1 . A symbol of a booming children’s book market is a self-styled “kaleidoscope (万花筒) of creative genius for kids”, the magazine Scoop, a startup based in Dalston, east London, which the author Neil Gaiman has described as “the kind of magazine I wish we’d had when I was eight.”

Scoop is the idea of the publisher Clementine Macmillan-Scott. A year ago, hers looked like an impossible venture. But against the odds for little magazines, Scoop has survived. Macmillan-Scott said, “I really wasn’t certain we would get to this point, but we are now approaching our first birthday.” She links the magazine’s fortunes to a prosperous market and reports that “through the hundreds of children, parents and teachers we speak to at our workshops, we know that children are greedy for storytelling.”

Inspired by an Edwardian model, Arthur Mee’s Children’s Newspaperr, Scoop is a mix of innovation and creativity. Establishment heavyweights such as the playwright Tom Stoppard, plus children’s writers such as Raymond Briggs, author of Fungus the Bogeyman, have adopted its cause. The magazine has also given space to 10-year-old writers and pays all contributors, high and low, the same rate — 10p a word.

It’s a winning formula. Macmillan-Scott reports “a quarterly sales increase of roughly 150% every issue”, but is cautious about her good fortune. “It’s all too clear to us that these children are hungry for print.”

Scoop focuses on the most profitable part of the children’s market, Britain’s eight to 12-year-old readers. In literary culture, this is the crucial bridge between toddlers (儿童) and adolescents and its publisher knows it. Macmillan-Scott is committed to listening to readers aged eight to 12, who have an editorial board where they can express their ideas about the magazine. “If we don’t get these children reading,” she says, “we will lose out on adult readers. To be fully literate, you have to start as a child.”

Macmillan-Scott argues against the suggestion that reading is in decline. “If you look at our figures,” she objects, “you’ll find that children do read and that Scoop is part of a craze for reading hardback books. Kids love paper and print. They might play games on a digital device, but they prefer not to read on a Kindle. The real market for e-books is among young adult readers.” Some of her evidence is anecdotal, but her sales figures and readership surveys support a picture of eight to 12-year-olds absorbed in books.

“What our research shows beyond question,” she says, “is that children have a love for reading that’s not seriously threatened by other kinds of entertainment. Reading for pleasure is a very real thing at this age, and the worries that some adults have about children losing interest in reading are simply not grounded in reality.”

1. It can be learned from the passage that Scoop ________.

A．is aimed at teenagers in Britain

B．has taken a year to publish its first issue

C．has got its name from Arthur Mee’s newspaper

D．pays as much to young writers as to famous ones

2. The word “anecdotal” (in Para 6) is closet in meaning to ________.

A．conclusive	B．undeniable
C．defensive	D．unconvincing

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Children would rather listen to stories than tell stories by themselves.

B．Magazines for children aged under 8 are not very common in Britain.

C．Scoop illustrates the power of printed books in the face of digital revolution.

D．Research carried out by Scoop has been questioned by those writing for children.

4. Macmillan-Scott is most likely to agree that _______.

A．the market for children’s e-books remains to be explored

B．a child who dislikes reading won’t love reading when grown up

C．other kinds of entertainment have influenced children’s reading habits

D．it is necessary for adults to worry about children’s lack of interest in reading

2 . You take it for granted that you are a unique person, different from everyboy else on Earth, and you understand that everybody else is also unique. Identical (完全一样的) twins are fascinating because they______this idea: they are unique people, of course, not only in terms of appearance. They often share opinions, mannerisms and personality trails.

Identical twins are ______ occuring in about three out of every 1000 births. Although there may be tiny differences in physical appeaances between two identical twins, which allow family and close friends to ______ , they do have exactly the same DNA.

For scientists, the non- ______ similarities between identical twins are the most interesting: are they the result of growing up together in the same home, or are they the result of their identical DNA? By studying identical twins who have not grown up ______, researchers can see which similarities remain and which disappear. In other words, they can learn which aspects of a person’s ______ are determined by genes and which are influenced by the environment.

