1 . Aaron Carter isn’t like other 12-year-olds. He doesn’t go to school, and he’s already got a job. He is a big pop star. A few years ago he started his singing with Crazy Little Party Girl, which became a hit at once. Now he goes around the world and his songs are in the tops.

Because he’s traveling around all the time Aaron doesn’t have to go to school, but don’t envy him too much — he still has to do lessons and homework. And he is good at learning.

“I have to fit my schoolwork around my singing,” he explains. “But I’m lucky because I have a private tutor who travels with me. I sometimes have to have lessons on a plane. That’s really interesting!”

Aaron’s favorite subject is math but he hates history. He knows clearly that having a good singing career doesn’t mean he can go without schoolwork.

“It would be easy to think that I don’t need to do well in exams, but that would be crazy,” he says. “It’s important to get my qualifications (资格) so that I have something to fall back on. Besides, it’s interesting to learn about other people and cultures.”

Aaron’s favorite type of music is rock ‘n’ roll. “The best thing about being a singer” he says, “is that you get to travel all around the world. But the worst thing is that you’re away from home so much that you don’t get to see your friends or family.”

1. According to the passage, we learn that Aaron Carter is________.

A．a composer

B．a successful singer

C．a history lover

D．a young businessman

2. Which of the following statements is True?

A．Aaron Carter doesn’t go to school because he likes singing better.

B．Aaron Carter has his own teacher.

C．Aaron likes math as well as history.

D．Aaron Carter likes traveling all around the world and dislikes seeing friends and family.

3. The underlined phrase “fall back on” in the fifth paragraph has the similar meaning as________.

A．check in

B．return to

C．depend on

D．decide on

2 . Yu Pengnian is an 88-year-old real estate Chinese businessman. He amassed a fortune of $1.3 billion dollars during his career but instead of keeping the money and living like an emperor, he decided to give it all away. All of his fortune will be spent on helping poor Chinese students get a better education.

And Yu isn’t the only super-rich person in China who has this spirit of giving. Chen Guangbiao, a Jiangsu recycling tycoon, has given millions of dollars to charity and promises to give all of his money to charity when he dies.

Yu and Chen are among the many businessmen who have become prosperous during China’s economic rise. An American business magazine, Forbes, estimates that there are 117 billionaires in China and hundreds of thousands of millionaires. What sets Yu and Chen apart from the rest, though, is their tremendous generosity when it comes to donating money to charity.

Last week Bill Gates and Warren Buffett came to Beijing. Gates and Buffett, two of the world’s richest men, are also the world’s biggest philanthropists. They invited fifty of China’s richest people to have dinner with them and talk about the spirit of giving. At first, only a few people accepted their invitation. It seemed some of the invited guests were afraid that Buffett and Gates were going to pressure them into giving their wealth to charity.

A lot of people are angry at the billionaires who are not willing to give away their fortunes. They criticize them for being miserly and not caring about the poor and the less fortunate. But I think this criticism is wrong. A gift, any gift, should come from the heart. Instead of criticism, these reluctant billionaires should be encouraged to follow the examples of Yu Pengnian and Chen Guangbiao. Encouragement is always a better strategy than criticism. As we say in English, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

1. He amassed a fortune of $1.3 billion dollars during his career… The word “amassed” means________.

A．stimulated

B．contemplated

C．immigrated

D．accumulated

2. Yu Pengnian will spend all of his fortune in ________

A．helping poor Chinese students get a better education

B．helping the students in earthquake-stricken area

C．helping his off-springs lead a rich life in the future

D．achieve his aim of living like an emperor

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Yu Pengnian is the only super-rich person in China who has the spirit of giving.

B．Chen Guangbiao is a real estate Chinese businessman.

C．Yu and Chen become wealthy during the rise of China’s economy.

D．When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett invited fifty of China’s richest people to have dinner with them, they all felt honored and accepted their invitation at once.

4. What sets Yu and Chen apart from other rich people in China?

A．When it comes to charity work, they are very generous.

B．They had dinner with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, talking about the spirit of giving.

C．They are pressured into giving their fortune to charity.

D．They are both businessmen.

5. According to passage, why does the author end the passage with the English saying “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”?

A．The author wants to tell us that flies prefer honey to vinegar.

B．The author wants to prove that encouragement is always a better strategy than criticism when it comes to charity.

C．The English saying expresses the main theme of the passage.

