1 . The images were shocking, and the reaction was completely predictable. The sight of a polar bear lying hurt on a beach - blood matting the fur of its neck, with one huge paw folded under its body - received immediate criticism globally. By the shore in the background stand a group of guides, talking to each other. One of them had a gun hanging casually on his shoulder. This is not something that is taken lightly.     1     .

This powerful image raises questions about the motivations (动机) of this kind of tourism or ecotourism.     2    . Are there regions in the world where nature should be left completely untouched? Has our access to large animals in the wild, often driven by a desire for sensational images, led these animals to become accustomed to human contact? If so, the loser would surely pay a heavy price for such an approach.

Before we answer these questions, we would consider the events that are of global concern. For me, I was definitely shocked. I have recently returned from a trip to Svalbard, and indeed stood two weeks ago on the very beach where the bear was shot.     3    . Was the beach examined from the ship offshore beforehand? Was there access to flares (信号弹) to scare off a bear that appeared suddenly? These are standard measures for a respectable operator, and the accident could be the result of a system failure.

However, images and events should not be used to criticize the concept of ecotourism. Ecotourism is an expanding market that brings benefits as well as challenges to the regions around the world in which it operates.     4    . The key is responsibility and research before booking. If ecotourism is done properly, the benefits are immediate and lasting.

A．The bear's death should never have happened.

B．The reality, however, is considerably more complex.

C．Simply closing off these regions is not the answer.

D．Should we be in these environments at all?

E．Visitors often become ambassadors (大使) for the endangered polar bear.

F．This can be by making financial decisions to conservation groups.

2 . In rich countries like America, the absence of professional waste-pickers presents a problem. The general public is not very good at sorting rubbish. Households and businesses serviced by municipal waste-management providers may actually have got worse at sorting in the past 20 years, says Peter Keller of Republic Services, America's second-biggest waste management firm, which runs Newby Island in San Jose.

Citizens of rich countries, where almost 100% of municipal waste gets collected, take such services for granted - unless the collectors go on strike (罢工),as happened in the Belgian city of Ghent in early August, leaving streets in a stink (恶臭) for days. In some industrialized nations, increasingly, residents are charged based on volume (known as "pay-as-you-throw") To encourage sorting, such schemes often exempt recyclables.

The volume of recyclables has reached 1,400 tons a day, a lot by American standards, says Mr. Keller. That should come as no surprise. After all, inhabitants of the San Francisco Bay area pride themselves on their recycling ability. San Francisco boasts a recycling rate of 80% one of the highest of any rich-world city. San Franciscans may therefore be shocked to learn that a lot of them, as Mr. Keller puts it, “aren't very good at it"

Two possible reasons account for Mr. Keller's remarks. The first is that many people do not know what is recyclable. Beer bottles and soft-drink cans are, he says. Egg cartons and magazines are not, for there is not market for the materials of which they are made. Some things are recyclable on their own, but not when combined, such as "paper" cups lined with plastic film. It is hard to blame consumers for feeling increasingly puzzled, he admits

The other problem is that residents only have to separate recyclables from non-recyclables Cans, bottles and papers are all thrown into one bin. This mix can, to some degree, be sorted at plants like Newby, enabled by clever technology which uses optical sensor;(光电感应器) and magnets to separate materials automatically. Anyway, these was no match for humans when it came to sorting.

As the volume of recyclables increased in America and Europe, the quality of recycled output decreased because everything was mixed in together. This did not trouble materials. recovery facilities (MRF) operators so long as they would offload their increasingly impure stock abroad. Then China announced it would not accept any plastics or carboard, and American waste-management companies have been struggling to find what to do with their poor-quality waste.

1. According to the passage, the biggest problem in rich countries caused by lack of professional waste-pickers is that ________.

A．waste collectors often go on strike regardless of people's needs

B．no one teaches people how to tell apart recyclable and non-recyclables

C．waste sorting by machine is far from perfect so far

D．citizens fail to deal with waste sorting properly

2. Which of the following best defines the word "exempt"(Paragraph 2)?

A．make no charge for	B．set aside
C．fully expect	D．set the standard for

3. What can be inferred from Mr. Keller's comments on San Franciscans" recycling ability?

A．More advanced waste sorting machines will be launched (推出) as soon as possible.