Identical twins Jim Lewis and Jim Springer were only four weeks old when they were ______: each infant was taken in by a different adoptive family. At age five, Lewis learned that he had a twin, but he said that the ideas never ______ “soaked in” until he was 38 years old. Springer learned of his twin at age eight, but both he and his adoptive parents believed the brother had died. The two Jims were finally reunited at age 39.

The ______ the twins shared not only amazed one another, but also amazed researchers at the University of Minnesota. The very fact that both twins were given the same name was a big ______. But there’s more.

As youngsters, each Jim had a dog named “Toy”.

One Jim had named his son James Allan and the other Jim had named his son James Alan

Both were fingernail biters and suffered from migraine headaches.

…

While not as mysteriously similar as the Jim twins, many more ______ of strange likenesses can be found among twins who were raised apart. For example, identical twins Tom Patterson and Steve Tazuni had very different ______ . Raised in a Christian family in rural Kansas, Tom still managed to choose the same ______ as his brother. Steve, who lives in Philadelphia, was raised in a Buddhist household. Both men own body-building gyms.

It’s obvious from these twins’ stories that ______ are a major factor in shaping who we are. This means that our personalities as adults are largely determined before we are born — and there is very little that we, or anybody else, can do to ______ them.

1.

A．challenge

B．confirm

C．promote

D．capture

2.

A．typical

B．rare

C．considerable

D．encouraging

3.

A．get them across

B．take them around

C．tell them apart

D．see them off

4.

A．existent

B．identical

C．principal

D．physical

5.

A．together

B．normally

C．alone

D．happily

6.

A．life

B．experience

C．appearance

D．identity

7.

A．separated

B．isolated

C．united

D．recognized

8.

A．hardly

B．truly

C．obviously

D．legally

9.

A．opinions

B．resources

C．similarities

D．feelings

10.

A．issue

B．opportunity

C．secret

D．coincidence

11.

A．instincts

B．reasons

C．instances

D．lessons

12.

A．characteristics

B．upbringings

C．objectives

D．attitudes

13.

A．career

B．option

C．value

D．strategy

14.

A．backgrounds

B．genes

C．families

D．surroundings

15.

A．diagnose

B．acquire

C．change

D．foresee

3 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. invisible             B. regularly            C. contributes             D. mercy         E. moderately          F. trapped               G. amateurs               H. remaining    I. decline                 J. comparable          K. bragging

The sale of The Washington Post to Jeff Bezos is just the most recent episode in the decline and fall of professional journalism. By selling out to a mega-billionaire without any newspaper experience, the Graham family has put a priceless national asset at the     1     of a single outsider. Perhaps Jeff Bezos will use his new plaything responsibly; perhaps not; if not, one of the few     2     sources of serious journalism will be lost.

The crisis in the English-speaking world will turn into a disaster in smaller language zones. The English-speaking market is so large that advertisers will pay a lot to gain access to the tens of millions of readers who     3     click onto The New York Times or The Guardian. But the Portuguese-reading public is far too small to support serious journalism on the Internet. What happens to Portuguese democracy when nobody is willing to pay for old-fashioned newspapers?

The blogosphere can’t be expected to take up the     4     of serious journalism. First-class reporting on national and international affairs isn’t for     5    . it requires lots of training and lots of contacts and lots of expenses. It also requires reporters with the well-trained capacity to write for a broad audience. The modern newspaper created the right incentives, but without a(an)     6     business model for the new technology, blogging will degenerate into a postmodern nightmare — with millions     7     without any concern for the facts.

We can’t afford to wait for the     8     hand to come up with a new way to provide economic support for serious journalism. To be sure, the financial press has proved     9     successful in persuading readers to pay for online access; and mainstream media are now trying to imitate this success. Each news article on the web will end by asking readers whether it     10     to their political understanding. If so, they can click the yes-box, and send the message to a National Endowment for Journalism — which would obtain an annual appropriation from the government. This way, serious journalism will succeed in gaining mass support.

