1 . Language gives us the power to describe countless actions, properties and relations that compose our experiences, real or imagined. As for how languages were created, scientists found iconicity might play a key role.
People can’t bridge language gap and understand each other without iconicity. When playing a game of charades (猜字谜) , we act out our meaning, using our hands and bodies to describe the sizes and shapes of objects. The key to this process of forming new symbols is the use of iconicity. Not limited to gesturing, iconicity appears in our visual communication too. Traffic signs, food packaging, maps. . . wherever there are people communicating, you will find iconicity.
According to our research, iconicity might also exist in our voices. We organized a contest in which we invited contestants to record a set of sounds to express different meanings. The winner of the contest was determined by how well listeners could guess the intended meanings of the sounds based on a set of written options. Critically, the sounds that contestants submitted couldn’t include actual words or onomatopoeias (拟声词) .
Listeners were remarkably good at interpreting the meanings of the sounds. Yet, all of the contestants and listeners were speakers of English. Thus, it was possible that listeners’ success relied on some cultural knowledge that they shared with the speakers. Did the listeners also understand the speakers from completely different cultural backgrounds?
Later, an Internet survey translated into 25 different languages was carried out. Participants listened to each sound from the English speakers and guessed the meaning by choosing from six written words. Guessing accuracy for the different groups ranged from 74 percent for English speakers to 34 percent for Portuguese speakers. It is far from perfect, but well above the chance rate of eight percent expected by us.
Taken together, these studies show that our capacity for iconic communication has played a critical role. Without this special talent, language would likely never have gotten off the ground.
1. Which of the following can explain “iconicity” ?| A．A skill in foreign language learning. | B．The process of acting out our meanings. |
| C．The connection between form and meaning. | D．A barrier between different language speakers. |
| A．It required sounds containing meanings. | B．Its winners were creative in recordings. |
| C．It aimed to prove iconicity in words. | D．Its entries were familiar to listeners. |
| A．English pronunciations differ. | B．The research has a limitation. |
| C．The cultural gap is narrowing. | D．Listening skills vary in cultures. |
| A．Clarifying the influence of sounds. | B．Proving the necessity of exchanges. |
| C．Uncovering the origin of languages. | D．Identifying the function of gestures. |
2 . Time to update that old saying “cold hands, warm heart.” New research shows touching something warm can make you feel and act more warmly toward others.
Yale University scientists did a clever study. They recruited (征募) 41 college students for what they thought was personality research. A lab worker followed each participant up the elevator of Yale’s psychology building and casually (不经意地) asked for help holding her cup of coffee- either hot or iced- while she recorded the student’s name.
Inside the lab, the students read a short description of a fictitious (虚构的) person, and then rated this stranger’s personality. Students who had held the hot cup saw the person as more generous, sociable and good-natured than those who had held the cold cup — all traits that psychologists consider part of a “warm” personality.
Then researchers recruited 53 different students for a second study, having them briefly hold one of those heat or ice pads (护垫) sold in drugstores for treating injuries, supposedly as part of product-testing. Really the test was which gift the students chose as a thank-you for participating: A bottled drink or ice cream for themselves, or one for a friend. Students who held the hot pad were more likely to choose a reward for a friend, while those who held the ice pad were more likely to choose a reward for themselves.
So is the moral of the story to hand out hot drinks when you want to make a good first impression? Not quite. The bigger message is that very small cues from our environment can significantly influence behavior and feelings, said lead researcher Dr. Lawrence Williams.
Physical and psychological concepts “are much more closely connected in the mind than we have previously appreciated,“ said Williams.
The whole concept of social warmth is learned in infancy (婴儿期), Williams said. He pointed to a psychology study that found attachment and affection were more dependent on hugs that happen to be physically warm than on merely ensuring a baby is fed.
As for a practical use for the finding: Those free food samples distributed in grocery stores probably attract more shoppers if they’re warm, advises Williams.