D．The author wants to criticize those billionaires who are not willing to give away their fortunes for being miserly and not caring about the poor and the less fortunate.

3 . There is no such thing as a perfect woman, and Nothing but Thirty screenwriter Zhang Yingji wanted to convey this message in telling the stories of three different women, who have found very different ways to climb their own mountains.

Wang Manni is a woman who will climb any mountain as long as she finds it challenging. Zhong Xiaoqin is one who will only climb if she has someone to go along with her. She will not overexert herself, and she will definitely stop once she has reached a comfortable place. Gu Jia, on the other hand, has already started to think about reaching the peak before she even starts the climb, regardless of whether she is alone or has company.

In a sense, the scriptwriter purposely created Gu Jia as the perfect woman of thirty. She is married, with a successful husband and a young son. She is living the dream, but Gu Jia does not feel complete. She feels lost. She is flawed. She has episodes of succumbing to her own greed and disregard to those around her.

“She is someone who chases alter perfection.” said Tong Yao (who portrays Gu Jia). “Obviously, this is stressful for those around her. She hides things. She isn’t perfect, but in front of others, she has to stay perfect.”

Her chase for perfection and her stubbornness to maintain this image has effected many of the relationships in her life. She chases after what she believes is right for others. Because of this, she and her husband start to see and value things differently, which puts a strain on their relationship.

Gu Jia’s personal struggles give life to the character. Many viewers are able to relate to her, and, through her character, find a shadow of themselves. There’s still a lot left that we can learn from the women of Nothing but Thirty, but maybe like them, we too can find the courage in ourselves to walk on that road which is truly meant for us.

1. According to the article, which of the following best describes Zhong Xiaoqin’s personality?

A．Ambitious and goal-driven	B．Moderate and content
C．Aimless and impulsive	D．Visionary and independent

2. According to Paragraph 3, what is not true about Gu Jia’s life?

A．She has her own worries and insecurities.

B．She leads a seemingly perfect and enviable life.

C．She can be greedy and insensitive to others’ feelings.

D．She is discontented with life because of her husband.

3. According to the passage, audiences have a preference for Gu Jia mainly because she ________.

A．is a perfectionist	B．stands up to her husband
C．balances her work and life well	D．displays some identifiable traits

4. What is the main purpose of this passage?

A．To call attention to the rise of feminism.

B．To introduce the plot of Nothing but Thirty.

C．To contrast the main characters of Nothing but Thirty.

D．To encourage viewers to find inspiration in Nothing but Thirty.

4 . Switzerland is surrounded by three of Europe’s major—and most populous—countries: France, Germany and Italy. For thousands of years, the region has been a busy trade ________, both from east to west as well as from north, to south. Today, Switzerland is an indispensable part of the European transport network and ________ a superb motorway and railway infrastructure. Five international airports in Zurich, Geneva. Basel. Bern and Lugano offer direct ________ to destinations around the world.

Switzerland is a popular place to do business, a center of education and a favorite travel destination. At the heart of this success story lies a stable political system. The county has not gone through any major political changes since the foundation of the federal state inn 1848. This has created space for economic, social and artistic development. Federalism, the successful integration of different cultures, and the mechanisms of direct democracy are all means to increase the ________ of its citizens and residents. This process of forming unity out of ________ has often been seen as exemplary. And, of course, the country is small and ________, which also contributes to the high quality of life in Switzerland.

Political stability is also ________ in an economic system that manages to balance a free market economy with social responsibility.________ are very rare in Switzerland.________ its deeply rooted work ethic and high educational standards, this social harmony represents one of Switzerland’s key advantages as a place to do business and has made a major contribution to its economic development.

Stability, a well-developed sense of service and discretion, and a strong currency have turned Switzerland into a leading financial center. From a historical ________, the fact that the county was not involved in the two world wars has contributed to this development. It is a country with ________ natural resources, so the strength of its import industry has also played a significant part. Not being a member of the EU. Switzerland is also not part of the so-called Eurozone. For this reason, the use of the euro in everyday life is limited to Switzerland’s border and tourist regions.

In terms of income, assets and per capita gross national product. Switzerland ranks among the top in the world.

The ________ excellent standard of living is also based on the high level of education and corresponding work ethic.________, people work 42 hours per week. Taxes are comparatively low, both for business and for businesses and for individuals. Corporate taxation as well as the rate of value added tax are among the lowest that can be found anywhere in the world.