B．San Franciscans are not informed that there is no need to recycle egg cartons.

C．Recycling ability is not all about separating recyclables from non-recyclables

D．It's hard for San Franciscans to change their recycling habits in the new times

4. The paragraph that follows the passage will be probably about ________.

A．the reason why MFR is not worried about poor-quality waste

B．China's new policy to keep foreign rubbish out

C．efforts to teach residents how better to sort their rubbish

D．the components (成分) of the mixed waste in America

3 . Too much eye contact is instinctively felt to be rude, and in a business context, it may also be regarded as a purposeful intention to make “ the other” feel at a disadvantage. So unless you have in mind doing one of those things, it’s better to _______too much eye contact.

Too little,_______, can make you appear uneasy, unprepared, and insincere. In its analysis of patients, _______, for example, one large county hospital found, that 9-out-of-10 letters included mention of poor doctor-patient eye contact, a failure which was generally interpreted as “_______of caring.”

“Just the right” amount of eye contact---the amount that produces a feeling of mutual _______and trustworthiness---will vary with situations, settings, personality types, gender and cultural differences. As a general rule, though, direct eye contact ranging from 30% to 60% of the time during a conversation---more when you are listening, less when you are speaking---should make for a _______ productive atmosphere.

And did you know these other facts about eye contact？

● We reduce eye contact when we are talking about something shameful or _______, when we are sad or depressed，and when we are accessing internal thoughts or emotions.

● We increase eye contact when dealing with people we like, _______ , or who have power over us. In more     _______conversations we naturally look at each other more often and hold that gaze for longer periods of time. In fact, we ________relationships by the amount of eye contact exchanged: the greater the eye contact，the closer the relationship.

● We avoid eye contact in elevators, subways, crowded buses or trains-in elevators we face the door, in the others we stare at our smartphones-because it helps us ________the insecurity of having our personal space invaded.

● The biggest body language myth（错误观念）about liars is that they avoid eye contact. While some liars (most often, children) find it difficult to lie while looking directly at you，many liars actually try to “________” that they are not lying by making too much eye contact and holding it too long.

Eye contact is so powerful a force because it is connected with humans’ earliest ________patterns. Children who could attract and maintain eye contact, and therefore increase attention, had the best chance of being fed and cared for. Today, newborns ________lock eyes with their caregivers, and the power of that infantile eye contact still has its impact on the adult mind. Whether it's shifty-eyed guilt or wide-eyed innocence, we automatically assign enormous ________to the signals we give and get when we look into each other in the eyes.

1.

A．create

B．avoid

C．block

D．occupy

2.

A．in the meantime

B．in an instant

C．on the other hand

D．without doubt

3.

A．complaints

B．instructions

C．questions

D．expectations

4.

A．intention

B．shift

C．lack

D．complication

5.

A．efficiency

B．awareness

C．reaction

D．appreciation

6.

A．comfortable

B．right

C．direct

D．different

7.

A．mysterious

B．embarrassing

C．distinctive

D．dishonest

8.

A．admire

B．conquer

C．consult

D．attract

9.

A．powerful

B．purposeful

C．private

D．natural

10.

A．establish

B．improve

C．value

D．judge

11.

A．protect

B．convey

C．master

D．manage

12.

A．imagine

B．ensure

C．prove

D．require

13.

A．behavior

B．survival

C．working

D．eating

14.

A．instinctively

B．fiercely

C．similarly

D．instantly

15.

A．relief

B．trust

C．surprise

D．joy

4 . Directions：After reading the passage and the sentences below,fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one more word than you need.

A. suggest     B. disorders          C. permanent        D. age-related        E. periods        F. average     G. experience        H. differently        I. appearing     J. uncommon       K. luxury

Napping May Improve Learning

Getting a good night's sleep is important for the learning and memory process. It's important because it stores the training exercises and the learning exercises into our more     1    memory while we're sleeping 7-8 hours in bed. And then the next morning when you wake up your mind is better prepared to act on that information.