1. What can we learn about the participants in the first experiment?| A．They didn’t realize when the experiment started. |
| B．They were interviewed about their personality. |
| C．They did not meet each other before. |
| D．They preferred hot to iced coffee. |
| A．To evaluate their physical condition. |
| B．To test the medical function of the pads. |
| C．To assess the impact of receiving rewards on people’s personality. |
| D．To investigate temperature’s effect on people’s psychology and behavior. |
| A．Shops selling warm items tend to earn more. |
| B．Babies learn about love more from hugs than food. |
| C．Hot drinks are essential for making a good first impression. |
| D．People with a warm personality are often physically warmer |
| A．Keep a warm heart in a cold world |
| B．“Cold hands, warm heart” really is true, scientists find |
| C．Warm hands lead to warm heart, study shows |
| D．From the hands to the heart: A self-discovery journey |
3 . Ariel Procaccia has thought a lot about how to cut a cake over the last 15 years. As the father of three children, he knows how hard it is to divide a birthday cake to everyone’s satisfaction. But it’s also because Procaccia’s work focuses on exploring the mathematical rules for dividing stuff up fairly. One way to do that is to think abstractly about dessert.
For decades, researchers have been asking the seemingly simple question of how to cut a cake fairly. The answer reaches far beyond birthday parties. A mathematical problem at its heart, cake cutting connects strict reasoning to real-world issues of fairness, and so attracts not only mathematicians, but also social scientists, economists and more. “It’s a very elegant model in which you can distill what fairness really is, and reason about it,” Procaccia says.
The simplest approach is called the “divider-chooser” method, where one person cuts the cake into two equal pieces in his view, and the other person picks first. Each receives a piece that they feel is as valuable as the other’s. But when personal preferences are taken into account, even the easiest rule becomes complicated. Suppose Alice and Bob are to divide a cake, and Alice knows Bob prefers chocolate, she may knowingly divide the cake unequally so the smaller piece contains more chocolate. Then Bob will choose according to his preference, and Alice will get the larger piece. Both of them are satisfied with what they get, but the meaning of fairness changes in this situation.
The cake is a symbol for any divisible good. When cake-cutting principles are employed to settle disagreements, they are potentially helping the world find solutions. Procaccia has used fair division algorithms (算法) to model food distribution. Social scientist Haris Aziz is exploring situations ranging from how to divide up daily tasks to how to best schedule doctors’ shifts in hospitals.
Even after decades of investigation, cake cutting isn’t like a simple jigsaw puzzle (拼图) with a well-defined solution. Instead, over time, it has evolved into a kind of mathematical sandbox, a constructive playground that brings together abstract proofs and easy applications. The more researchers explore it, the more there is to explore.
1. What does the underlined word “distill” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Get the essence of. | B．Find the opposite of. |
| C．Keep the focus on. | D．Reduce the impact on. |
| A．Its standard is stable. | B．It prevents unequal division. |
| C．Its concept is complex. | D．It dominates personal preferences. |
| A．The application of its rules. | B．The details of its process. |
| C．The problems it produces. | D．The harmony it symbolizes. |
| A．Who benefits most from fairness? |
| B．How has fairness changed over time? |
| C．What method works best in cake-cutting? |
| D．Why are researchers so interested in cake-cutting? |
4 . Spiders are master builders, expertly turning silk into complex 3D webs that serve as their home and hunting ground. To gain a deeper understanding of their world, scientists have translated the structure of a spider’s web into music.
“The spider lives in an environment of vibrating (振动的) strings,” says Markus Buehler, the project’s principal investigator. “They don’t see very well, so they perceive their surroundings by detecting vibrations, which have different frequencies.” Such vibrations occur, for example, when the spider stretches a strand of silk during construction or when the wind or a trapped fly moves the web.
The researchers scanned a natural spider web to capture 2D cross-sections and reconstructed its 3D network using a mathematical model. They assigned different frequencies of sound to strands of the web, creating musical “notes” that they combined in patterns based on the web’s 3D structure to generate music. Then they made a harp-like (像竖琴的) virtual instrument and played the spider web music in several live performances around the world, creating an inspiring harmony of art and science.
To gain insights into how spiders build webs, the researchers also scanned a web during construction, transforming each stage into music with different sounds. “The spider’s way of ‘printing’ the web is remarkable because no support material is used, as is often needed in current 3D printing methods,” Buehler says. This knowledge could help develop new 3D printers that work like spiders, enabling them to construct complex structures without using additional materials for support.
