1 . In the 1960s, while studying the volcanic history of Yellowstone National Park, Bob Christiansen became puzzled about something that, oddly, had not troubled anyone before: he couldn’t find the park’s volcano. It had been known for a long time that Yellowstone was volcanic in nature — that’s what accounted for all its hot springs and other steamy features. But Christiansen couldn’t find the Yellowstone volcano anywhere.

Most of us, when we talk about volcanoes, think of the classic cone(圆锥体) shapes of a Fuji or Kilimanjaro, which are created when erupting magma(岩浆) piles up. These can form remarkably quickly. In 1943, a Mexican farmer was surprised to see smoke rising from a small part of his land. In one week he was the confused owner of a cone five hundred feet high. Within two years it had topped out at almost fourteen hundred feet and was more than half a mile across. Altogether there are some ten thousand of these volcanoes on Earth, all but a few hundred of them extinct. There is, however, a second less known type of volcano that doesn’t involve mountain building. These are volcanoes so explosive that they burst open in a single big crack, leaving behind a vast hole, the caldera. Yellowstone obviously was of this second type, but Christiansen couldn’t find the caldera anywhere.

Just at this time NASA decided to test some new high-altitude cameras by taking photographs of Yellowstone. A thoughtful official passed on some of the copies to the park authorities on the assumption that they might make a nice blow-up for one of the visitors’ centers. As soon as Christiansen saw the photos, he realized why he had failed to spot the caldera: almost the whole park—2.2 million acres—was caldera. The explosion had left a hole more than forty miles across—much too huge to be seen from anywhere at ground level. At some time in the past Yellowstone must have blown up with a violence far beyond the scale of anything known to humans.

1. What puzzled Christiansen when he was studying Yellowstone?

A．Its complicated geographical features.

B．Its ever-lasting influence on tourism.

C．The mysterious history of the park.

D．The exact location of the volcano.

2. What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The shapes of volcanoes.

B．The impacts of volcanoes.

C．The activities of volcanoes.

D．The heights of volcanoes.

3. What does the underlined word “blow-up” in the last paragraph most probably mean?

A．Hot-air balloon.	B．Digital camera.
C．Big photograph.	D．Bird’s view.

3 . 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers. But now that information is being spread and monitored(监控) in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules. By tracking people’s e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.
“The ‘if it bleeds’ rule works for mass media,” says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “They want your eyeballs and don’t care how you’re feeling. But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don’t want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.”
Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication—e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations—found that it tended to be more positive than negative(消极的), but that didn’t necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times’ website. He and a Penn colleague analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles. He found that science amazed Times’ readers and made them want to share this positive feeling with others.
Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. They needed to be aroused(激发) one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad. The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”
1. What do the classic rules mentioned in the text apply to?

A．News reports.	B．Research papers.
C．Private e-mails.	D．Daily conversations．

2. What can we infer about people like Debbie Downer?

A．They’re socially inactive.

B．They’re good at telling stories.

C．They’re inconsiderate of others.

D．They’re careful with their words.

3. Which tended to be the most e-mailed according to Dr. Berger’s research?

A．Sports new.	B．Science articles.
C．Personal accounts.	D．Financial reviews.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Sad Stories Travel Far and Wide

B．Online News Attracts More People

C．Reading Habits Change with the Times

D．Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks

5 . Psychological science is full of interesting topics, many of which tell a coherent picture of human nature, but some of which create seemingly contradictory stories. A case in point is the tricky and misunderstood intersection between strength-based science and the research on narcissism (自恋).

There is now convincing evidence to show that narcissism is on the rise, especially in our youth. Some researchers have gone so far as to say that it is occurring in epidemic proportions, with about 25% of young people showing symptoms of narcissism. The inflated ego of Generation Me is reflected in reality TV, celebrity worship, out-of-control consumerism, materialism...perhaps even a new type of president.

We are correct to be concerned about this phenomenon but our fear that all kids are potential narcissists has caused an unhelpful counter-reaction to approaches that seek to make our children and teens feel good about themselves.

In my own research on strength-based parenting it is common for people to wrongly label this approach as a recipe for self-entitlement. Their argument seems to be that a child who knows their strengths will automatically view themselves as better than everyone else. It is argued that the self-assurance that comes with identifying and using their positive qualities will make a child arrogant, selfish and uncaring. Genuine confidence about one’s strengths is categorized as over-confidence; desirable self-knowledge is branded as excessive self-admiration.

Why does this occur? It’s partly because more is known about narcissism than strengths. While strengths psychology has largely stayed within the limit of academic journals or has been applied only within certain contexts such as the workplace, research on narcissism has made its way into the mass media and into our collective conscious. The New York Times noted that narcissism is a favored “go-to” topic and that people everywhere are diagnosing others with it.

The fear that a strength-based approach will cause narcissism also occurs because we unwittingly fall prey to binary (非此即彼的) thinking. We mistakenly believe that one cannot be both confident and humble. We focus on Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian rather than Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. There’s no way that Gandhi and Mother Teresa could have achieved what they did without confidence in their strengths, and yet they are both pillars of humility and selflessness.

When we assume that strength-focus is the same as a self-focus, we fail to entertain the idea that people who know their strengths are, actually, more likely to be pro-social and focus on helping others.

It’s tempting to conclude that every young person is at risk of becoming a narcissist but I’d like to stand up for the thousands of young kids I have worked with who are caring, thoughtful and humble — even when they use their strengths.

1. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Both strengths psychology and narcissism are difficult to understand.

