1 . At the top of a hill called Mount Lee in Los Angeles on the west coast of the USA is a very famous sign, recognizable to people around the world. My job is to look after this sign.     1     The first film was made there in 1907 and by 1912, at least 15 independent studios could be found making films around town.

In the 1940s, TV started to become popular and some Hollywood film studios closed, but then TV companies moved in and took them over. Modern Hollywood was born.     2     If one of them ever fell down I would have to put it back up at exactly the same angle. They follow the shape of Mount Lee and this is part of their fame.

I am responsible for maintaining and protecting the sign.     3     When I first arrived in 1989, security was pretty low-tech-we put up a fence around the sign to stop people messing with it. But people just jumped over the fence. The back of the sign was black with graffiti(涂鸦)there was wire across it, but they still got through. So I decided to improve the effectiveness of the security.

Now we have motion-detectors and cameras. Everything goes via the internet to a dedicated surveillance(监控)team watching various structures around the city. Even so, people still try to climb over the barrier, mostly innocent tourists surprised that you can’t walk right up to the sign. But they can get a closer look on one of my regular tours.

    4     They want to light the sign, paint it pink, or cover it in something to promote their product. You’ll get a really enthusiastic marketing executive call up, terribly excited because they think they’re the first person to think of this or that idea. They mostly get turned down. That’s because we don’t like to change the image and we hope it will have the same significance for generations to come.

A．The letters in the sign weren’t straight and still aren’t.

B．I have been working there for nearly 30 years.

C．People call up with the most ridiculous ideas.

D．It says Hollywood and that’s of course the place where films have been made for over a hundred years.

E．We used to have real problems.

F．Payment must be made for those ideas for commercial purposes.

2 . You’re running late for work and you can’t find your keys: What’s really annoying is that in your search, you pick up and move them without realizing. This may be because the brain systems involved in the task are working at different speeds, with the system responsible for perception(感知)unable to keep pace.

So says Grayden Solman and his colleagues at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. To investigate how we search, Solman’s team created a simple computer-based task that involved searching through a pile of colored shapes on a computer screen. Volunteers were instructed to find a specific shapes as quickly as possible, while the computer monitored their actions.“Between 10 and 20 percent of the time, they would miss the object,”says Solman, even though they picked it up.“We thought that was remarkably often.”

To find out why, the team developed a number of further experiments. To check whether volunteers were just forgetting their target, they gave a new group a list of items to memorize before the search task, which they had to recall afterwards.

The idea was to fill each volunteer’s“memory load”，so that they were unable to hold any other information in their short-term memory. Although this was expected to have a negative effect on their performance at the search task, the extra load made no difference to the percentage of mistakes volunteers made.

To check that the volunteers were paying enough attention to the items they were moving, Solman’s team created another task involving a pile of cards marked with shapes that only became visible while the card was being moved. Again, they were surprised to see the same level of error, says Solman. Finally, the team analyzed participants’ mouse movements as they were carrying out a similar search task. They discovered that volunteers’ movements were slower after they had moved and missed their target.

Solman’s team propose that the system in the brain that deals with movement is running too quickly for the visual system to keep up. While you are searching around a messy house to find your keys, you might not be giving your visual system enough time to work out what each object is. Since time can be costly, sacrificing accuracy on occasion for speed might be beneficial overall, Solman thinks.

The slowing of mouse movements suggests that at some level the volunteers were aware that they had missed their target, a theory that is backed up by other studies that show people tend to slow down their actions after they have made a mistake, even if they don’t consciously realize the mistake.

1. What conclusion has Solman drawn from the first task?

A．More volunteers are needed to confirm the findings.

B．It happens very often that people miss what they intend to find.

C．Computers make negative effects on how people perform at the task.

D．Targets tend to be forgotten after people search for 10 minutes or more.

2. What can be inferred from the third task that Solman’s team created?

A．Cards marked with shapes may become a source of distraction.

B．Fewer errors will be made if people are forbidden to move cards.

C．People may be absent-minded even when they are moving something.

D．Volunteers prefer to use a mouse to control the objects on the computer screen.

3. What does“a theory”(in the last paragraph)refers to?

A．Mistakes will cause people to reduce the speed.

B．Our visual system can’t keep up with the brain system.

C．The faster people move, the more mistakes they will make.