The team is also interested in learning how to communicate with spiders in their own language. They recorded web vibrations produced when spiders performed different activities, such as building a web, communicating with other spiders or sending signals to admirers. “Now we’re trying to generate signals to basically speak the language of the spider,” Buehler says. “If we expose them to certain patterns of vibrations, can we affect what they do or can we begin to communicate with them? Those are really thrilling ideas, and I believe they could be achieved in the near future.”
1. What do we know about spiders?| A．They have good eyesight. |
| B．They adapt to surroundings quickly. |
| C．They spin a web similar to a musical structure. |
| D．They sense the environment through vibrations. |
| A．Steps to create spider web music. |
| B．Ways to recreate a web’s 3D network. |
| C．Challenges of combining music with science. |
| D．The potential applications of 3D printing methods. |
| A．3D printers can construct complex structures. |
| B．Spiders’ vibration patterns vary with activities. |
| C．Spiders build webs without using additional materials. |
| D．The web-building process can be translated into music. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Doubtful. | C．Uncertain. | D．Disapproving. |
5 . I grew up in a house with an unusual design feature. The entire floor of the front entrance was made of slate reclaimed pieces of chalkboards that my innovative father gathered from the local high school when it was undergoing a renovation 25 years ago. He added a second large piece on the wall, too.
The result was that we always had a place to write notes, draw pictures, do quick calculations, and keep an ongoing grocery list to which anyone could contribute. The wall chalkboard was used for important notes, while the floor was most handy for messages that were meant to catch someone’s eye the moment they came into the house.
When I was young, I took it for granted that every house would have such a large writing surface, but then I moved away and realized that wasn’t the case. For years, especially since having kids, I struggled to keep daily information organized, making do with piles of loose papers, disjointed notes on my phone, and foggy memories of things I knew I should remember but did not. At least my Moleskine paper planner gave some order to my life, but even it didn’t make up for a good chalkboard. But now things have changed. A proper chalkboard has finally been attached to my kitchen wall. My dad recently came for a visit and brought a piece of slate that fits the wall behind the door. It’s from the same batch (批次) of old high school slate that he collected all those years ago, now transported to another part of our province. All of a sudden, we have an obvious place to go to store information where all family members can see it, a place where important thoughts can be kept for future reference, celebrations announced and children entertained.
1. What do we know about the chalkboards?| A．They matched other furniture perfectly. |
| B．They were handmade by the author’s father. |
| C．They were donated to the author’s high school. |
| D．They mattered a lot to the author and her family. |
| A．What to do to improve her memory. |
| B．How to teach kids to gather information. |
| C．Where to write down something important. |
| D．How to equip every house with a chalkboard. |
| A．Cheerful. | B．Confused. | C．Upset. | D．Dependent. |
| A．She used to hide her thoughts. |
| B．She is a well-organized person. |
| C．She was an excellent girl at school. |
| D．She moves around from time to time. |
6 . “The mountains are calling and I must go” — the famous quote is from John Muir(1838-1914), who is described as “the wilderness poet” and “the citizen of the universe.” He once jokingly referred to himself as a “poet-geologist-botanist and ornithologist (鸟类学家)-naturalist etc. etc.!” He is known as the Father of American National Parks.
Famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns recently said, “As we got to know him… he was among the highest individuals in America; I’m talking about the level of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thomas Jefferson— people who have had a transformational effect on who we are.”
So where is the quote from? Well, John Muir was a productive writer. Whether he was writing poetry or simply letters to his family, John Muir was always putting pen to paper. The quote is from within one of his many letters written to his sister:
September 3rd, 1873 Yosemite Valley Dear sister Sarah,I have just returned from the longest and hardest trip I have ever made in the mountains, having been gone over five weeks. I am weary, but resting fast; sleepy, but sleeping deep and fast; hungry, but eating much. For two weeks I explored the glaciers of the summits east of here, sleeping among the snowy mountains without blankets and with little to eat on account of its being so inaccessible. After my icy experiences, it seems strange to be down here in so warm and flowery a climate. I will soon be off again, determined to use all the season in carrying through my work—will go next to Kings River a hundred miles south, then to Lake Tahoe and surrounding mountains, and in winter work in Oakland with my pen. Though slow, someday I will have the results of my mountain studies in a form in which you all will be able to read and judge them. The mountains are calling and I must go, and I will work on while I can, studying incessantly (永不停息地). I will write again when I return from Kings River Canyon. Farewell, with love everlasting. Yours, John |
