1 . Directions: Complete the following passages 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. expedition          B. evidently          C. developed          D. facility                  E. accommodation F. isolated             G. enhanced            H. hardly             I. practically               J. honor K. housed

Americans have occupied the geographic South Pole continuously since November 1956. The station stands at an elevation of 2,835 meters on Antarctica’s nearly featureless ice sheet, which is about 2,700 meters thick at that location and recorded temperature varies between-13.6℃and-82. 8℃.

The station’s name is in     1     of Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott, who reached the South Pole in 1911 and 1912.

The original Amundsen-Scott Station, built to support the scientific goals of the International Geophysical Year, was begun in November 1956. As interest in polar research increased, a new design and a larger station was     2     necessary.

Before November 1956, there was no permanent artificial structure at the pole, and     3     no human presence in the interior of Antarctica. The few scientific stations in Antarctica were near its coast.

In 1975 the central area of the station was rebuilt. Detached buildings     4     instruments for monitoring the upper and lower atmosphere and for numerous projects in astronomy. In 1997, a redevelopment plan to upgrade the station began. The new station, which was dedicated in 2008, is one elevated and connected     5     . To cater to changes in population from winter to summer, certain areas can be closed. Remote science facilities are being     6       and are located away from the main station to minimize interference between necessary operations and science.

As part of the elevated station, the existing arch(拱顶)was used for fuel storage and waste management. New arches provide     7     for the power plant and garage shops. The benefits of elevated structures include reduced snow drifting, increased building life, smaller environmental impact,       8     safety, and more cost-effective construction.

Some 50 scientists and support personnel winter at the station, and up to 150 people work there during the summer. The station’s winter personnel are     9     between mid-February and late October.

The station has collected the longest continuous set of meteorological data from Antarctica’s vast interior ice area, and it is well located for     10     and research. Astronomy and astrophysics have flourished in recent years, taking advantage of excellent properties of the atmosphere. Other areas of interest include glaciology, ocean and climate systems, astrophysics, astronomy, and biology.

2 . From Oxford’s quads to Harvard Yard and many a steel and glass palace of higher education in between, exams are given way to holidays. As students consider life after graduation, universities are _______ questions about their own future. The higher education model of lecturing, cramming and examination has barely _______ for centuries. Now, three disruptive waves are threatening to shake established ways of teaching and learning.

On one front, a funding _______ has created a shortage of fund that the universities brightest brains are struggling to solve. Institutions’ costs are rising, _______ pricey investments in technology, teachers’ salaries and increasing administrative costs. That comes as governments conclude that they can no longer afford to subsidize universities as _______ as they used to. American colleges, in particular, are under pressure: some analysts predict mass bankruptcies within two decades.

At the same time, a(n) _______ revolution is challenging higher education’s business model. A(n) _______ in online learning, much of it free, means that the knowledge once a lucky few had access to has been released to anyone with a smartphone or laptop. These _______ and technological disruptions coincide with a third great change: whereas universities used to educate only a tiny elite, they are now _______ training and retraining workers throughout their careers. How will they ________ this storm—and what will emerge in their place if they don’t?

The universities least likely to lose out to online competitors are elite institutions with established reputations and low student-to-tutor ratios. That is ________ news for the Ivy League, which offer networking opportunities to students alongside a degree. Those colleges might profit from expanding the ratio of online learning to classroom teaching, lowering their costs while still offering the prize of a college education conducted partly on campus.

The most vulnerable, according to Jim Lerman of Kean University in New Jersey, are the “middle-tier institutions, which produce America's teachers, middle managers and administrators.” They could be ________ in greater part by online courses, he suggests. So might weaker community colleges, although those which cultivate connections to local employers might yet prove resilient (有弹力的).

Since the first wave of massive online courses launched in 2012, an opposition has focused on their ________ and commercial uncertainties. Yet if critics think they are immune to the march of the MOOC, they are almost certainly wrong. Whereas online courses can quickly________ their content and delivery mechanisms, universities are up against serious cost and efficiency problems, with little changes of taking more from the public purse.

Without the personal touch, higher education could become “an icebound, petrified (石化的) cast-iron university.” That is what the new wave of high-tech courses should not become. But as a(n) ________ to an overstretched, expensive model of higher education, they are more likely to prosper than fade.

1.

A．answering

B．facing

C．settling

D．guessing

2.

A．reviewed

B．existed

C．substituted

D．changed

3.

A．situation

B．trend

C．crisis

D．relief

4.

A．owing to

B．apart from

C．except for

D．rather than

5.

A．patiently

B．generously

C．naturally

D．ignorantly

6.