4 . Whether it is tossing the Frisbee (掷飞盘) on the campus or representing your town in the local baseball league, sports remain prevalent in American society.

Athletics begin at a young age. As they learn to walk and talk, kids in America also learn to run, throw and kick. They are _________ to sports at a young age so that they form a habit of remaining _________ and fit, while also _________ themselves. Most towns offer a “Parks and Recreation” program, which sponsors various educational physical activities, such as sports summer camps or monthly hikes. _________, towns often create youth leagues that _________ children to complete against other towns. These programs, run by volunteers, stress not only skill development, but also values of _________ and enjoyment no matter what the outcome.

Athletics continue at more _________ levels throughout elementary school to university, with extracurricular programs playing a development role and training students to perhaps even eventually become _________.

At the professional level, spectator sports have become a staple (重要部分) of American tradition and culture. Families and friends gather around the television or endure hours of _________ to support their favorite teams, while these athletes are made into international celebrities.

Professional sports in the U.S. are largely __________ by the Big Four Leagues: the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL). With teams __________ major cities, these spectator sports draw large crowds and are followed almost __________ by some fans.

Soccer has __________ to rise to prominence in America; however, with their performance in the 2010 World Cup and more exposure to Europeans teams through the arrival of star such as David Beckham and Thierry Henry, Major League Soccer (MLS) in America as a spectator sport has certainly __________.

International competition is rare and often considered not as __________ as the domestic leagues. However, during the Olympics and the World Cup, Americans do rally around their countrymen to perform at the international level.

1.

A．exposed

B．treated

C．devoted

D．attributed

2.

A．young

B．active

C．hopeful

D．positive

3.

A．enjoying

B．pushing

C．supporting

D．protecting

4.

A．For example

B．However

C．Consequently

D．Furthermore

5.

A．force

B．warn

C．allow

D．advise

6.

A．sportsmanship

B．curiosity

C．creativity

D．citizenship

7.

A．friendly

B．amateur

C．competitive

D．international

8.

A．winners

B．professionals

C．managers

D．rivals

9.

A．competition

B．traffic

C．labor

D．argument

10.

A．divided

B．dominated

C．owned

D．followed

11.

A．entering

B．representing

C．sponsoring

D．occupying

12.

A．blindly

B．secretly

C．religiously

D．leisurely

13.

A．attempted

B．refused

C．aimed

D．struggled

14.

A．decreased

B．remained

C．slowed

D．grown

15.

A．predictable

B．respectable

C．significant

D．extensive

5 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank. Write your answers on the answer sheet.

John, an ESL tutor of a community college, moved to New York City with all the members of his family. John is a remarkable teacher, so     1     (be) his students for several years, we all missed him very much since he left. It was not long     2     John came back to North Carolina to handle some rounding-off (结束) affairs, ESL teachers and we students held a small party for him.

At the party,     3    people walked around and talked with each other cheerfully, I certainly would not lightly give up that good opportunity to learn English. Then I tried to think of all sorts of topics to converse with Monica, another ESL teacher.

Just before I was about     4     (run) out of my topics of conversation when I heard John said to others loudly, “I dig New York!” I immediately asked Monica seriously, “Is it really difficult to find a job in New York? Why does John, such     5     outstanding ESL teacher, have to do laborious work?”

Looking puzzled, Monica asked, “Why do you have such a feeling?”

“Haven’t you heard him say that he     6     (dig) New York? Is he building a tunnel?” I replied. When she finally understood     7     I said, Monica laughed so hard as to narrowly escape spewing (喷出) her food in her mouth. Wearing a broad smile, she gestured to us to stop talking, and then asked us, the ESL students,     8     we knew the meaning of “I dig New York.” All of us shook our heads and said no. Monica then requested John to explain it to us.

    9     turns out that, in American slang, “I dig New York” means, “I love New York.” Though few people say like that nowadays, we can still find it     10     (use) in literary works.