All these factors make Switzerland a safe country with a low crime rate. The Swiss ________ being tidy and clean, which is why recycling is popular .________ to this a rich cultural variety and beautiful scenery, and you get a quality of life that is hard to beat.

1.

A．business

B．partner

C．route

D．channel

2.

A．boasts

B．brags

C．occupies

D．claims

3.

A．networks

B．links

C．planes

D．tourBys

4.

A．welfare

B．consciousness

C．participation

D．obligation

5.

A．complication

B．diversity

C．liberation

D．simplicity

6.

A．manageable

B．negligible

C．expandable

D．exhaustible

7.

A．undermined

B．eliminated

C．underrated

D．expressed

8.

A．Crimes

B．Strikes

C．Accidents

D．Appeals

9.

A．Thanks to

B．Contrary to

C．In combination with

D．In case of

10.

A．argument

B．perspective

C．attitude

D．stance

11.

A．few

B．boundless

C．abundant

D．nonexistent

12.

A．exceeding

B．variable

C．resulting

D．unbelievable

13.

A．By contrast

B．To sum up

C．As a rule

D．Put differently

14.

A．value

B．deny

C．consider

D．suspect

15.

A．Tie

B．Contribute

C．Add

D．Adjust

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 from of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

The fairest woman in the world was Helen.     1     was the fame of her beauty that there was not a single young prince in all of Greece that didn’t wish to marry her. When her suitors assembled in her home to make a formal proposal for her hand there were so many from such powerful families that her reputed father King Tyndareus, was afraid to select one from amongst them, fearing that the others would unite against him. He therefore demanded first a solemn path from all     2     they would stand up for the cause of Helen’s husband, whoever he might be, if any wrong was done to him through his marriage. Then Tyndareus chose Menelaus, the brother of Agamemnon, and made him King of Sparta as well.

So matters stood when Paris gave the golden apple to Aphrodite. The Goddess of Love and Beauty knew very well where the most beautiful woman on earth was     3     (find). She led the young shepherd straight to Sparta, where Menelaus and Helen received him graciously as their guest. The ties between guest and host were strong. But Paris broke that sacred bond. Menelaus, trusting completely to it, left Paris in his home and went off to Crete.

Menelaus returned to find Helen gone, and he called upon all of Greece to help recover her. The chieftains responded     4     they were obliged to do. They eagerly arrived for the great expedition,    5     (cross) the sea and lay mighty Troy in ashes. Two of the first rank, however, were missing: Odysseus. King of the Island of Ithaca, and Achilles, the son of Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis. Odysseus, who was one of     6     (shrewd) men in Greece, did not want to leave his house and family to embark on a romantic adventure overseas for the sake of a faithless woman. He pretended, therefore, that he had gone mad, and when a messenger from the Greek

Army had arrived, the King was plowing a field and sowing it with salt     7     seed. But the messenger seized Odysseus’ little son and put him directly in the way of the plow. Instantly the father turned the plow aside, thus     8     (prove) that he had all his wits about him. However reluctant, he had to join the Army.

Achilles was kept back by his mother. She sent him to the court of Lycomedes and made him wear women’s clothing, hiding him among the maidens. Odysseus was dispatched by the chieftains to bring him out. Disguised as a peddler he went to the court     9     Achilles was said to be, with gay ornaments in his pack such as women love, and also some fine weapons. While the girls flocked around the trinkets, Achilles fingered each of the swords and daggers. Odysseus knew him then, and he had no trouble at all in making him disregard what his mother had said and     10     (go) to the Greek camp with him.

So the great fleet made ready.

6 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Filling up on Information

People now have access to more information than ever before thanks to the Internet. While there are clearly benefits to it, there are also unintended consequences. One in particular is information overload, commonly referred to as “infobesity.” As the name suggests, it involves consuming an unhealthy amount of information.

Infobesity comes in a number of different forms and affects people in a variety of ways. Business people, for example, may struggle to make decisions when faced with a huge amount of information. For younger people, infobesity is often linked to their use of social media. Young people may be bombed with messages from various social media apps. Furthermore, they may feel the urge to constantly check their phones so as not to miss out on anything. Even online shoppers are affected. With so much information and so many choices available, even the simplest purchase can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety.