D．People’s actions are independent of the mistakes they make.

4. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Better memory, worse search

B．Accuracy speaks louder than speed

C．Hurry up, or you will make mistakes

D．Slow down your search to find your keys

3 . A hundred years ago, the largest city in the world was London, with a population of 6.5 million. Today it is beaten by Tokyo. With barely a quarter the population of London a century ago, the Tokyo metropolitan area has since ______ to 34 million, promoting it to first place in the global city league table. Tokyo’s phenomenal growth is largely due to a single factor: migration from the countryside to the city.

This ______ migration can now be seen in scores of cities around the globe. And it has brought us to a crucial moment in human history. In 1990, most people lived in the countryside, with a little over 10 percent of the world’s population living in ______. From next year, the UN Population Division predicts that for the first time in history, more people will live in cities than in the country, and the biggest growth will be in “mega-cities,” with populations over 10 million.

The ______ of mega-cities - there are now 20 in total - has brought with it huge environmental and social problems. Cities occupy just two percent of the land surface of the Earth but consume three-quarters of the resources that are used up each year. Their residents are making ruinous ______ on soils and water supplies for food and on forests for wood and paper.

______ the world’s population to the countryside isn’t an option. Dividing up the planet into plots of land on which we could all survive self-sufficiently would create its own natural disasters, not to mention being highly unlikely to ever ______. If we are to protect what is left of nature, and meet the demand to improve the quality of living for the world’s developing nations, a new form of city living is the only option. ______, governments, planners, architects, and engineers are beginning to wake up to this idea, and are dreaming up new ways to green the mega-cities. Their approaches ______ two main principles: recycle whatever possible and remove as many cars as possible. So as well as developing energy-efficient buildings, emphasis is being placed on increasing the use of ______ and redesigning how cities are organized to integrate work and living areas into a single neighborhood, rather than ______ cities into residential, commercial, and industrial zones.

Planners and architects now agree that to improve the social and environmental condition of cities the top ______ is to cut car use. They say zero-emission cars running on electricity or burning hydrogen are not ______. What is needed is a wholesale rethink of how new cities are laid out — and how existing ones expand — to ______ the need for cars in the first place. One way of achieving this is to build cities with multiple centers where people live ______ their work in high-rise blocks that are also near public transport hubs. In parts of the world this is already taking place.

1.

A．added

B．mushroomed

C．responded

D．adapted

2.

A．out-of-date

B．rural-to-urban

C．close-to-bottom

D．on-the-site

3.

A．cities

B．migration

C．poverty

D．communities

4.

A．increase

B．advantage

C．management

D．distribution

5.

A．criticism

B．comments

C．demands

D．impressions

6.

A．Promoting

B．Relating

C．Returning

D．Introducing

7.

A．disappear

B．decrease

C．exist

D．occur

8.

A．Generally

B．Naturally

C．Previously

D．Fortunately

9.

A．rely on

B．set aside

C．result in

D．look into

10.

A．self-driving cars

B．public transport

C．green buildings

D．eco-friendly packaging

11.

A．changing

B．arranging

C．separating

D．forcing

12.

A．concern

B．secret

C．reform

D．priority

13.

A．enough

B．possible

C．common

D．scarce

14.

A．emphasize

B．minimize

C．neglect

D．consider

15.

A．eagerly for

B．far from

C．close to

D．ignorantly of

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

A. associated       B. dominant        C. frequent        D. implications       E. inferiority F. interpreted       G. physically       H. predicted       I. potentially        J. seconds       K. vitality

Most people do not realize that dreams take up about 25% of the night’s sleep, and each dream period lasts from five to 20 minutes. These is no doubt that dreams play an important role in our lives. If they can be correctly     1     — and that is a big “if” — we can come to understand ourselves better. Here, we look at three common dreams and what they     2     symbolize.

Dream 1: I can see their laughing faces. laughing at me. But they aren’t as smart. If they were, they’d be up here flying with me!

This dream has both positive and negative     3     . On the positive side, the dream may express a strong desire to travel and get away from everyday routine. It may also symbolize a powerful desire to achieve. On the other hand, this dream can mean the person has a problem or is afraid of something and they wish to escape. The dream could represent a(n)     4     complex, which the dreamer attempts to escape from by literally and     5     putting themselves up above others.