6 . The Metamorphosis

One morning, Gregor Samsa woke up from a bad dream and realized he was some kind of a terrible insect. He was a cockroach (蟋蟀), and he was as large as a man! Lying on his back, he could see his large brown belly and thin legs.     1    

He began to think about his job as a traveling salesman. He hated his job, but he had to do it to support his father, mother, and sister because his father no longer worked. He looked at the clock and realized he had overslept—it was 6:30! He was late. The next train left at 7:00. He would have to hurry to make it. A few minutes later his mother yelled to him: “It’s 6:45. You are late. Get up!”     2     “Yes, mother. I’m getting up now.” His sister now whispered through the door, “Gregor, are you all right? Do you need anything?”

Well, it was time to get up. Surely, as soon as he got out of bed, he would realize this had all been a bad dream. He tried to move his back part out first, but it moved so slowly, and it was so difficult. His thin little legs seemed useless, just moving and moving in the air, not helping him at all. Then he tried the front part.     3     He began rocking back and forth, stronger and stronger, and finally threw himself onto the floor, hitting his head as he fell.

All of a sudden, he heard a knock at the door. It was his manager, who had come to see why he was late. “Oh,” thought Gregor, “I hate my job.” Then the manger spoke. “Mr. Samsa, I must warn you that you could lose your job because of this. Lately, your work has not been very good, and now I find you in bed when you should be at work!” Gregor panicked and said, “No, no, I will come out immediately. I was sick, but now I feel much better.” The manager and Gregor’s family didn’t understand a single word he said, for his speech was now the hiss of insect. As he talked, he managed to move himself to the chest of drawers, tried to stand up, then slipped and fell, holding tightly to a chair with his thin legs.     4    

A．This worked better, but he still couldn’t move enough to get out of bed.

B．He tried to turn over onto his side, but every time he tried, he would roll onto his back again.

C．Gregor awoke as it was getting dark.

D．When he answered her, he was surprised to hear his voice; it sounded so high.

E．Gregor tried to return to his bedroom, but couldn’t fit through the doorway.

F．He finally managed to open the door and lean against it.

7 . Chances are you’re quite bored of your home by now. Oh sure, you know how lucky you are, if you have a warm and comfortable place to live when so many don’t. But a person could live in a full-on palace and still, at this point in a generation-defining global pandemic, think, “If I have to spend one more day looking at this cornicing (榐板) and those enormous wall sconces (壁式烛台), I will genuinely hurl myself off the balcony.” So allow me to share the greatest tip of all time for making your home more fun: get some wallpaper.

People are very cautious about wallpaper, especially the patterned type. I didn’t fully understand this until my partner and I were house–hunting half a decade ago, after we found out I was expecting twins. Off we went to look at family houses and, while the prices were horrific, the houses were, to my mind, even worse. That’s not fair: they were perfectly fine, but there was something about them that sent me plunging into a low-grade depression. I tried to explain it to the increasingly frustrated estate agents: maybe they were dark? Or they just had a bad atmosphere? Were the ceilings too low? At last, I understood: every house I looked at was painted all white or–worse!–dull grey. Literally, every single one, and I assume the people who lived in them thought they looked fashionable and safely neutral. To me they brought back memories of teenage years spent in a psychiatric unit (精神病病房).

“Safely neutral”: has there ever been a more depressing template (样板) for a home? “Safely neutral” is timidity, the decorating equivalent of a fear of letting yourself have fun in case people laugh at you, or a refusal to state an opinion in case you get it wrong. How so many people can bear to live like that is beyond my comprehension. I know not everyone is a maximalist, but I find it puzzling that people won’t commit to patterned wallpaper because they worry they’ll get tired of it, yet paint their home in the most boring shades possible. Be your fearless self! Make your stamp! If not on the world, then at least on your walls.

By the time we moved into our (entirely white, God help me) house, I was a month away from giving birth to two surprisingly big boys. I could no longer walk, but this in no way broke my stride when it came to sorting out the wallpaper. This was a home I hoped to live in for the next two decades, so I went all out and spent so much on wallpaper that we couldn’t really afford furniture for a while.