Infobesity also has a negative effect on how long our attention lasts. According to a study by Microsoft, the average Canadian now spends less than 10 seconds digesting a piece of media before they move on to something new. This data raises concerns that our ability to pay attention to things will continue to decline as this information overload increases.

So, what can be done to prevent the effects of this condition? While there is no easy answer, one obvious step is to limit our sources of information. Try to only focus on things that really matter to you and on just one thing at a time. Taking a break from your cellphone can also help reduce your stress. And who knows? Since technology got us into this mess in the first place, perhaps it will also present solutions in the future.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . It was this very morning that Garrone let us know what he is like.

The master had not yet arrived, and three or four boys were bullying Crossi, the one with the red hair who has a dead arm and whose mother sells vegetables. They were hitting him in the face with chestnut shells. And he, alone on the end of the bench, became quite pale, begging that they leave him in peace.

All at once, Franti sprang upon a bench. Pretending that he was carrying a basket on each arm, he aped the mother of Crossi when she used to come to wait for her son at door. Many began to laugh loudly and Crossi was trembling and turning red with anger.

Suddenly Crossi seized an inkstand and threw it at the other’s head with all his strength, but Franti moved aside, and the inkstand struck the master who entered at the moment, full in the breast. All flew to their places and became silent with terror. The master, quite pale, went to his table, and said in a controlled voice:

“Who did it?”

No one replied.

The master cried out once more, raising his voice still louder, “Who is it?”

Then Garrone, moved to pity for poor Crossi, rose sharply and said resolutely, “ It was I.”

The master looked at him, looked at the confused scholars, then said in a calm voice, “It was not you.”

And after a moment. “The culprit shall not be punished. Let him rise!”

Crossi rose and said, weeping “They were striking me and insulting me, and I lost my head and threw it.”

“Sit down,” said the master. “Let those who provoked him rise.”

Four rose and hung their heads. “You,” said the master, “have insulted an unfortunate companion; you have struck a weak person who could not defend himself. You have committed one of the most shameful acts!”

Then he went over to Garrone and looked him straight in the eye, and said to him, “You are a noble soul.”

Garrone profited by the occasion to murmur some words, I know not what, in the ear of the master; and he, turning towards the four boys, said abruptly, “I forgive you.”

1. What finally provoked Crossi to throw an inkstand?

A．Franti made fun of Crossi’s mother walking with a dead arm.

B．Franti imitated the way Crossi’s mother carried her basket.

C．The boys hit Crossi in the face hard with chestnut shells.

D．The boys pulled Crossi upon a bench and laughed at him loudly.

2. The underlined word “culprit” probably means ________.

A．advocate

B．leader

C．captain

D．offender

3. The master praised Garrone as a noble soul because ________.

A．he dared to speak his mind	B．he forgave the four bullies
C．he took the blame for Crossi	D．he brought bad guys to justice

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．A Generous Deed	B．A Domestic Incident
C．Making the Right Choice	D．To Believe or Not to Believe

8 . Directions: 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. engagement B. specific C. observed   D. wandering   E. resembled F. follow G. implements H. finding I. improvements J. translate K. require

Brain Training through Virtual Reality

Scientists have long sought to prevent sharp memories from dulling with age, but the problem remains persistent. Now new research suggests virtual reality might help older people recall facts and events based on     1     details.

The study involved 42 healthy older adults from the San Francisco Bay Area. Half spent a dozen hours over four weeks playing a virtual-reality game called Labyrinth; they wore headsets and walked in place,     2     virtual neighbourhoods while completing tasks. The other half, in the control group, used electronic tablets to play games that didn’t     3     finding positions or recalling details. After 15 sessions, the latter performed roughly the same as before on a long-term memory test based on picking out objects they had seen about an hour earlier. But the Labyrinth players’ scores rose, and they were less frequently tricked by objects that     4     the ones they had viewed.

Those     5     “brought them back up to the level of another group of younger adults who did the same memory tests,” says Peter Wais, the researcher who designed the VR game. The game likely stimulates the hippocampus — a brain area important for long-term memory. What the Wais’s team is trying to do is uniquely suited to VR,” says Meredith Thompson, who studies learning through VR games but was not involved in the new study. “VR can provide greater     6     than other games,” she says, adding that after this proof-of-concept study, “it would be great to actually     7     people over time and see what this type of game does for long-term memory.” Wais’s team is now investigating how long the     8     effects last and which elements of the training have the most impact.