A．technological

B．professional

C．educational

D．geographical

7.

A．difference

B．emphasis

C．harmony

D．explosion

8.

A．fundamental

B．administrative

C．financial

D．psychological

9.

A．responsible for

B．eager for

C．curious about

D．enthusiastic about

10.

A．observe

B．chase

C．witness

D．survive

11.

A．shocking

B．good

C．annoying

D．neutral

12.

A．promoted

B．replaced

C．maintained

D．marketed

13.

A．failure

B．projects

C．innovation

D．progress

14.

A．resist

B．release

C．adjust

D．resemble

15.

A．object

B．relation

C．implication

D．alternative

3 . There are often many assumptions made about young people aged 15 to 21, but only a few can be proved with hard evidence. Now, new research has been published to help people get a better idea of these _________ young people.

According to an international survey in 2016, young people in emerging (新兴的) economies like China and India have a _________sense of hope about the future, compared with those living in Europe, North America and Australia.

The survey was _________ between September and October by the Varkey Foundation, a UK-based non-profit organization. It surveyed 20,000 young people who were born between 1995 to 2001 in 20 countries. They were asked questions about their hopes, ambitions, personal views and community values.

It was found that 53 percent of those questioned in China thought the world was becoming a better place – the highest percentage among the countries surveyed. Some 93 percent of them also felt _________ for the future because of advances in technology, such as in medicine, renewable energy and computing.

Indian youth were the second most_________, with 49 percent taking a positive view of the world’s prospects.

_________, young people in France, Italy and Turkey had the most negative outlook on the future, with fears about extremism and the rise of global terrorism.

“At a time of nationalist and populist (民粹主义的) movements (such as Brexit (脱欧) or US President Donald Trump’s plans to build a wall along the US border) that focus on the _________between people, the evidence shows that young people share a _________ similar view of the world,” Vikas Pota, chief executive of the Varkey Foundation, told The Guardian.

“They are a generation that is deeply _________ about the future of the world,” he added.

As for young people in China, what they __________ most is the impact of climate change — some 82 percent of those who responded to the__________ said so.

Pota said it was __________ that young people in China were aware how serious the problem of climate change is.

“This is surely a hopeful development. The young population of China is more aware than anyone of the seriousness of the climate crisis – and will be__________ for change,” he told South China Morning Post.

The overall survey showed a sense of optimism in the __________ and opinions of the generation that is likely to shape the next few decades, according to Pota.

“They are more likely to travel, to migrate across borders and to forge (建立) friendships in other countries than any __________ generation,” he said. “Global citizenship is not dead. It could just be getting started.”

1.

A．undereducated

B．misunderstood

C．overestimated

D．well-disciplined

2.

A．greater

B．fainter

C．simpler

D．safer

3.

A．enforced

B．operated

C．demonstrated

D．conducted

4.

A．hopeful

B．fearful

C．concerned

D．eager

5.

A．fantastic

B．realistic

C．optimistic

D．enthusiastic

6.

A．As a result

B．Without doubt

C．Beyond that

D．In contrast

7.

A．exchanges

B．agreements

C．differences

D．similarities

8.

A．routinely

B．traditionally

C．surprisingly

D．slightly

9.

A．pessimistic

B．optimistic

C．excited

D．passionate

10.

A．fear

B．suffer

C．consider

D．expect

11.

A．question

B．survey

C．attitude

D．movement

12.

A．amazing

B．encouraging

C．depressing

D．puzzling

13.

A．preparing

B．looking

C．pressing

D．waiting

14.

A．attitudes

B．emotions

C．dreams

D．interests

15.

A．original

B．present

C．next

D．previous

4 . Humans are not the only ones who underwent self-domestication. So did our close relatives, the bonobos, and the species we call our best friend. A tiny proportion of the genome differentiates dogs from wolves, and yet millions of dogs are comfortably curled up in our homes, while wolves move around at the edge of extinction.

When our research group began its work almost 20 years ago, we discovered that dogs also have extraordinary intelligence: they can read our gestures better than any other species. Wolves, in contrast, are mysterious and unpredictable. Their home is the wilderness, and that wilderness is shrinking.

But not so long ago the evolutionary race between dogs and wolves was so close, it was unclear who would win. Dogs, in fact, did not descend from wolves. Instead, dogs and wolves shared a wolflike ancestor.

Folklore supposes that humans brought wolf puppies into camp and domesticated them. Or as wolf expert David Mech wrote in 1974, “Evidently early humans tamed wolves and domesticated them, eventually selectively breeding them and finally developing the domestic dog from them.” But this story has not held up. Taming an animal occurs during its lifetime. Domestication happens over generations and involves changes to the genome.