1. It can be learned from paragraph 2 that ________.

A．the estate agents finally figured out why the author didn’t like the houses

B．the unaffordable housing prices sent the author into a minor depression

C．the houses the author was hunting turned out to be disappointingly uniform

D．the teenager experience of being in a psychiatric unit troubled the author

2. What does the author think of “safely neutral”?

A．It may bring about ridicule from others.

B．It will make a home much less depressing.

C．It is too abstract for people to understand.

D．It robs us of the chance to pursue pleasure.

3. The underlined sentence in paragraph 3 can be best illustrated as ________.

A．throwing away the apple due to the core	B．dealing with a man as he deals with you
C．killing two birds with one stone	D．cherishing imaginary or groundless fears

4. What’s the purpose of the passage?

A．To highlight the vital importance of wallpaper.

B．To reveal how to add color to home decoration.

C．To indicate why people tend to get depressed.

D．To explain what safe neutrality is all about.

8 . Direction: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. unclear；B. version；C. introduced；D. view；E. entertain F. identify；G. life-altering；H. breakdown；I. unmasked；J. pain；K. dependent

Unlock iPhone When Face ID Can’t

2017: “Nothing has ever been simpler, more natural, more effortless. We call this Face ID.” This is an actual executive quote, from back when the company       1     facial recognition on the iPhone X.

Apple in 2021: “Nothing has ever been…less natural or more difficult. We call this Face No ID.” This is a very made-up quote, reflecting the     2     of facial recognition now that masks are essential clothes.

The pandemic cast a shadow over Apple’s cutting-edge function: Our faces can’t be our passwords when our faces can’t be seen. And typing passcodes in full     3     of strangers and co-workers can be a security risk.

Well, mask or no mask, Apple’s Face ID works again—sort of.

With the iOS 14.5 update—launched Thursday through the company’s public beta software program, and expected to go into wide release this spring—you can unlock your iPhone without typing a passcode, even if your face is     4    . Just one expensive little catch: You need an Apple Watch—and it needs to be unlocked and on your wrist.

I’ve followed the developments of this crucial,     5     struggle for nearly a year now. Last April, there was an effort to create Face ID-compatible (兼容的) masks. (Surprise! They didn’t catch on.) Soon after, with iOS 13.5, Apple made the passcode screen come up faster when the phone can’t see your face. (It’s still a     6    .)

Compared with those, this new watch-     7     solution is almost as good as the naked-face real thing. It is fast and easy to set up. I’ve been testing a pre-release     8     for the past few days, unlocking my iPhone while wearing all sorts of masks, in all sorts of conditions.

Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes: The array of sensors in that notch (凹口) at the top of your iPhone’s screen—what Apple calls the TrueDepth camera—tries to     9     you as usual. If it can’t see your nose and mouth, it looks for your unlocked watch to unlock your iPhone. If it doesn’t see any face—or sees a(n)     10     face it doesn’t think is yours—it stays locked.

9 . In Dad’s Army, a British sitcom (情景喜剧) about a home-defense Force, Sergeant (中士) Wilson would often cast doubt on his commander’s various orders with the phrase “Do you think that’s wise, sir?” His doubt, although often ignored, was usually ________.

Many employees must be tempted to imitate Sgt. Wilson when they see their bosses head down the wrong track. But caution often leads workers to keep silent for fear of appearing foolish and offensive and ________ being at high risk of losing their jobs.

A culture of silence can be dangerous, argues a new book The Fearless Organization, by Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School. Some of her cases are from the ________ industry, where staff felt too powerless to make any changes due to their ranks. One was its deadliest accident: a crash between two Boeing-747s in the Canary Islands occurred in 1977 when a co-pilot felt unable to ________ his captain into changing the decision to take off. Another case was that of the Columbia space shuttle in 2003; an engineer who may have diagnosed damage to the shuttle’s wing before the flight felt unable to speak as he was “too ________” at NASA.

