a single father. |
| C．J. K. Rowling has a deep influence on others’ growth. |
| D．Burke comes to know J. K. Rowling through her series. |
3 . There’s a useful concept from psychology that helps explain why good people do things that harm the environment: the false consensus (共识) effect. That’s where we overvalue how acceptable and widespread our own behavior is in society. Put simply, if you’re doing something (even if you secretly know you probably shouldn’t), you’re more likely to think plenty of other people do it too. What’s more, you likely overestimate how much other people think that behavior is broadly OK.
This bias (偏见) allows people to justify socially unacceptable or illegal behaviors. Researchers have observed the false consensus effect in drug use and illegal hunting. More recently, conservationists are beginning to reveal how this effect contributes to environmental damage.
In Australia, people who admitted poaching (偷猎) thought it was much more widespread in society than it really was, and had higher estimates than fishers who obeyed the law. They also believed others viewed poaching as socially tolerable; however, in reality, more than 90% of fishers took the opposite stand on this. The false consensus effect has also shown up in studies examining support for nuclear energy and offshore wind farms.
Just as concepts from psychology can help explain some forms of environmental damage, so too can they help solve it. For example, research shows people are more likely to litter in areas where there’s already a lot of trash thrown around; so making sure the ground around a bin is not covered in rubbish may help.
Factual information on how other people think and behave can be very powerful. Energy companies have substantially reduced energy consumption simply by showing people their difference in electricity use compared to their neighbors. Encouragingly, stimulating people’s natural desire for social position has also been successful in getting people to “go green to be seen”, or to publicly purchase eco-friendly products.
As the research evidence shows, social standards can be a powerful force in encouraging and popularizing environmentally friendly behaviors. Perhaps you can do your bit by sharing this article!
1. Which example best illustrates the false consensus effect?| A．A student spends long hours surfing the Internet. |
| B．A blogger assumes many people dislike his posts. |
| C．A smoker believes people generally approve of smoking. |
| D．A driver frequently parks illegally in public places. |
| A．It is contradictory. | B．It is impractical. |
| C．It is widespread. | D．It is unacceptable. |
| A．Develop green habits for better health. |
| B．Choose green items that are easy to spot in stores. |
| C．Join green movements for personal fulfillment. |
| D．Make green choices that others can perceive. |
| A．Justify social standards. | B．Publicize sustainable practices. |
| C．Encourage technological innovations. | D．Highlight personal responsibilities. |
4 . I was blind, but I was ashamed of it if it was known. I refused to use a white stick and hated asking for help. After all, I was a teenage girl, and I could not bear people to look at me and think I was not like them. I must have been a terrible danger on the roads. Coming across me wandering through the traffic, motorists probably would have to stop rapidly on their brakes. Apart from that, there were all sorts of disasters that used to occur on the way to and from work.
One evening, I got off the bus about halfway home where I had to change buses, and as usual I ran into something. “I’m awfully sorry,” I said and stepped forward only to run into it again. When it happened a third time, I realized I had been apologizing to a lamppost (街灯柱). This was just one of the stupid things that constantly happened to me. So I carried on and found the bus stop, which was a request stop, where the bus wouldn’t stop unless passengers wanted to get on or off. No one else was there and I had to guess if the bus had arrived.
Generally in this situation, because I hated showing I was blind by asking for help, I tried to guess at the sound. Sometimes I would stop a big lorry and stand there feeling stupid as it drew away. In the end, I usually managed to swallow (吞下) my pride and ask someone at the stop for help.
But at this particular evening no one joined me at the stop; it seemed that everyone had suddenly decided not to travel by bus. Of course I heard plenty of buses pass, or I thought I did. But because I had given up stopping them for fear of making a fool of myself, I let them all go by. I stood there alone for half an hour without stopping one. Then I gave up. I decided to walk on to the next stop.
1. The girl refused to ask for help because she thought ________.| A．she might be recognized | B．asking for help looked silly |
| C．being found blind was embarrassing | D．she was normal and independent |
| A．began to run | B．hit a lamppost by accident |
| C．hit a person as usual | D．was caught by something |
| A．to find more buses there | B．to find people there |
| C．to find the bus by herself there | D．to find people more helpful there |
5 . Which is more important for parents, making more money to give the kids a better life or spending more time with them? It is a problem for parents and it is not easy to decide. A new study shows that today’s parents are spending more time with their children than parents in the past. According to the study, today’s college-educated mothers spend about 21.2 hours a week taking care of their children. But women with less education spend about 15.9 hours. Before 1995, it was only 12 hours.