Dream 2: I’m moving fast now, but it’s still behind me. Doesn’t matter how fast I go, I still can’t escape.

Although this is a traditional symbol of health and     6     like the first one, it too can suggest the dreamer is trying to escape from danger. Usually, fear is the     7     emotion. By running hard, the dreamer can possibly escape the threat. However, they can also stop moving. This makes the fear even more terrifying. One possible interpretation suggests that the person is under pressure in their everyday life.

Dream 3: I’m sweating and my heart is beating. I’m trapped, trapped in my own bed.

This symbol is     8     with fear and embarrassment: suddenly the dreamer loses all power of movement. They try hard to move their arms and legs, but they simply cannot. Frozen in a terrifying situation with no escape, they become more and more terrified as the     9     go by. Another     10     context for this dream is failing to do something in public, often something that you are normally very good at, such as your job. Not only is this extremely embarrassing, but it also shows a deep-seated fear of losing a job and a livelihood.

5 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main points of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

You still need a better reason to plant a tree?

Police aren’t cheap and neither are lawyers, judges, and all the other layers that make up the justice system. But trees and some grass, in comparison, are a real bargain, and they prove to be effective in lighting crimes.

Many cities used to launch programs to plant vegetation along roadways to help absorb rainwater. After tracking 14 types of crime in nearby areas, Michelle Kondo, a social scientist found that a variety of crimes including property crimes such as theft and burglary, and violent crimes such as armed fights and mayhem in those areas decreased to 27 percent, a stunning 18 percent fall. Kondo believed the appearance of city trucks and vans in the landscaped areas— for planting and maintenance— was enough to scare away potential criminals.

Kondo’s study also worked on the link between grassland care and decrease of the crime in downtown areas. It’s tempting to use income as the connection. After all, if you have the crime and money to water your lawn, you probably live in a neighborhood that sees less crime. But actually, people are less likely to hang in those areas where the streets are maintained or cleaned. “You will see less kids hanging on the corners.’’ Kondo said. He argued that caution of the local people implied by the organized greenery helped to frighten away ill-intentioned guys, by announcing to would-be criminals that there are “eyes on the street’’ that care for their neighborhood and would be more likely to report a crime.

We already know greenery is beautiful to look at and can help improve mood and health while reducing pollution. Now we can add crime-fighting to the list of vegetation’s many benefits. Therefore, are you ready to plant a tree?

6 . You may be familiar with the statistic that 90% of the world’s data were created in the last few years. The biggest setback with such a rate of information increase is that the present moment will always emerge far larger than the past. Short-sightedness is built into the structure, in the form of an overwhelming tendency to over-estimate near-term messages at the expense of history.

To understand why this matters, consider the findings from social science about ‘recency bias (倾向)’, which describes the tendency to assume that future events will closely resemble recent experience. People tend to base thinking disproportionately on whatever comes most easily to mind.

It’s also worth remembering that novelty tends to be a dominant consideration when deciding what data to keep or delete. Out with the old and in with the new. That’s the digital trend in a world where search algorithms (算法) are systematically biased towards freshness. They are designed in line with human preference. Such a bias towards the present is structurally rooted in the human weakness that we keep deserting things we once cherished simply because we grow tired of them.

What’s really needed is something thought of as “intelligent forgetting”: learning to let go of the immediate past in order to keep its larger continuities in view. It’s an act similar to organising a photograph album— although with more maths. When are two million photographs less valuable than two thousand?

Many data sets are irreducible and most precious when complete: gene sequences; demographic (人口的) data; the raw, hard knowledge of geography and physics. The softer the science, however, the more that scale is likely to be reversely connected with quality. In these cases, time itself is rather important as a touch stone to judge the value of data. Either we choose carefully what endures, matters and meaningfully captures our past— or its toot print is silently replaced by the present’s growing noise. Mere gathering is no cure-all answer. In an era of bigger and bigger data, the leading warning for those who have to make decisions is that what you choose not to know matters just as much as what you do.

1. What is the major problem with the explosion of recent information?

A．Trends are too quickly produced.

B．People have poor eyesight alter viewing too much information.

C．Present information is given too much emphasis.

D．Prediction for future development largely depends on the past information.

2. What causes widespread preference for newness?

A．That algorithms requires the latest to make accurate prediction.

B．That humans are accustomed to losing interest in old things.