In a corporate culture based on ________ and obedience, it may appear that targets are being achieved. But in the long run the effect is likely to be counterproductive (适得其反的). Studies show that fear ________ learning. And when faced with a problem, scared workers find ways of ________ it or getting around it with inefficient practices.

The solution is to create an atmosphere of “psychological safety” whereby workers can speak their minds. It does not mean that workers, or their ideas, are ________ criticism, or that they should complain continuously. In a sense, this method is the ________ of Toyota’s “lean manufacturing” process, which allows any worker who spots a problem to stop the production line.

Pixar, the production firm, created what it called a “Braintrust” to give ________ to film directors. The rules were that advice should be constructive and about the idea, not the person, and that filmmakers should not be ________ in response.

And psychological safety is not about whistleblowing (检举). Indeed, if an employee feels the need to act as a whistleblower by speaking to external ________, it suggests employers have not created an environment within the firm where criticism can be ________. Nor is such a culture only about safety or avoiding mistakes. As mundane (单调的) tasks are automated, and workers rely on computers for data analysis, the added value of humans will stem from their ________. But as Ms. Edmondson’s book demonstrates, it is hard to be either constructive or creative if you are not confident about speaking out.

1.

A．justifiable

B．pointless

C．subjective

D．ridiculous

2.

A．on the whole

B．in conclusion

C．as a result

D．on the contrary

3.

A．airline

B．manufacturing

C．service

D．advertising

4.

A．tempt

B．reason

C．trick

D．guide

5.

A．offensive

B．ambitious

C．aggressive

D．humble

6.

A．imitation

B．fear

C．efficiency

D．competition

7.

A．motivates

B．facilitates

C．maintains

D．prevents

8.

A．spoiling

B．polishing

C．masking

D．exploiting

9.

A．related to

B．safe from

C．concerned with

D．dependent on

10.

A．equivalent

B．object

C．argument

D．criticism

11.

A．priority

B．motivation

C．access

D．feedback

12.

A．optimistic

B．objective

C．defensive

D．passive

13.

A．authorities

B．elements

C．divisions

D．whistleblowers

14.

A．rejected

B．eliminated

C．voiced

D．questioned

15.

A．competitiveness

B．inventiveness

C．carefulness

D．selflessness

10 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Charles Dickens

It has been 150 years since Charles Dickens died, 184 years since his first work was released to the public and 156 years since his last completed book came out. In all of this time, these novels have never been out of print. Dickens may have left us, but his work remains timeless,     1     (fascinate) the majority of those who open their pages.

Most people have read, watched or at least heard of Dickens’ stories, but what makes him and his work so popular? Since he began novel writing in his 20s, Dickens constantly produced quality classics. Year after year his awaiting fans were not left     2     (disappoint) as their minds were fed with complex tales of romance, crime, hope and despair.

In the Victorian era he lived in, much of the work Dickens produced     3     (model) on the literature before him. He was one of the first writers of the time     4     (portray) honest examples of working-class people, giving many something to relate to. He focused on unfolding the good and bad qualities of characters which allowed his readers to follow their journeys and understand     5     they may have acted in the unusual or shocking ways that they did.

Any Dickens fans will know the diverse and outrageous (耸人听闻的) characters coming to life between the pages.     6     was special about this novelist’s ability in imagining these characters’ stories is that it comes from his own life’s path.     7     a young boy left to take care of himself in a workhouse to the wealthy figure he became through his writing successes, he knew what it was like to see in different lights. This deep understanding of his characters gave his fictional stories the strong element of believability     8     is needed in a good novel.

Over a century and a half later, Dickens’ themes can be relevant to today’s world problems. His words and imagery have been transformed further into the media of modern film, television and even musical adaptations.     9     set in a time unfamiliar to readers today, his work still enables everyone to relate to the love, hardship and sense of family that pours from the narratives. It is this aspect     10     has carried Charles Dickens into the 21st century.