1 . Having worked at a 7-Eleven store for two years, I thought I had become successful at what our manager calls “customer relations”. I firmly believed that a friendly smile and an automatic “sir”, “ma’ma”, and “thank you” would see me through any situation that might arise, from comforting impatient or unpleasant people to apologizing for giving out the wrong change. But the other night an old woman shattered my belief that a simple and plain response could smooth over the rough spots of dealing with all kinds of customers.
The moment she entered, the woman presented a sharp contrast to our shiny store with its bright lighting and neatly arranged shelves. Walking as if each step were painful, she slowly pushed open the glass door and hobbled (蹒跚) down the nearest aisle. She coughed dryly, wheezing (气喘吁吁) with each breath. On a forty-degree night, she was wearing only a faded dress, a thin sweater too small to button, and black slippers with the backs cut out to expose calloused (满是老茧的) heels. There were no stockings or socks on her blue-veined legs.
After wandering around the store for several minutes, the old woman stopped in front of the rows of canned vegetables. She picked up a can of corn and stared with a strange intensity at the label. At that point, I decided to be a good, polite employee and asked her if she needed help. As I stood close to her, my smile became harder to maintain; her red-rimmed eyes were partially closed by yellowish crusts (痂); her hands were covered with layer upon layer of dirt, and the stale (陈腐的) smell of sweat rose from clothes.
“I need some food,” she muttered in reply to my bright “Can I help you?”
“Are you looking for corn, ma’am?”
“I need some food,” she repeated, “Any kind.”
“Well, the corn is ninety-five cents,” I said in my most helpful voice.
“I can’t pay,” she said.
For a second, I was tempted to say, “Take the corn.” But the employee rules flooded into my mind: Remain polite, but do not let customers get the best of you. Let them know that you are in control. For a moment, I even entertained the idea that this was some sort of test, and that this woman was someone from the head office, testing my loyalty. I responded dutifully, “I’m sorry, but I can’t give away anything for free.”
The old woman’s face collapsed a bit more, and her hands trembled as she put the can back on the shelf. She shuffled (拖着脚走) past me toward the door, her torn and dirty clothing barely covering her bent back.
Moments after she left, I rushed out of the door with the can of corn, but she was nowhere in sight. For the rest of my shift, the image of the woman haunted (萦绕) me. I had been young, healthy and proud. She had been old, sick and desperate. Wishing with all my heart that I had acted like a human being rather than a robot, I was saddened to realize how weak a hold we have on our better instincts.
1. How did the writer feel about his job at 7-Eleven before the old woman came?| A．He was quite satisfied with his service manner. |
| B．He found room for improvement in developing customer relations. |
| C．He considered himself successful in dealing with all interpersonal relations. |
| D．He thought himself experienced after working in the store for two years. |
| A．how she presented a sharp contrast to the other customers |
| B．how sick, poor and desperate for help she was |
| C．how she surprised the writer with her unusual appearance |
| D．how inappropriate it was for her to enter a place like this |
| A．To make the most of. | B．To bring out the best of. |
| C．To win an advantage over. | D．To bring into full play. |
| A．What If. | B．How Come. | C．If Only. | D．Never Ever. |
My mother eyed me with suspicion. I dared not look at her. Knowing that I was late from school five days in a row, I could not offer an acceptable explanation. However, realizing she had little choice but to accept my explanation that I had extra curricular activities every day and arrived home after 5 p.m., she told me that dinner was in the refrigerator and to warm it up in the microwave oven. She had to rush for her night work at the local clinic.
After our dad passed away in an accident, my mother became the only breadwinner. I was the eldest among the four siblings (兄弟姊妹) and it fell upon my shoulder to ensure that they would become responsible adults. Aside from helping Mother with the housework, I regularly coached them in their studies. Thankfully, never once did I have to raise my voice or force them to complete their homework. But all of us missed Dad deeply, who was a model father and husband. Mom had never recovered from the tragic incident.