Dads are spending more time on ball games. Before 1995, fathers with college educations only spent about 4.5 hours a week playing with their children. Today, it increases to 9.6 hours a week. For fathers with high school education, the time goes up from 3.7 hours to 6.8.
These days, parents don’t care more about the cleaning or the cooking. They are trying their best to spend time with their families. As for the kids, they don’t mind how much time their parents spend with them. They just want to enjoy the time their parents do be with them.
So, take part in the kids’ activities when you are with them, such as helping with homework or playing soccer with them.
1. How long do college-educated mothers spend taking care of their kids a week?| A．About 9.6 hours. | B．About 12 hours. |
| C．About 15.9 hours. | D．About 21.2 hours. |
| A．Women with less education spend about12 hours staying with their kids, |
| B．Mothers in the past spent less time staying with kids than mothers these days. |
| C．Mothers with college education are lazier than those with less education. |
| D．Dads spend more time staying with their kids than mothers do. |
| A．About 4.5 hours. | B．Less than 9 hours. |
| C．About 13.5 hours. | D．About 18 hours. |
| A．They care about how much money their parents can make. |
| B．They care about how much time their parents spend with them. |
| C．They care if their parents are really with them. |
| D．They care if their parents can give them a better life. |
6 . Workers at the National Galleries of Scotland recently experienced quite a surprise after they X-rayed a painting by Vincent van Gogh. Hidden on the back of the painting Head of a Peasant Woman, which Van Gogh completed in 1885, was a self-portrait (自画像) of the Dutch painter. No one had ever found it.
The hidden self-portrait had been covered by glue and cardboard that had been attached to the back of the painting. “It was absolutely exciting,” Lesley Stevenson, the museum’s worker, said about the discovery. “We weren’t expecting much of the little painting when we performed the scans,” she said. But museum experts quickly changed their expectations when they looked at the X-rays. “We didn’t see much of the peasant woman, but we saw the lead white that Van Gogh used for his face showing up after the X-ray went through the cardboard,” she added.
Van Gogh painted Head of a Peasant Woman as part of a series of works focused on the working-class residents of Nuenen, a small farming community in the southern part of the Netherlands where he lived briefly in the 1880s. The woman in the painting is Gordina de Groot, a farm worker. She wears a white headpiece. In a letter that Van Gogh penned about the series in 1885 to Anton Kerssemakers, a friend, he described his excitement at his working-class subjects. “I’m working with great pleasure these days, for I would rather paint people than paint anything else,” he wrote.
Van Gogh also loved creating self-portraits, producing about 20 paintings of himself by the end of his life while he was living in Paris. Recreating his own image was a cheap way for him to practice portraiture as he didn’t have to spend money hiring models, according to a report.
Art historians at the National Galleries hope that the hidden self-portrait may help us understand the life of the artist. The museum is currently considering how to best remove the unwanted protective materials without harming the painting.
1. What can be learned about the self-portrait on the back of the painting?| A．It isn’t in very good condition. | B．It describes a well-known woman. |
| C．It wasn’t known to exist for a long time. | D．It was sold to another artist by Van Gogh. |
| A．It was a wonderful surprise. | B．It failed to meet her expectations. |
| C．It was the result of her great efforts. | D．It deepened her understanding of Van Gogh’s life. |
| A．He was encouraged to try different subjects. |
| B．He was glad to find his love for figure paintings. |
| C．He was attracted by the lifestyle of people in Nuenen. |
| D．He wanted to improve the living conditions of the farmers. |
| A．X-rays can do harm to artworks |
| B．Van Gogh sent a secret message to his friend |
| C．Modern technology has a great influence on art |
| D．Van Gogh’s hidden self-portrait draws public attention |
7 . When you are asked to draw a picture, in spite of your best effort, you can’t make it look like the model shown. Then you may have thought, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”
According to some scientists, who for the past 20 years have studied the complex subject of creativity through a series of research strictly, you are underrating yourself. Da Vinci you may never be, but when it comes to creativity, we are all somewhat blessed. It’s learning to develop this unique tool of extraordinary productivity, and then applying it in everything you do, that counts to tell you from figures like Da Vinci.
“Even if we don’t have the good fortune to discover a new chemical element or write a great story, the love of the creative process for its own sake is available to all,” says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in Creativity: Flow and Psychology of Discovery and Invention.
Most people believe the ability of creativity has been awarded to those considered to have special talent. We look upon these “creative geniuses”, as we often call them, with respect and a bit of envy. Their abilities, most people assume, are due to good genes, or, as if in Greek mythology, from some kind of god’s inspiration.