So how did wolves turn into dogs? Back in the Ice Age, as our human populations grew more sedentary, we probably created more rubbish, which we then dumped outside our camps. These leavings would have included tempting pieces of food for hungry wolves. Not every wolf would have been able to scavenge, however. These animals would have had to be unafraid of humans, and if they displayed any aggression toward us, they would have been killed. After generations of selection for friendliness without intentional selection by humans, this special population of wolves would have begun to take on a different appearance. Coat color, ears, tails: all probably started to change.

Animals that could respond to our gestures and voices would be extremely useful as hunting partners and guards. They would have been valuable as well for their warmth and companionship, and slowly we would have allowed them to move from outside our camps to our firesides. We did not domesticate dogs. The friendliest wolves domesticated themselves.

1. What can be summarized about wolves and dogs from the first three paragraphs?

A．Wolves are smarter than dogs.

B．They are very much racially divided.

C．They are close relatives but dogs seem to be on the winning side.

D．Dogs have made their ways to indoor life while wolves to the wild.

2. What is the meaning of the underlined word “sedentary” in paragraph 5?

A．diverse	B．limited
C．living in the same place	D．involving regular migration

3. What does the author conclude from the history of dogs and wolves?

A．Dogs evolved from wolves.

B．Selective breeding developed domestic dogs.

C．Taming and domesticating an animal are the same thing.

D．Friendliness as a quality translates into an evolutionary strategy.

4. Which of the following is suitable for a title?

A．From Wolf to Dog	B．Dog: Our Favorite Pet
C．An Intentional Domestication	D．A Competition Story between Wolf and Dog

5 . Blind boxes originated in Japan. As the name implies, they are boxes that may contain surprise or ________ The buyer has no idea what the contents will be inside because each series has twelve same ________ packing boxes. Blind box collectors usually spend ________ to get the secret toy. The more they buy, the more they want. It is apparent that this cannot be explained by traditional economics--the marginal benefit is ________--buying an additional unit of product will cause the additional benefit to decrease. However, for consumers of blind boxes, the more they pay, the more they want.

Digging deeper into the issue, you will learn the very marketing of blind boxes is called ________ selling. The possibility to get a secret one is 1/144. Research has shown that blind box is the easiest approach for the shoppers to fall in love and become ________ customers. One of the most popular blind box brands Pop Mart ________ 8.18 billion yuan in sales in the first half of 2020. For shoppers, uncertainty about the box content ________ excitement and surprise combined, a potential neural hit in the brain typically experienced by gamblers and thrill-seekers, thus making consumers have the desire to ________ the purchases. Blind boxes are not exactly a(n) ________, but represent a harmless rush of adrenaline (肾上腺素) for Generation Z, a consumer born in the period from mid-to-late-1990s to early 2010s.

Why are blind boxes so popular among Gen Z? Well, these are consumers raised in a relatively good period characterized by abundant ________, when demand for food and clothing was easily met. ________, the pursuit of consumption that can pack in special excitement and surprise leads them to products like blind boxes.

Blind boxes can be used as a tool to clearly identify target consumers and their needs. Ever since Pop Mart launched its first store in Beijing in 2010, it has been ________ and upgrading the products to figure out and suit the consumers'' tastes.

While trying to stimulate consumption demand with blind boxes, companies should be aware of the hidden risks. They should not hold the surprise tricks as a way to ________ consumers. Consumers may not return for purchases if they feel cheated once. Without ________ products that deliver value, no company can go far. Once the wave of blind boxes subsides, a company without good products may never be able to catch the next wave.

1.

A．disappointment

B．curiosity

C．wonder

D．confusion

2.

A．fabulous

B．external

C．visible

D．plastic

3.

A．wisely

B．pleasantly

C．heavily

D．freely

4.

A．below the average

B．beyond their imagination

C．within their reach

D．on the decline

5.

A．intensive

B．panic

C．competitive

D．probabilistic

6.

A．regular

B．original

C．casual

D．satisfied

7.

A．chased

B．generated

C．expected

D．reinvested

8.

A．demonstrates

B．releases

C．equals

D．expresses

9.

A．encourage

B．confirm

C．transfer

D．repeat

10.

A．trend

B．amusement

C．addiction

D．trouble

11.

A．devices

B．supplies

C．opportunities

D．choices

12.

A．As a result

B．By contrast

C．In other words

D．On one hand

13.

A．exploring

B．utilizing

C．maintaining

D．transporting

14.

A．entertain

B．fool

C．safeguard

D．charge

15.