1. What can we learn from John Muir’s self-description in paragraph 1?
| A．He longed to expand his own career. |
| B．He enjoyed his involvement in nature. |
| C．He wanted to find his real advantage. |
| D．He valued his identity as a poet most. |
| A．Muir’s political influence. | B．A documentary film on Muir. |
| C．Muir’s historic significance. | D．The social circle around Muir. |
| A．Relieved but regretful. | B．Exhausted but content. |
| C．Excited but lonely. | D．Defeated but hopeful. |
| A．To go on with his mountain studies. |
| B．To seek freedom from social connection. |
| C．To attend an appointment in Oakland. |
| D．To experience the hardship of wilderness. |
7 . Teenagers have long been told that being active and taking part in various sports is good for their health. But new research suggests that too much sport for teenagers could negatively affect their well-being just as much as too little sport.
Researchers from Switzerland say their study suggests that 14 hours of physical activity a week is best for promoting good health in teenagers. However, they found that more than 14 hours appears to be detrimental to their health. To reach their findings, the researchers surveyed more than 1,245 teenagers aged between 16 and 20 from Switzerland.
All participants were required to answer questions on height and weight, sports practice, sports injuries and well-being. Their well-being was assessed(评估) using the World Health Organization (WHO) Well-Being Index,and the average well-being score for all participants was 17.
The researchers divided sports participation into low (0—3.5 hours a week), average (3.6— 10.5 hours), high (10.6— 17.5 hours), and very high (more than 17.5 hours).The researchers found that participants in the low and very high activity groups were more than twice as likely to have well-being scores below 13, compared with participants in the average group. The researchers found that the highest well-being scores were gotten by participants who carried cut around 14 hours of physical activity a week, but exercising beyond 14 hours resulted in lower well-being scores.
Commenting on their findings, the researchers say physical activity has been connected with positive emotional well-being, reduced sadness, anxiety and stress disorders, and improved self-respect in teenagers.
The researchers suggest that their study stresses the importance for physicians caring for teenagers to check their level of sports practice and ask them about their well-being. Teenagers probably need a supportive and closer follow-up of their health and well-being. The findings can provide information for guideline groups who produce recommendations on sports practice for teenagers.
1. What does the underlined word “detrimental” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Useless. | B．Important. | C．Reasonable. | D．Harmful. |
| A．To much sport is less healthy than what is traditionally believed. |
| B．Both low and high sports participation help teenagers improve confidence. |
| C．Very high activity groups tend to get higher well-being scores. |
| D．Low spirit participation is proved to be the cause of obesity. |
| A．A research paper. | B．A health magazine. |
| C．A business report. | D．A fitness diary. |
| A．Measures to improve teenagers’ well-being. |
| B．Concerns of physicians about teenagers' well-being. |
| C．Importance of physical activities on teenagers'well-being. |
| D．Relationship between sports participation and teenagers' well-being. |
8 . Most people in their eighties would consider themselves lucky not to have health problems, but this is not the case with Toshisuke Kanazawa. The 82-year-old Japanese bodybuilder is not only in perfect physical condition, but also looks better than a lot of men a quarter his age.
Kanazawa is a living example that you’re never too old to hit the gym and achieve the body you’ve always dreamed of. A champion bodybuilder in his youth, Kanazawa stopped exercising completely after he retired(退休) at age 34, drinking, smoking and eating whatever he liked. It wasn’t until he turned 50 that he wanted to regain the perfect body of his younger years.
Kanazawa’s wife felt sick frequently, and the former bodybuilder remembered that she had never been happier than when he won the national championship. So, to please her, he decided to return to the gym and completely change his diet.
His workout schedule had to change according to his age. In his youth, he would spend up to six hours training in the gym every day, and his body would recover within two days after a particularly intensive workout, but that was not the case anymore. He cut the daily gym time to three hours and started giving his body one week to recover after exercising every muscle group.