There is no argument that the world is never short of highly talented and creative people. They are masters of their trades and stand heads-and-shoulders above common people, making new pathways for others to follow, and providing greater context and understanding of our world. It could be said that without creativity humanity would not evolve so rapidly.
But like a publicly recognized creative baseball player who possesses his skill through years of continuous training, foregoing other pursuits for the only passion, people who show the slightest unwillingness for challenging labor are bound to witness their boasted (吹嘘的) ability disappear.
After closely studying 91 creative and influential people, including novelists, playwrights, composers, musicians and scientists, Csikszentmihalyi concludes that no one would ignore the sweat they shed and their almost crazy willingness to follow their creative effort to the very end, wherever that may be. These are the very things we all can master, so long as we’d like to.
1. It’s widely believed that creativity comes from_________.| A．the inborn genes or relevant gifts |
| B．the tool we learn from masters like Da Vinci |
| C．some kind of god from Greek |
| D．good training people receive from artistic classes |
| A．Creativity lies in devotion and effort. |
| B．The field of baseball requires more gifts than hard work. |
| C．People’s admiration of geniuses makes humanity develop quickly. |
| D．People don’t think that the world is never short of highly talented people. |
| A．referring to | B．combining | C．giving up | D．extending |
| A．Ordinary people’s unwillingness to follow the examples of creative ones. |
| B．The reasons for the success of those possessing creativity. |
| C．Creative people view things differently from ordinary people. |
| D．People’s misunderstanding of creativity and its true nature. |
8 . Dragons, a famous imaginary beast born from fantasy, are often present in stories in the west and east. In both cultures, dragons are generally recognized as massive creatures capable of flight. They have great power and are often associated with magical abilities. However, due to their different cultural roots and images, there exist significant differences in the way dragons are regarded in the west and east, particularly in China.
Chinese dragons most resemble snakes, and have four claws and no wings. They often have features of other animals, including carp, tigers, and eagles. In the contrast, Western dragons look like huge lizards with big claws and large bat-like wings, and are often shown with spines or rough scales.
In traditional Chinese culture, a dragon is a symbol of luck, power and high status. They can cause weather changes and bring rainfall to the fields to ensure rich harvests. They are considered divine (神圣的) creatures, which hold an important position as the head of the four spirits. Therefore, to symbolize their power, ancient Chinese emperors decorated their clothes with dragon patterns. These clothes are known as dragon robes. Many Chinese view the dragon as a national symbol, proudly referring to themselves as “descendants of the dragon”. In the west, however, a dragon symbolizes an evil creature that spreads violence and terror throughout the land. They are believed to be transformed by the devil, with the ability to breathe fire or spit poison. Many western tales show dragons being defeated and killed to protect people from danger.
Today, dragons continue to evolve, exceeding traditional boundaries and finding new significance in global culture. They are no longer associated with evil or good, but rather as complex characters with their own unique personalities and motivations. For example, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon begins as a dangerous dragon but evolves into a misunderstood being with love and compassion. This challenges the idea of dragons as naturally evil, presenting them as complex beings with emotions and motivations.
1. What do western dragons and eastern dragons have in common?| A．They have rough skin. | B．They are huge and powerful. |
| C．They are in the shape of snakes. | D．They have big claws and wings. |
| A．Western dragons are a symbol of authority. |
| B．Dragons in China can protect people from danger. |
| C．Chinese dragons can control rainfall and breathe fire. |
| D．Dragons are believed to cause chaos in western culture. |
| A．They are regarded as adventurous creatures. |
| B．They are closely associated with evil or good. |
| C．They have more diverse emotions and personalities. |
| D．They tend to represent human spirits facing challenges. |
| A．The Dragon Elements in Global Culture |
| B．The Origin of Dragons in Chinese History |
| C．The Magical Animals in Different Countries |
| D．The Images of Dragons in Western Traditions |
9 . Black taxis have been a common sight in London for many years. Now these taxis and their drivers have become the focus of a new study into Alzheimer’s (阿尔兹海默症). For those on the outside, it may seem that behind the wheel of these black taxis are just common people who help move us to our places. But hidden within their brains is a map of London’s streets that has put GPS technology to shame for many years.
“The knowledge”, the test for London’s taxi drivers, stands among the hardest tests one could ever experience. It includes remembering information repeatedly from the memory of minute details about between 25, 000 and 56, 000 streets in London, depending on who’s taking the test, from the Trafalgar Square to the tiniest residential lanes (居民巷).