But what about getting rest during the middle of the day？Short     2     of sleep may help our brains work better,or so says a recent study on napping. Taking a nap may also help this group of people fight off     3     memory loss. Many Americans do nap. But one-third of all adults in the United States are also chronically tired,notes the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It found that 50 million to 70 million Americans have chronic sleep     4    . So,someone who naps as a way of paying off a sleep debt may not     5     the same improvements from napping as a healthy,well-rested person would. Also,many people may not want to admit that they take naps. They may think that napping shows they are weak or lack energy. That only children,the very old,sick or lazy people nap is not a(n)     6     opinion.

In fact,Americans sometimes do a very strange thing. Some brag about how few hours of sleep they need each night. Health experts     7    that adults get seven to eight hours of sleep each night. People who claim they only sleep four or five hours a night,they may think they are superhuman,somehow stronger than the     8    human. However,that may be changing. Many offices now offer napping rooms and napping cafes are     9    in many U.S. cities,including Washington,D.C. While resting in the middle of the work day may seem like a(n)     10    to Americans,napping is very much part of a normal,everyday life in other parts of the world.

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

Saying Goodbye to Sugar

It is the end of October. Social media is filled with pictures of people     1     promised to give up sugar at the beginning of the month, only to fail. Why is sugar so powerful, and how can we beat it?

Many sugar cravings (渴求) arise from a blood sugar imbalance     2     body takes in sugar, your blood sugar quickly increases and your body releases insulin(胰岛素) to lower it to a safer level. If the insulin brings your blood sugar level a bit too low, as often happens, your body longs for foods that will raise it and increase your energy. You are on a blood sugar roller coaster (过山车) that is hard to get off.

The key to balancing blood sugar is to eat foods that prevent too much insulin from     3     (release). Healthy fats and protein, for example, provide slow and continuous forms of energy. They are more like a flat, newly paved road rather than that roller coaster. Eating plenty of healthy fats, say nuts, avocados and olive oil, can help your body adjust to getting its energy elsewhere.     4     protein can help you is to make you feel satisfied and reduce hunger. And many of the amino acids (氨基酸) in protein help build the brain chemicals that make us feel good. When we feel balanced and energized, we are     5     (likely) to seek a sugar high.

Some sugar cravings come from your brain as a result of lifestyle. Stress causes glucose to be released by your liver, which in turn raises your blood sugar level. Therefore, being constantly stressed is like begging for trouble. Furthermore, poor sleep     6     also result in overeating, as you seek energy to relieve your tiredness.

Sometimes we experience cravings that are nothing but     7     habit. Perhaps you watched your parents overeat throughout your childhood. Now you do the same, eating pie, for example, even when you are not hungry at all. Or you may have spent years reaching for chocolate or ice cream     8     (reduce) sadness.

Hold on tight if you want to eventually get off this bumpy ride. Sugar has been shown to have an effect on the brain similar to     9     of an addictive drug. The cravings will likely remain for at least the first week. After that, some of the negative habits     10    (disappear) gradually. Hopefully, you can take off your seat belt and enjoy a smoother ride.

6 . The MacArthur Foundation late last month announced its latest crop of “genius grants”, and once again you thought maybe, just maybe, this was your year.

And why not? These days, we’re all geniuses. We might be “marketing geniuses” or “cooking geniuses” or “TV geniuses”. We have so weakened “genius” that it’s fast joining the company of “natural” and “mindful” (留心), words left inactive through overuse and misuse.

Admittedly, the word is tough to nail down. Sometimes we assume genius equivalent to raw intelligence. But many of humanity’s greatest breakthroughs were achieved by those with only modest IQs.

Sometimes we think of the genius as someone extremely knowledgeable, but that definition also falls short. During Albert Einstein’s time, other scientists knew more physics than Einstein did, but history doesn’t remember them. That’s because they didn’t make use of that knowledge the way Einstein did. They weren’t able to, as he put it, “regard old questions from a new angle”.

The genius is not a know-it-all but a see-it-all, someone who, working with the material available to all of us, is able to make surprising and useful connections. True genius involves not merely an extra advance, but a conceptual leap. As philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer put it: Talent hits the target no one else can hit; genius hits the target no one else can see.