B．Approximately a quarter of kids are potential narcissists.

C．Knowing the kids’ strengths has an opposite effect on making them feel good.

D．An increasing number of youth are showing an inflated sense of self.

2. Why are teenagers’ strengths often mistaken for narcissism?

A．Strengths psychology is less accessible to the general public.

B．Academic journals and mass media report more on narcissism.

C．There is a lack of strengths in our collective consciousness.

D．A number of people are diagnosed with narcissism by doctors.

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards strength-based parenting?

A．Skeptical.

B．Neutral.

C．Favorable.

D．Cautious.

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

A．A Recipe for Self-entitlement

B．Teens’ Narcissism Diagnosis

C．Binary Thinking of Psychological Science

D．Teens’ Confidence Misunderstood

6 . Removing gender bias

Tailors worked out long ago that men and women have different shapes. Yet this message has failed to enter many other areas of design. Car seat belts, for example, which date back to the 1880s, are often still more suitable for men, who tend to sit farther back than women when driving. And today the most forward-looking tech companies on Earth are still placing old-school bias (偏见；成见) into new products. Consider smart phones. Most are too big to fit comfortably into the average woman’s hand, as are many video-game controllers.

An obvious part of the explanation for their design problem is that men control most of its companies—male-run firms receive 82% of venture-capital (VC) funding. Male bosses may be unaware of the problems women face. They may not flag up obvious areas of concern, or ask the right questions when doing their research for a new product design. And once an idea gets the green light, it will then be handled by product-design and engineering teams, three-quarters of whose members are men. These teams often use data to make decisions, but mixing all users together means they may fail to spot trends based on sex differences. Dependence on historical data, and the lack of data on underrepresented groups, can also create bias in algorithms (算法).

Next comes testing. Naturally, designers test original models on their intended customers, but they may not get feedback from a broad enough group of people. There is also the risk of confirmation bias—designers may listen to what they want to hear, and ignore negative reactions from some groups of users.

Tech’s design bias needs fixing for moral, safety and business reasons. The ethical importance is obvious: it is wrong that women have to make do with a “one-size-fits-men” world, as Caroline Criado Perez, a writer, puts it. As for safety, regulators can tackle that by banning things that are dangerous to women—including seat belts—because they are no! designed properly.

But there is also a powerful business case for avoiding design bias, because huge opportunities are being missed. Women are 50% of the population, and make 70—80% of the world’s consumer-spending decisions.

Change is coming. The first voice-recognition systems struggled to understand female voices, but most now manage just fine. “Femtech” start-up companies, which focus on women’s health and well-being, may raise MYM 1 billion by the end of this year. VC funds and tech firms are hiring more women. Ensuring that products are designed for everyone would lead to happier and safer customers. For the companies that get it right, that means higher profits. What is holding them back?

1. The underlined part in Paragraph 2 means ________.

A．hits the market	B．gets approval
C．becomes successful	D．comes into being

2. What is discussed in Paragraphs 2 and 3?

A．Why tech’s design bias needs to be fixed.

B．How gender bias is affecting tech companies.

C．Where gender bias in product design is rooted.

D．Who is to blame for gender bias in tech companies.

3. We can learn from the passage that ________.

A．tech companies are unwilling to change

B．design bias may result in missed opportunities

C．male workers benefit more in engineering teams

D．tech companies are poor at making user-friendly products

4. How does the author feel about the future of bias-free product design?

A．Uncertain.	B．Sceptical.
C．Positive.	D．Negative.

10 . Are You a Prisoner of Perfection?

Do you struggle for a goal that is beyond your reach?     1     Are you setting yourself up for failure and shame when you can’t achieve the unachievable? Understanding what drives perfectionism is the first step toward releasing this self-created anchor that keeps us stuck.

Shame and fear are often the hidden drivers of perfectionism. We believe that if we can fashion a perfectly polished personality, flash our intelligence, and perfect our humour, then no one can hurt us with criticism and we’ll win respect and approval.

    2     Politicians who display a desperate need to be right and refuse to acknowledge mistakes or uncertainty are often driven by a secret shame. They fear that showing vulnerability(弱点) will expose them to the accusation that they’re weak. They stick to a desire to be right, perfect, and polished, even when it’s obvious that the emperor has no clothes.

Perfectionism keeps us leaning toward the future. We’re constantly evaluating ourselves in order to do better.     3     However, if we can’t relax and enjoy lighter moments, then we become prisoners of our perfectionism. We get painfully self-conscious and take ourselves too seriously. Sadly, we deprive(剥夺) ourselves of the simple pleasure of enjoying the moment and being ourselves.

    4     We realize that failing at any enterprise doesn’t mean that we are a failure. Without failures, we’ll never learn from our mistakes; we’ll never move forward in our lives. Those who succeed have made countless mistakes. The important thing is to learn from our error, forgive ourselves and move on.

Being human, perfection is impossible.     5       Releasing ourselves from the desire to protect our image, we’re freed to sail gracefully through our successes and failures—and enjoy our precious life.

A．Do you hold an idealized vision that is impossible to realize?

B．A cure to perfectionism is to make room for our human shortcomings.

C．Do you fear that others will be horrified by what you judge about yourself?

D．The addiction to staying perfect protects us from any sign of being imperfect.

E．There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do our best and self-correcting along the way.

F．People who are addicted to perfection are often isolated, even if they seem outgoing and popular.

G．By accepting ourselves as we are and doing our best, we begin to rid the shame that drives perfectionism.