Usually, the hippocampus (马体) feels the influences of Alzheimer’s most. The hippocampus controls the brain’s short-term memory and spatial memory (空间记忆) systems. University College London and Alzheimer’s Research UK are coming together to study these taxi drivers’ brains. And the taxi drivers’ hippocampi continue to grow as they go on doing the job for more years. This suggests that perhaps there’s something we can do to reproduce the influence on the general population.
Lead researcher Hugo Spiers was part of the team which 20 years ago found that, like birds’, the taxi drivers’ hippocampi slowly got bigger. In fact, research has found for years that any animal that requires detailed spatial knowledge of their land experiences growth in the hippocampus.
Spiers’ team hopes to deal with Alzheimer’s by studying the taxi drivers “brains, since the hippocampus becomes smaller with the development of Alzheimer’s. To collect more information, Spiers has asked thirty London’s taxi drivers connected to an MRI machine to drive around. The machine will allow the researchers to keep a real-time watch on the workings of the hippocampus. “It’s been a joy to help scientists fight the disease,” said taxi driver Robert Lordan.
1. What can we learn about “The knowledge’?| A．It lasts for a few minutes only. | B．It invites some residents to be testers. |
| C．It is a great challenge to people’s memory. | D．It is usually held in London's busy streets. |
| A．Animals’ hippocampi are quite different from humans’. |
| B．The new study can do good to animals as well. |
| C．More detailed studies on animals’ brains are needed. |
| D．Animals’ hippocampi are similar to humans’ |
| A．To decide who has the largest hippocampus. |
| B．To find out what their hippocampi are doing at work. |
| C．To know how Alzheimer’s develops in their brains. |
| D．To test whether the machine influences the hippocampus. |
10 . “Why do I live? Why do I wish for anything, or do anything? Is there anything in my life that will not be destroyed by my death?”
These are the words of the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Like Tolstoy, many people ask these difficult questions. And they struggle to find meaning in their life. Tolstoy spent his whole life trying to answer difficult questions like these. His search for answers influenced his writing.
On August 28th, 1828, Leo Tolstoy was born in the country of Russia.
As a child, Tolstoy was a member of the Russian Catholic Church. But as a young man, he began to question that faith. Tolstoy wanted to make his own moral decisions; he was tired of being told what to believe. He thought people could achieve a degree of perfection if they tried hard enough. So he worked very hard at being the best in everything he did. He thought that he would find meaning and truth in success.
In the 1850s, Leo Tolstoy wrote his first stories. He wrote about his experiences in the army. He also told stories about when he was a child. These works were published and Tolstoy became a well-known writer.
Tolstoy was finally successful. He earned the respect he always wanted. Many wealthy and intelligent men met and talked with Tolstoy. Some of the men were writers like him. They talked a lot about faith and the meaning of life. But soon Tolstoy recognized that these men were not perfect. Now he knew they could not answer his questions about faith.
So in the 1860s, Tolstoy tried a different way to find meaning. He opened a school for the children of his serfs—the people who worked on his land. These workers were very poor. He wanted to help them because he thought they were more honest than the wealthy people he knew.
Tolstoy learned many things from his workers. He respected how they worked hard to provide for their families.
He began to believe that marriage and family would give his life meaning. So in 1862, Leo Tolstoy married a young woman named Sonya Behrs.
The next 15 years were the best years of Tolstoy's life. It was during this time that he wrote his most famous books-War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Many literature experts say that War and Peace is one of the greatest books ever written.
Both War and Peace and Anna Karenina communicate Tolstoy's beliefs about the Russian nation, church and people. They also communicate what he thought was the answer to all his questions. Tolstoy believed humans were supposed to live a simple life and take care of their families. Tolstoy thought this would satisfy him and bring him happiness.
Leo Tolstoy is still a very respected writer today. His faith and writings have influenced many people.
Tolstoy's search for the meaning of life is something everyone can understand. His teachings still interest people all over the world.
1. Which shows the correct order of the following events?①Tolstoy served in the army ②Tolstoy got married ③Tolstoy wrote War and Peace
④ Tolstoy started a school. ⑤Tolstoy became a well-known writer.
| A．①②③④⑤ | B．⑤①③②④ | C．①⑤④②③ | D．⑤④①③② |
| A．Respect | B．Defend. | C．Support. | D．Comfort. |
| A．Leo Tolstoy: Living for writing | B．Leo Tolstoy: Influencing the world |
| C．Leo Tolstoy: Being the best in everything | D．Leo Tolstoy: Searching for the meaning of life |