We’ve lost sight of this truth, and too often grant the title of genius on talented people hitting visible targets. A good example is the much-boasted announcement earlier this year that scientists had, for the first time, recorded the sound of two black holes bumping, a billion light-years away. It was a remarkable discovery, no doubt, but it did not represent a dramatic shift in how we understand the universe. It merely confirmed Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

As Plato observed, “What is honored in a country is cultivated there.” What do we honor? Digital technology, and the convenience it represents, so naturally we get a Steve Jobs or a Mark Zuckerberg as our “geniuses”, which, in point of fact, they aren’t.

The iPhone and Facebook are wonderful inventions. In many ways, they make our lives a bit easier, a bit more convenient. If anything, though, a true genius makes our lives more difficult, more unsettled. William Shakespeare’s words provide more anxiety than relief, and the world felt a bit more secure before Charles Darwin came along. Zuckerberg and Jobs may have changed our world, but they haven’t yet changed our worldview.

We need to recover genius, and a good place to start is by putting the brakes on Genius Flooding.

1. The key factor that sets geniuses and talents apart is that ________.

A．geniuses have a larger range of knowledge	B．geniuses have access to far more resources
C．geniuses can see visible targets	D．geniuses approach things differently

2. The reasons why people naturally regard Steve Jobs & Mark Zuckerberg as geniuses include all the following EXCEPT that ________.

A．their achievements bring people convenience

B．they have extraordinary intelligence

C．they are native to the country where digital technology is highly valued

D．they satisfy people’s needs in the age of high technology

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．We should stop the improper use of “natural” and “mindful”.

B．The first recording of two black holes bumping each other is a genius breakthrough.

C．Charles Darwin is hardly a genius.

D．More geniuses remain to be found in our life.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Get a new word, genius	B．Learn from a new model, genius
C．Join in a new group, genius	D．Make a new friend, genius

7 . Ivrea is a town in the Piedmont province of northern Italy. It is known for its local carnival（狂欢节）organized in February.

The main part of the carnival is the famous Battle of the Oranges (La battaglia delle arance). The Battle includes nine teams who throw oranges at each other during three carnival days – Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Oranges were not always used in the battle. In the middle ages people used beans. Twice a year the local feudal lord gave a pot of beans to the poor families who, as sign of rebellion, threw them out of their homes. Later beans became part of carnival as sort of “ammunition” for throwing at people passing by.

It is still not known why exactly people started using oranges. It is believed that the origin for this tradition is in the mid 19th century. The legend says that local girls, standing on balconies, started to throw some oranges, together with confetti, lupins(白羽扇豆)and flowers, onto the parade carriages. The girls actually wanted to draw attention of boys in the carriages. Boys “answered” by throwing some objects back at girls. Little battle started that way.

Battle of the Oranges got strict rules after the World War II. The battles are organized on town's squares. The battles are fought between teams in carriages (symbolizing local the guards of local tyrant(恶霸)) and the teams walking beside those carriages (symbolizing rebellious people of Ivrea).

Oranges for the event are brought from the island of Sicily. The oranges used are of low quality, not suitable for humans. About 270,000 kilograms of oranges are used each year.

The carnival ends with a silent march on the night of “Fat Tuesday”. The Carnival "general" says goodbye to everyone with the phrase "See you next Fat Thursday at 1 p.m."

Special prizes are awarded to three best foot teams, three carriages drawn by two horses and three carriages drawn by four horses. Different elements are judged like for example throwing ability, fair play or decoration of carriages.

1. The word "ammunition" (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to________.

A．decoration

B．bullets

C．advertisement

D．presents

2. In Battle of the Oranges, the teams walking beside carriages act as ________.

A．the Carnival general	B．the local feudal lord
C．the rebellious people of Ivrea	D．the guards of local tyrant(暴君)

3. Which of the following statements about Battle of the Oranges is NOT true?

A．In the middle ages, people threw beans out of homes as a sign of rebellion.

B．Girls throw oranges towards carriages in the parade to attract the attention of boys inside.

C．Tons of oranges are used every year to hold the festival.

D．People started to throw oranges because they are of low quality and not suitable to eat.

4. What is this passage mainly about?

A．A traditional activity in an Italian carnival

B．The origin of Battle of the Orange

C．How people enjoy themselves in the Orange Carnival

D．The rules of activities in carnivals in Italy