1 . The Metamorphosis

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

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

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

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

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

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

C．Gregor awoke as it was getting dark.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A．It may bring about ridicule from others.

B．It will make a home much less depressing.

C．It is too abstract for people to understand.

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

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

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

4. What’s the purpose of the passage?

A．To highlight the vital importance of wallpaper.

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

C．To indicate why people tend to get depressed.

D．To explain what safe neutrality is all about.

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

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

Unlock iPhone When Face ID Can’t

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1.

A．justifiable

B．pointless

C．subjective

D．ridiculous

2.

A．on the whole

B．in conclusion

C．as a result

D．on the contrary

3.

A．airline

B．manufacturing

C．service

D．advertising

4.

A．tempt

B．reason

C．trick

D．guide

5.

A．offensive

B．ambitious

C．aggressive

D．humble

6.

A．imitation

B．fear

C．efficiency

D．competition

7.

A．motivates

B．facilitates

C．maintains

D．prevents

8.

A．spoiling

B．polishing

C．masking

D．exploiting

9.

A．related to

B．safe from

C．concerned with

D．dependent on

10.

A．equivalent

B．object

C．argument

D．criticism

11.

A．priority

B．motivation

C．access

D．feedback

12.

A．optimistic

B．objective

C．defensive

D．passive

13.

A．authorities

B．elements

C．divisions

D．whistleblowers

14.

A．rejected

B．eliminated

C．voiced

D．questioned

15.

A．competitiveness

B．inventiveness

C．carefulness

D．selflessness

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

Charles Dickens

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

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

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

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

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

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.

A．How to make different hats.	B．Why soldiers wear helmets.
C．Hats in different times and countries.	D．The best type of hat to wear.

2.

A．Horsemen.	B．Soldiers.
C．Slaves.	D．The working classes.

3.

A．Bowlers.

B．Top hats.

C．Helmets

D．Cloth caps.

7 . 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.

Biographers (传记作家) gather information from many different sources. Legal documents and personal papers can reveal facts such as a person’s birthplace, income, number of children, and lifespan. Letters or a diary may contain valuable information about the person’s friends and activities, thoughts and feelings. All of these materials are called primary sources because they contain firsthand information ---- information that does not depend on the opinions or interpretations of others.

A biographer also checks secondary sources. The subject’s friends and relatives may be interviewed. If the subject died long ago, the biographer looks for anything written about him or her. Secondary sources supply secondhand information, and so a biographer must use them with care. The subject’s friends will want the biography to be favorable, while others may wish it to be unfavorable. The biographer must avoid both extremes. The biographer’s job is not to make readers like or dislike the subject, but to give as complete and truthful a picture of the person as possible. This means the biography should include both good and bad qualities, both accomplishments and mistakes. James Boswell, the author of a great biography of his friend Samuel Johnson, wrote, “And he will be seen as he really was; for I profess to write, not his panegyric (颂文), which must all praise, but his life, which, great and good as he was, must not be supposed to be entirely perfect.”

Much biographical writing falls short of Boswell’s standards. Ancient records of the deeds of kings and emperors were written to praise and flatter these rulers. Writers of saints’ (圣人) lives in the Middle Ages were often more interested in the moral message than the events of a life. Many 19th-century biographers did not reveal any improper or embarrassing details of their subjects’ lives. Though they may be interesting or inspiring, these works fail as biographies chiefly because their purpose is to point up a moral rather than describe an individual.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

A. neighbouring；B. concerned；C. complete；D. earnest；E. fats F. maintenance；G. notably；H. operations；I. regularly；J. specifics；K. shift

A good grilling

As they reopen after lockdown, many restaurants are firing up their barbecues. Diners appreciate food grilled over glowing charcoal embers, but the     1     residents often do not. Pollution levels near restaurants can be     2     higher than average, because of emissions from kitchens. With the increasing popularity of indoor barbecuing, it is a problem that is set to get worse.

The researchers tested a commercial grill,     3     with the sort of multistage filtering system used in many — though by no means all — restaurants. Apart from typical pollutants and particulate matter, they also discovered polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (多环芳烃). These cancer-causing chemicals are mainly produced by the incomplete combustion (燃烧) of     4     and oil-based sauces. The researchers estimated that if their half-a-square-metre grill was used for nine hours a day, it would release between 400 and 500 kilograms of fine and ultrafine particulate matter into the air every year. With many restaurants using 2.5-square-metre grills 16 hours a day, the level of pollution from most commercial    5     would be much higher.

The researchers are investigating which extraction systems best protect all the people     6     such as the restaurant employees. Taller chimneys are one option. But Dr Aleysa, an expert in combustion technology, suspects they would just     7     the pollution elsewhere. The results of these tests will be published next year.

Meanwhile, Dr Aleysa’s team have come up with their own solution: a new kind of grill, which they reckon can cut pollutants by 90%. Dr Aleysa is reluctant to go into     8    . But the basic idea is that before being released to the outside, the fumes are sucked back down through the embers and into a combustion zone, where hydrocarbons and odour compounds are fully burnt. That lessens the need for expensive extraction systems and fiddly filters that must be     9     cleaned.

An industrial partner is keen to put the grill into production. It could go on sale by the middle of next year. It will cost a bit more than a standard grill, says Dr Aleysa. But he believes that would be offset by lower     10     costs. Better air quality around restaurants would be welcome. But the big test will be whether chefs believe the new grill can produce that same barbecue flavour.

9 . 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.

American researchers say they have invented a method that could use salty water on Mars to produce oxygen and fuel,     1     would both be important elements to support future human exploration activities on the Red Planet.

Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, developed the new method. They created a machine called an electrolyzer. It can separate salty water into oxygen and hydrogen gases.

The team described the process in a study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Scientists have already collected solid evidence     2     the planet likely holds a large supply today. But Mars is extremely cold. So, most of the water     3     (think) to exist in the form of ice.

The research team notes that any water that is not frozen is almost surely full of salt from the Martian soil. The usual methods for breaking water down into oxygen require the salt     4     (remove) first. This process can be complex, costly and harmful to the environment. The new method they invented can take salty water directly and convert it into oxygen and hydrogen.

The team carried out experiments with high levels of magnesium salts, which scientists believe likely     5     (exist) on Mars. The researchers also carried out the tests     6     temperatures similar to the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

The U.S. space agency NASA has also experimented with technology to produce oxygen on Mars. One device designed to do this will be tested as part of NASA’s Perseverance mission. Perseverance is a new explorer vehicle, or rover, that is currently on     7     way to Mars.

The engineering team said its method could even find valuable uses on Earth. “    8     (demonstrate) these electrolyzers under demanding Martian conditions, we intend to also use them under     9     (mild) conditions on Earth,” said Pralay Gayen, who is a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University and a lead writer of the study. “    10     such use could be in defense industries,” he added, “the method could create oxygen on demand for submarines. It may also be able to provide oxygen for researchers exploring new environments in the deep sea.”

10 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.

A．To study the effect of isolation on humans.

B．To figure out the conditions of the volcano.

C．To help choose the right persons for a trip to Mars.

D．To learn about human mental and emotional problems.

2.

A．Eating diet food.	B．Enduring isolation.
C．Being cooperative.	D．Coping with pressure.

3.

A．To set up their habitat.	B．To make weather maps.
C．To study the rocky surface.	D．To communicate every 20 minutes.