Kanazawa’s efforts paid off. In 2016, at the age of 80, Kanazawa defeated many opponents and placed sixth in the world in a match for bodybuilders over 65, and won the admiration of the crowd.
Sport keeps this elderly man healthy, as he has not suffered so much as a cold since he started bodybuilding again at age 50.
“I want to be a super old man in the bodybuilder community,” Kanazawa said, “If I have a goal, I can continue moving forward. I have to work much harder.”
1. What can we learn about Kanazawa from paragraph 2?| A．He started bodybuilding at the age of 34. |
| B．He seldom exercised when he was young. |
| C．He had serious health problems in his youth. |
| D．He developed an unhealthy lifestyle after he retired. |
| A．To make a living | B．To help change his diet. |
| C．To cheer up his wife. | D．To recover from illness. |
| A．He went on a diet. |
| B．He turned to the doctor for advice. |
| C．He combined relaxation with exercise. |
| D．He spent up to six hours training every day. |
| A．Bodybuilding: No Age Limit |
| B．Champion: The Result of Workout |
| C．Understanding: A Secret to Happiness |
| D．Exercise: The Best Medicine for Illnesses |
9 . Late last year, in the days before the Dosakian election, a video featuring a well-known journalist and a key candidate circulated on social networks. However, it was absolutely fake (虚假的). The International Press Institute has called this episode in Dosakia the first time that AI deepfakes — fake images, or videos generated by artificial intelligence — have influenced a national election greatly.
Security experts consider misinformation the biggest global risk recently — more dangerous than war, and extreme weather events. A constant stream of people is wrestling with this issue. Now even economists are joining in.
Economist Iyan Smith, and others conduct a real-world experiment to see whether simple, low-cost nudges, or interventions, can be effective. Instead of focusing on the supply side of misinformation like social media platforms, they pay attention to the demand side: increasing our capacity to identify the fake information.
The economists split participants randomly into four different groups. One group was shown a video demonstrating a convincing journey of two people from two different social groups who, before interacting, express negative stereotypes (刻板印象) about the other’s group, overcoming their differences and ultimately regretting unthinkingly using stereotypes to dehumanize one another. Another group completed a personality test that shows them their cognitive traits (认知特点) causing prejudice, hoping to increase their self-awareness, and decrease their demand for misinformation. A third group did both while a control group did neither.
The economists find the simple intervention of showing the video makes the participants over 30 percent less likely to “consider fake news reliable”. But the personality test has little effect. As for participants doing both, they were about 31 percent less likely to view true headlines as reliable. In other words, they became so skeptical that even the truth became suspect.
Smith and his colleagues are far from the first scholars to fight misinformation by helping people to think more critically. University of Weymouth psychologist Lisa Kindle also advocates similar ways to help reject misinformation in the wild.
1. What does the author intend to do in the first two paragraphs?| A．Highlight the risk of AI deepfakes. | B．Discuss the global threat landscape. |
| C．Describe Dosakia’s election outcome. | D．Introduce the concept of misinformation. |
| A．The cognitive trait. | B．The short video. |
| C．The personality test. | D．The negative stereotype. |
| A．Videos reduce misinformation. | B．Deepfakes may discredit truth. |
| C．Misinformation causes dehumanization. | D．Personality tests sharpen thinking skills. |
| A．Battling Fake News | B．Deepfakes in Elections |
| C．The Spread of Misinformation | D．Expanding Thinking Capacity |
10 . Have you ever wondered why it feels so satisfying to sing in the shower? You are alone. You are warm. The air is moist, making your throat feel wet.
Now imagine singing while driving. You are sitting, stuck by a tight seat belt that limits airflow. Without any warm-up, you probably start right in with the first song you hear. The air is drier. And to stay awake, you may be drinking coffee, which can make you thirsty.
From my personal experience, I realize the importance of not only focusing but also setting the right conditions during practice.
| A．Practice makes perfect. |
| B．You are standing up straight. |
| C．You are loudly clearing your throat. |
| D．Poor training may lead to poor results. |
| E．The stress of driving and staying safe keeps you tense. |
| F．After all, an upright guitar wouldn’t sound right if it was bent. |
| G．I always try to recreate the great feeling of singing in the shower wherever I am. |