However, she managed to pull through to raise us and secured a job at the clinic. It was very tough on someone like her who had never worked before in her life. But money was scarce and there were five mouths to feed. We stopped dining out and had our meals mostly at home. We basically lived from hand to mouth. That’s when it dawned on me that I had to do my part for the family. I knew Mother would not agree but I threw caution out of the window and managed to get a part-time job at a fast food restaurant. I worked three hours a day and managed to bring home money so that my siblings and I could go out for occasional movies or meals.
I was sure Mother suspected something wrong. But she could not quite point the figure to the source of her suspicion. However, I was awfully guilty and had to constantly reassure (宽慰) myself that contributing financially to the family was the least I could do to lessen my mother’s burden.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One day, while serving the customers, I was surprised to see Mother leading my siblings in.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I walked over to see Mother was already crying.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As a cinematic work to explore the lives and passions of people at Tsinghua University, the documentary The Great Learning
Sun Hong, Wang Jing and Ke Yongquan, all educated at the university, spent three years co-directing the film. “For most young people, their university years is a key period in their
“They are people who all have light in their eyes. I hope every one of us can discover the light in our lives
4 . Colin Coleman was a 16-year-old employee who had been working for 6 months at a Kroger grocery store where Josh York
Unluckily, Josh York has impaired
One day when Josh went to Kroger for his
He didn’t stop until Josh’s
Another customer saw this
Josh York really
Colin often helps out
| A．occasionally | B．regularly | C．accidentally | D．seldom |
| A．concerned | B．bored | C．familiar | D．patient |
| A．smell | B．vision | C．hearing | D．balance |
| A．painful | B．slow | C．last | D．normal |
| A．valued | B．needed | C．lost | D．ordered |
| A．list | B．card | C．parcel | D．information |
| A．vehicles | B．furniture | C．objects | D．rubbish |
| A．struggle | B．success | C．test | D．helpfulness |
| A．brave | B．confident | C．rude | D．generous |
| A．department | B．organization | C．team | D．unit |
| A．ended up | B．aimed at | C．carried on | D．contributed to |
| A．approved | B．appreciated | C．stressed | D．expected |
| A．share | B．treat | C．describe | D．prove |
| A．customers | B．passengers | C．employers | D．colleagues |
| A．load | B．depression | C．spirit | D．income |
5 . Are you relatively skinny but growing a “beer belly”?
Then don’t be surprised at your next checkup if the nurse measures your waistline to determine your healthy weight. That’s because research is showing that a protruding (鼓出的) belly may be a sign of VAT — a dangerous form of fat around organs deep inside your body. “Studies confirm that visceral (内脏的) fat is a clear health risk,” said Dr. Tiffany Wiley, a senior expert at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Unlike the fat just under your skin, visceral fat raises your risk for heart disease. Experts think that’s because visceral fat raises blood pressure and inflames (使发炎) tissues and organs.
However, you can’t assume you’re safe from visceral fat if your overall weight is healthy, experts stress. That’s because you can have dangerous visceral fat even if you’re not considered overweight — and not have any visceral fat even if you are overweight.
How do you know if your stomach is protruding into dangerous size? Do a check. Non-pregnant women with a waist size greater than 88 cm and men with a waist larger than 102 cm, are at higher risk according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you’re Asian, it drops to 80 cm for women and 90 cm for men. But it is only a rough measure. “The only sure way to know is to check your visceral fat levels on a CT scan or MRI,” say experts.
According to the AHA committee, the most salutary physical activity to “shrink” belly is aerobic exercise. Aerobic means “with oxygen”, so aerobic exercise increases your breathing rate and promotes the circulation of oxygen through the blood. This type of exercise makes the heart work more effectively and improves its ability to move oxygen-carrying blood with every beat. Speed walking, jogging, stair climbing, cycling and swimming are all examples of aerobic exercise.
“However, more studies are needed to determine the best physical activity, food and other lifestyle changes to reduce heart disease risk,” Dr. Tiffany Wiley added.