A．fashionable

B．solid

C．profitable

D．native

6 . Directions: After reading the passages below, fill in the blanks to make the passages 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.

Oscar Envelope

The shining Oscar statue is a celebrated symbol of the Academy Awards,but there is another symbol on the Oscars scene.

    1    (weigh) a quarter of a pound and seen by millions of viewers around the world, it’s the Oscar envelope. It bears, after all, the Oscar winner’s name. The golden envelope was initially developed as a safeguard     2     leaks to the media of the winners’ name. Yet the envelope holds some secrets of its own.

While 24 envelopes appear on the Academy Award telecast----one for the winner of each category, three sets are produced, totaling 72 envelopes. That’s because the two extra sets are emergency backups,     3         4     the first set gets delayed in its delivery.

The production team also construct 363 heavyweight cream color winner cards     5    (print) with all the nominees’ names. Yet the stuffing of the envelopes takes place outside of the studio, in a top-secret process     6    protects the Academy’s picks of the year until the formal presentation.

Although 72 envelopes are made,only one third of them     7     （make) it to the Oscar stage. The winner of each category takes home both a golden statue and the winning envelope, but the extra sets of envelopes    8     (destroy) .

＂The elimination is to prevent leftovers from appearing on some online stores or markets and    9    (preserve) the honor of the winners,"Mare Friedland, designer of the Oscars envelope said. "The value of each envelope as a souvenir is priceless. Hopefully a winner looking back at the envelope will recall that moment in time when     10     was watching, and the hosts announced in that particular second     11     the Oscar winner was.”

7 . Directions: After reading the passages below, fill in the blanks to make the passages 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

A birthday is a time when someone celebrates the anniversary of his/her birth. It is the expression of thanking God for your birth and still keeping alive. Birthdays     1     (celebrate)often with parties and gifts and in most parts of the world, it is celebrated in the same ways. But in China, it is completely     2     different and interesting thing.

In Chinese culture, newborn babies are considered to be one year old. A Chinese child’s first birthday party takes place    3     he or she turns two. Parents may surround a child with symbolic items in an attempt     4     (predict) the future.     5     a baby reaches for money, he is believed to be rich as an adult. And a child who grabs a toy airplane may often travel when he/she grows up.

More and more Western-style birthday cakes     6     (make) their way into Chinese birthday celebrations, but the birthday girl or boy traditionally slurps(出声地吃) longevity noodles, which symbolize a long life. An unbroken longevity noodle should fill an entire bowl and    7     (eat) in one continuous line. Family members and close friends    8     cannot attend the party often eat long noodles in honor of the birthday     9     (bring) longevity to the person celebrating. A birthday banquet     10     also include hard-boiled eggs dyed(染色)red to symbolize happiness and dumplings for good fortune.

8 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct.
Hi, everyone.

Traditionally,     1     the year winds down, it’s a time for reflections—to give thanks, reconnect with loved ones, and cherish the more meaningful parts of life, removed from our usual day-to-day distractions.

Of course, the events of 2020 haven’t shown a lot of respect for our traditions. In a year of so much tragedy, it can be tough to give thanks when you’re doing your best to get by. And far too many of us will have to gather around a table with an empty chair, if we were able to gather together at all.

One thing, though, we can say about 2020 is that it forced us all to cherish what is most important, what’s most meaningful in our lives. To stop taking things for granted,     2     truly matters. To be grateful for what we have, and to be alive to the pain of those     3     (fortunate).

Throughout this challenging year, I’ve been moved, again and again, by the sacrifices so many were willing to make on behalf of others. The healthcare professionals who risked their lives to save ours. The workers who have kept our lights on and our shelves stocked, always essential to our economy, but finally     4     (recognize) for it. The protesters of every race and age who saw injustice in their streets and their institutions and demanded change. And the less heralded leaders, the quiet change-makers who saw need in their own communities and leapt to address it. They checked in on their neighbors, delivered food and PPE to seniors and those experiencing hardship, offered mental health support to those     5    (recover) from trauma.     6     holes this pandemic tore wide in our social fabric, these emerging leaders stepped forward to patch it up.

These are exactly the leaders Michelle and I started our Foundation to support. We always thought they     7     (lead) us into a bright future, if only we     8     empower them, connect them with each other, and give them a dose of inspiration when they needed it.

What we learned in 2020 is that these emerging leaders aren’t just building a brighter future, they’re safeguarding our present. In hard times, they are the ones who’ve given me solace. It’s     9     sacrifice in which I found hope. And as we begin to close the chapter on a difficult year with encouraging news on the horizon, it’s their leadership     10     will guide us today and tomorrow.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everybody.