It remains unclear how test performance in a laboratory setting might     9     to real-world situations. The outcome, needs to be repeated, ideally with a much larger group, before it’s treated as a strong     10    .

9 . It is a tradition of corporate architecture. A company’s top executives get offices on the top floor with the biggest windows and best views. However, nowadays some bosses choose to “hot-desk”（轮用办公桌） with everyone else.

One argument for such a(n) ________ can be made. Staff morale （士气）would ________ if the employees are stuffed in open-plan offices while the executives occupy the spacious offices. When the executives sit alongside their teams, they will be more in touch with how projects are going and how staff are feeling. In theory, if the executives are ________, employees are more likely to approach them with problems.

But the bosses present all the time may ________ hurt morale. One of the joys of office life is the freedom to enjoy a bit of joking with colleagues. This may include the odd joke about the ________. In the presence of their boss, staff will be ________ in what they talk about and the tone of their comments. They may feel the need to sound serious at all times, for fear that the quality of their commitment to their work come into doubt. ________, the manager may be right behind them.

You also have to wonder whether executives will really spend every morning searching for a place to sit. Some hot desks will be a lot hotter than others. Once the chief financial officer has picked a desk on day one, the junior staff will ________ that particular spot on subsequent days. In contrast, anyone who works closely with a particular executive will be ________ to pick a desk close by.

The lingering（逗留不走的）boss presents other ________. Anyone who has worked in an open-plan office will acknowledge that other colleagues’ talking can make it hard to ________ at times. Managers may find themselves constantly being approached by team members with questions or problems for them to solve. Many people resort to headphones to shut out the background noise and to ________ their unavailability. But if managers do that, they run the risk of seeming shut off from their colleagues.

One study found that at firms that ________ to open-plan design, face-to-face interactions fell by 70%. Like an animal caught on open ground without cover, many people do not like being constantly observed. In the ________ of a physical barrier, they create a fourth wall, ________ their desire for privacy by facial expressions or brief replies to questions.

1.

A．image

B．shift

C．community

D．assembly

2.

A．spill

B．surface

C．suffer

D．survive

3.

A．reliable

B．capable

C．manageable

D．visible

4.

A．initially

B．definitely

C．officially

D．equally

5.

A．management

B．development

C．experiment

D．department

6.

A．unclear

B．unwelcome

C．uneasy

D．unfortunate

7.

A．At least

B．After all

C．In fact

D．In short

8.

A．steer clear of

B．keep track of

C．fall short of

D．get rid of

9.

A．reminded

B．tempted

C．assured

D．warned

10.

A．purposes

B．promises

C．protests

D．problems

11.

A．comment

B．concentrate

C．calculate

D．communicate

12.

A．signal

B．conceal

C．reverse

D．avoid

13.

A．subjected

B．applied

C．switched

D．admitted

14.

A．presence

B．relevance

C．absence

D．preference

15.

A．crediting

B．interpreting

C．substituting

D．indicating

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.

Repair Café

When things around the house stop working, what do you usually do with them? If you’re     1     a lot of people, you probably just throw them away.

This tendency has led to the modern nickname: the throwaway culture. There are many reasons for this trend. In some areas     2     it’s difficult to find people who can make repairs, fixing things can be quite expensive. Also, some small appliances are so inexpensive that it’s often much     3     (easy) to just buy a new one.

In 2009, Martine Postma from the Netherlands decided there must be a better way. Her solution was Repair Cafés: places where people can take damaged or     4     (tear) items. There they will find tools, resources and volunteer experts who are willing to help with repairs.

Postma’s first Repair Café opened on Oct. 18, 2009, in Amsterdam, and was a huge success. News of the café spread, and people began asking     5     they could start their own. In 2011, Postma established the Repair Café Foundation. This nonprofit organization provides guidance to those hoping to begin their own neighborhood repair group.

Today, there are roughly 2,000 Repair Cafés around the world with meetings typically     6     (occur) once a month. Around 25 objects per session are repaired.     7     is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.

Not only     8     the cafés provide help with repairs, they also strengthen community ties. Neighbors get to know one another as they work together on projects. In addition, valuable knowledge is passed along and preserved. Items are kept rather than thrown away, meaning less trash in landfills.     9     an average broken item weighs a kilo, it’s been estimated that 2,000 Repair Cafés prevent 35,000 kilos of trash every month. That     10     (add) up to about 420,000 kilos per year!