1. What would a “beer belly” cause?| A．Enlarged organs inside the body. | B．Higher risk of heart disease. |
| C．Raised mental pressure. | D．Inflamed stomach. |
| A．A white man with a waist size of 120 cm. |
| B．A white woman with a waist size of 90 cm. |
| C．An Asian man with a waist size of 102 cm. |
| D．An Asian woman with a waist size of 75 cm. |
| A．Beneficial. | B．Difficult. | C．Enthusiastic. | D．Useless. |
| A．Doing aerobic exercise can remove visceral fat completely. |
| B．Heart ability improves when one does speed walking. |
| C．Further studies are needed to reduce heart disease risk. |
| D．Food and life style determine one’s body shape. |
6 . At noon, I would race breathlessly home, a ten-minute walk from my school. My mother was waiting for me with pleasure to have lunch while I shared what happened at school.
I had been picked to be the princess in the school play, and for weeks my mother had rehearsed (排练) my lines so hard with me. But no matter how easily I acted at home, hardly had I stepped on stage when every word escaped me. Finally, my teacher asked me to change to a narrator’s (解说员) part. Her word, kindly expressed, still hurt, especially when I saw my part go to another girl.
I didn’t tell my mother what had happened that day. But she sensed my pain. Instead of suggesting we practice my lines, she asked if I wanted to walk in the yard.
Under the rose vine, we could see yellow dandelions (蒲公英), as if a painter had touched our landscape with shades of gold. I watched my mother casually bend down by one dandelion. “I’m going to dig up all these weeds,” she said, pulling it up by its roots. “From now on, we’ll have only roses in this garden.”
“But I like dandelions,” I argued. “All flowers are beautiful — even dandelions.”
My mother asked thoughtfully, “Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?” I nodded, pleased I had won her over. “And that is true of people too,” she added. I burst into tears, a mixture of relief and regret swelling up as I told her what had happened.
“But you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said, encouraging me as she did. “The narrator’s part is important, too.” Composing myself gradually, I began to accept the narrator’s part. Then came the performance day. I was still nervous, but it was at that very moment that I found a dandelion in my pocket. It was obvious that my mom secretly put the flower there, which magically gave me confidence.
1. Why did the author get changed to the narrator’s part?| A．She was shy. | B．She lacked practice. |
| C．She disliked the former role. | D．She totally forgot the lines. |
| A．Her mother asked her what happened patiently. |
| B．Her mother insisted on her practicing the lines. |
| C．Her mother made her realize every role counted. |
| D．Her mother immediately encouraged her to cheer up. |
| A．Sympathetic but strict. | B．Understanding and wise. |
| C．Passionate but anxious. | D．Curious and easy-going. |
| A．All that glitters is not gold. |
| B．Actions speak louder than words. |
| C．Constant dripping wears away a stone. |
| D．Every individual can make a difference. |
7 . This page explains how to prepare your article for submission to any of our journals.
Note that length limits, article types and other journal specific information are available on the “Author information” page on each journal website.
The submitting author will be required to provide an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) via the online submission system. The benefits of registering an ORCID are outlined here. Provision of ORCIDs by co-authors is strongly encouraged, but not a must.
You are permitted to suggest suitably regular reviewers (审稿人), especially if you are from underrepresented groups, such as women, scientists with disabilities, early life researchers. However, we may choose to use other reviewers.
Editorial rules
Please carefully read our rule page before submitting and review our licensing and open access conditions. Papers submitted to our journals are normally peer reviewed in a single-blind fashion (author names are not hidden, but judge names are).
Unless you have selected for publication of peer review information for accepted papers, the review reports and other contact information relating to your paper should not be shared or made publicly available.
Formatting (编排格式) your article
In order to make submission as easy as possible for authors, we have introduced format-free first submission for the majority of our journals, apart from Biology Letters which requires a Word version upon first submission to enable accurate length calculation.
Once an article has been accepted for publication the main contribution must be submitted as an editable file, not a PDF, and the source files of any figures and tables must be provided.