—Quoted from Barack Obama’s Christmas speech in 2020

9 . Shining just 12 light-years from Earth, the star Tau Ceti so resembles the sun that it has appeared in numerous science- fiction stories and was the first star astronomers ever searched for signs of intelligent life, half a century ago. In 2012 Tau Ceti grew still more interesting when astronomers reported five possible planets somewhat larger than Earth circling closer to the star than Mars orbits (围绕……运动) the sun—one of which is in the star’s habitable zone. Newly released images taken by the Herschel Space Observatory provide even more insight about Tau Ceti’s solar system: greater detail about its dust belt.

Dust arises when asteroids and comets (小行星和彗星) crash into one another, so its location reveals where these dust- creating objects—which are too small to be seen directly—orbit a star. In Tau Ceti’s case, “it’s quite a wide dust belt,” says Samantha Lawler of the University of Victoria in British Columbia. As her team reported in November, the belt’s inner edge is roughly two to three astronomical units (AUs) from the star, which is the position of our own sun’s asteroid belt. (An AU is the distance from Earth to the sun.) Tau Ceti’s dust belt extends out to 55 AU, which would be just beyond our system’s main Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, the zone of small bodies whose largest member is probably Pluto. Presumably full of asteroids and comets, Tau Ceti’s dust belt most likely lacks a planet as large as Jupiter, Lawler says. The gravity of such a massive planet would have driven away most small space rocks.

Within a year a new series of radio telescopes in Chile called ALMA should provide a sharper view of the disk, especially of its inner edge. The ALMA images will help astronomers confirm whether the star’s five proposed planets are indeed real. If the disk overlaps the planets’ hypothesized (假设的) orbits, then they probably do not exist; they would have kept away most asteroids near the star, removing the source of dust.

If those planets do exist, however, Lawler’s team suggests that Tau Ceti’s planetary system may resemble what our solar system would have looked like had the four giant planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune- never formed: small planets orbiting close to the star, and nothing but asteroids, comets and dust beyond.

1. According to astronomers, the five possible planets of Tau Ceti________.

A．resembled Earth in size

B．functioned like a solar system

C．were located in Tau Ceti’s habitable zone

D．were nearer to Tau Ceti than Mars to the sun

2. Which of the following is true of Tau Ceti’s dust belt?

A．It is narrower than the asteroid belt in our system.

B．The bodies inside it are all smaller than Jupiter.

C．The gravity of Tau Ceti makes it get denser.

D．It is over 55 astronomical units in width.

3. According to the passage, the five planets are most likely to exist if________.

A．they don’t move into the dust belt while orbiting Tau Ceti

B．they have kept away most asteroids and comets

C．they don’t crash into any asteroid or comet

D．they can be seen clearly by ALMA

4. It can be inferred from the passage that Tau Ceti’s dust belt________.

A．is useful because it stops asteroids or comets crashing into the star

B．makes Tau Ceti different from the sun because it extends farther

C．is interesting because it keeps other planets away from Tau Ceti

D．plays a role in helping decide whether the five planets are real

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.

Alcohol is physically bad for you in any quantity; and the more you drink, the worse its health effects. The gigantic report on the subject     1    (publish) last week is authoritative. It makes depressing reading-“sobering”(清醒) would be the wrong word here, not least     2    few people are likely to change their behaviour as a result. But it is difficult to argue with the conclusions. The report was based on enormous amounts of data: 28 million people around the world were examined in 592 studies to estimate the health risks while the popularity of drinking was estimated using a further 694 studies. Some of the effects of large-scale drinking are really shocking. Around the world today, alcohol is responsible for 20% of the deaths in the 15 to 49 age group.

The variety of ways in which alcohol can kill or damage people comes as a shock. In the poorest countries, its primary means of damage is through TB(结核).     3     countries grow more developed, the damage shifts to cancer and heart disease. It is the trade-off between cancer and heart disease     4     leads the researchers to reject the notion that moderate drinking has health benefits they find that the increased risk of cancers outweighs the diminished risk of heart disease among middle aged moderate drinkers.

Perhaps     5    (surprising) single finding is that two-thirds of the world’s population don’t drink at all. They manage without a drug apparently essential to civilised life in the west. The question is     6     those of us in the other third should try to imitate them. The researchers are unequivocal (明确的). They want concerted (协力一致的) government action     7     (deliver) lower alcohol consumption, using many of the same mechanisms that     8    (implement) successfully against tobacco: price rises, restrictions on advertising,     9     (limit) the availability of the drug. The report is right that many people     10     drink less than they do. Perhaps the real benefit of moderate drinking is not that it protects the heart but that it requires a little self-discipline.