C．That short renewed period is the feature of modern data.

D．That search algorithms keep uncovering the value of the newness.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Recent past experience is rarely used to provide reference for future events.

B．The quality of geographic knowledge depends on photo sorting rather than full data.

C．Intelligent forgetting refers to replacing the immediate past with far-back data.

D．Time helps us to evaluate data when the quality isn’t in line with quality.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The side effect of digital innovation.

B．The values of complete data in softer subjects.

C．The data discrimination caused by algorithms.

D．The faulty preference for fresh data and ways out.

7 . These summer festivals in New Orleans are few of the hottest happenings the City has to offer for holiday seekers.

Oyster Festival

There’s an old saying that it’s only safe to eat oysters in months ending in ‘R’, which was good advice in the age before refrigeration became a fashion. And that’s exactly why originally the New Orleans Oyster Festival was held in June, to break up the myth as locals never bothered to preserve the creatures with their habit of directly eating the seafood, fresh from the sea. Today, featuring oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico, Oyster Fest is a celebration of the world’s favorite food. If you’ve ever wanted to enjoy the legendary oysters at Drago’s where the recipe originated or take a bite out of an oyster the size of a hamburger. Oyster Fest is for you.

When to Co: June 3-4

Essence Festival

New Orleans holds a special place in African-American life and history so it should be no surprise the city hosts a festival celebrating African-American music and culture in the United States. With free admission, Essence Festival, organized by the African-American women’s magazine of the same name, is a combination of tour days of dynamic speeches and a showcase of African-American artists.

When to Co: June 29-July 2

Cajun-Zydeco Festival

Southern Louisiana is home to a variety of rich, unique cultures, and on a weekend in June in New Orleans, one of them— Cajun— is on lull display. The heart of Cajun country is in south-central Louisiana, a strong showcase of Cajun culture, for which the Cajun-Zydeco Festival emerged. On the particular weekend, you get ready to chew down on traditional food like Cajun gumbo at eateries, buy Cajun crafts, and purchase a Cajun T-shirt.

When to Co: June 24-25

Running of the Bulls

Due to its history, the Spanish influence still shows itself in New Orleans. The architectural style of the French Quarter is actually from Spain, and New Orleans’s annual Running of the Bulls is, in part, a nod to the city’s Spanish heritage. Unlike the Spanish festival in Pamplona, the “bulls” in the Fest are not actual bulls but the women of the Big Roller derby team. However they do chase down white-and=red-clothed festival-goers, if infuriated. Therefore behave yourself or be prepared to run tor life.

When to Co: JuIy7-9

1. Why was New Orleans Oyster Festival held in June in the first place?

A．Because refrigerator could be used to store oysters.

B．Because it was not easy for oysters to go bad in summer.

C．Because oysters could be cooked in various ways to extend storage period.

D．Because New Orleans oysters were usually seized raw.

2. The underlined word “infuriated” is closest in meaning to ______.

A．exhibited	B．color-blinded
C．angered	D．cheated

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Oyster Festival nowadays is designed for people seeking the history of oyster harvest.

B．Essence Festival celebrates the freedom of African-American women.

C．Cajun-Zydeco Festival is mainly celebrated through dining and shopping.

D．New Orleans has been stripped of Spanish influence.

4. In which magazine does the passage most probably appear?

A．Vacation Guide.	B．Genuine Recipe.
C．Architecture Vision.	D．Music Billboard.

8 . Most of us have no difficulty recognizing luck when it’s on apparent display, as when someone wins the lottery. But _________ often plays out in delicate ways and it’s easy to construct narratives that portray success as out of everything but luck. These misleading stories have surprising implications for human mindset, downplaying the power of chances.

Consider the history of the Mona Lisa. After having staved in the _________ for most of its early existence, the painting was pushed into the spotlight in 1911 when it was stolen from Louvre. The famous theft remained _________ for two years until a maintenance worker was arrested after trying to sell the painting. His arrest caused a second wave of _________, with the painting on everyone’s lips. As in the art world, it is so too in the world of work. Almost every career path consists of a sequence of steps, each of which depends on former ones. Inevitably, some of those _________ steps can be influenced by chance factors, which, as a result, are sure to affect the following process. So it is reasonable to conclude that _________ all successful careers involve at least a certain degree of luck.

One’s date of birth _________, for example. According to a study, most children born in the summer tend to be among the youngest members of their class, which explains why they are less likely to hold _________ positions during high school and thus, less likely to land good jobs later in life.

To acknowledge the power of chance events is not to suggest that success is independent of _________. Charlie Munger has said. “The safest way to get what you want is to __________ what you want.”

Of course, luck counts too. Being born in a good education system is a kind of luck we can control— that is, at least we can decide how lucky our children will be. But in America, we’ve been doing a bad job as the budget for education has __________. The human tendency to __________ luck’s role has caused this troubling state by unwillingness to invest in education, the strong system of which can produce __________ for the next generation.

Luckily, there is a solution. Guiding people to __________ their good fortune tends to make them more willing to contribute to the __________, according to a study. So try to engage your successful friends in reviews about their experiences with luck. In the process, the next generation’s odds of success may well increase and meanwhile, all the social members are more likely to enjoy the improved public service.

1.

A．randomness

B．potential

C．masterpiece

D．success

2.

A．emergency-

B．maintenance

C．review

D．shade

3.

A．accidental

B．unsolved

C．official

D．objective

4.

A．protest

B．suspicion

C．publicity

D．investigation

5.

A．previous

B．negative

C．realistic

D．entire

6.

A．virtually

B．sustainably

C．adequately

D．negatively

7.

A．occurs

B．contracts

C．matters

D．approaches

8.

A．accessible

B．original

C．superior

D．secure

9.

A．effort

B．logic

C．relationship

D．investment

10.

A．deserve

B．evaluate

C．modify

D．exploit

11.

A．shone

B．shrunk

C．ballooned

D．flown

12.

A．preserve

B．popularize

C．underestimate

D．revolutionize

13.

A．challenge

B．luck

C．motivation

D．experience

14.

A．reflect on

B．save on

C．adjust to

D．live on

15.

A．mutual understanding

B．mental fitness

C．family value

D．common good

9 . A line of men tugged on ropes and dropped from the ship into the sea, with a group of Saibs prepared to pull them later from the sea bottom. Nasser, one of the divers, climbed over the railing of the ship and his Saib emptied his basket full of shells onto the deck.

“Get me something to fill my stomach with, boy.” I knew he was teasing as he is my father’s good friend.

“But I’m no longer an errand boy. I’m a diver, like my father was.”

“Your father was bald and deaf, like the rest of us,” Nasser laughed.

The salty Arabian Gulf produced the finest pearls in the world while the salty water also made divers lose their hair. Let alone the high pressure which cost them their hearing. I had shaved my head, in which way I felt more like a real diver. Of course, there’s no need for me to worry about the hair problem.

“I’ve dived the shallow seas before, and I can hold my breath fora whole minute.”

“Just pull your rope before you feel breathless.” He then disappeared into the water again.

I tied a heavy stone to my foot with a rope. Taking one more deep breath. I plugged my nose and jumped. With the stone finally hitting the seabed with a thump. I freed my foot from the rope. I scratched at the rocky ridge (脊), when three oysters dropped into my hands. I even didn’t have enough time to feel surprised at how easy the job was before I felt breathless.

Out of honor, I dragged the rope. Knowing that, tar above, the Saib’s strong arms strained to pull me toward the surface. I reminded myself to endure for a little more time. Just when I thought my lungs would burst, my cars popped and there was light.

Nasser burst through the water. He removed his nose plug and grinned at me looking at the three pitiful shells on the deck. “Not bad for an errand boy.” Seeing me upset with my head down, he patted me “It’s your first for such a depth. You did better than all of us.” Cheering up, I wrapped the empty basket around my neck and raised my chin, “I’m a pearl diver.”

1. According to Nasser, what did an errand boy usually do?

A．Pull divers from the sea.	B．Empty baskets for divers.
C．Serve snacks for divers.	D．Dive for shells.

2. Why did the author have his hair cut?

A．Because he tried to avoid losing hair.

B．Because all divers had shaved hair.

C．Because high pressure made him bald.

D．Because he wanted to look professional.

3. Why did the author get little harvest?

A．Because there were not many pearls in the area.

B．Because he still lacked experience in the job.

C．Because the Saib pulled him up too early without permission.

D．Because the rocky ridge was too rough.

10 . 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