1. What are women especially suggested doing in the text?| A．Offering their ORCIDs. |
| B．Recommending qualified reviewers. |
| C．Focusing on access conditions. |
| D．Measuring article length correctly. |
| A．Writer names. | B．The review reports. |
| C．Judges’ emails. | D．Judge names. |
| A．An editor. | B．A journalist. | C．A researcher. | D．A reviewer. |
8 . Reagan Lawrence is a 13-year-old girl and band member at Bonaire Middle School, in central Georgia, USA. Over the past several months, she has used the grief and stress
The COVID-19 pandemic has been very
Feeling
This gave her a(n)
And so she did! While Reagan is typically a
In all, Reagan
Reagan Lawrence’s story has
| A．released | B．created | C．formed | D．caused |
| A．put out | B．bring out | C．let out | D．make out |
| A．typical | B．special | C．cruel | D．normal |
| A．relatives | B．classmates | C．friends | D．doctors |
| A．occasionally | B．constantly | C．suddenly | D．temporarily |
| A．recover | B．cure | C．help | D．save |
| A．inspiration | B．excuse | C．promise | D．ambition |
| A．evaluate | B．praise | C．admire | D．reward |
| A．involved | B．adapted | C．devoted | D．attached |
| A．shy | B．brave | C．generous | D．patient |
| A．sales | B．awareness | C．quality | D．service |
| A．brought | B．donated | C．sold | D．stored |
| A．considerate | B．brave | C．responsible | D．grateful |
| A．invited | B．motivated | C．persuaded | D．required |
| A．danger | B．order | C．charge | D．need |
9 . September 23 marks the start of a new season.
According to Dictionary.com, fall isn’t a modern name that followed the more traditional autumn. The two terms are actually first recorded within a few hundred years, with the term fall being used even a bit earlier.
Around the same time England adopted autumn, the first-ever British American colonists (殖民者) were voyaging to North America.
| A．With them they brought the words fall and autumn. |
| B．The Americans prefer using fall to using autumn. |
| C．However, what exactly you should call that season depends on where you are. |
| D．But for some reason, only spring had staying power in Britain. |
| E．It is time to gather apples, rice and other things for the farmers. |
| F．So what is it about the season that makes it so special? |
| G．Before either word appeared, the season between summer and winter was known as harvest. |
10 . Fritillaria plants can be easily spotted. The usually bright green plants often stand alone amid the rocks at the top of the Himalayan and Hengduan mountains in southwestern China — easy pickings for traditional Chinese medicine herbalists, who’ve ground the bulbs (鳞茎) of Fritillaria into a cough-treating powder for more than 2, 000 years. The demand for the bulbs is intense, since about 3,500 of them are needed to produce one kilogram of the powder, worth about $480.
But some Fritillaria are remarkably difficult to find, with leaves and stems that are barely distinguishable from the gray or brown rocky background. Surprisingly, the plants’ camouflage (伪装) seems to have evolved in response to people.
In wide open areas with little cover, like mountaintops, blending in can help the plants avoid hungry herbivores, says Yang Niu, a botanist at the Kunming Institute of Botany in China. But after five years of studying camouflage in Fritillaria, he did not spot any animals feeding on the plants. So Niu, his colleague Hang Sun and sensory ecologist Martin Stevens of the University of Exeter in England decided to see if humans might be driving the evolution of the plants’ camouflage.
During their research, local herbalists noted the total weight of the bulbs harvested each year from 2014 to 2019 at seven study sites. These records indicated contemporary harvesting pressure on the plants. In the meantime, the researchers assessed the ease of harvesting by recording how long it took to dig up bulbs at six of those sites. On some slopes, bulbs are easily dug up, but in others they can be buried under rocks. Both measures have revealed a striking pattern: The more harvested a site is, the better the color of a plant matches its background.
However, camouflage can present some challenges. Pollinators (花粉传播者) might have a harder time finding the camouflaged plants, and the gray and brown coloration could impair photosynthetic (光合) activity. Still, these Fritillaria show how adaptable the plants can be. The plants can better change their appearance than we might have expected.
1. What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?| A．The living environment of Fritillaria. |
| B．The appearance of Fritillaria. |
| C．The reasons for picking Fritillaria. |
| D．The history of traditional Chinese medicine. |
| A．Fritillaria usually exist under rocks. |
| B．Animals drive Fritillaria to hide themselves better. |
| C．Frequent human activities make it easier to spot Fritillaria. |
| D．Fritillaria camouflage themselves better where harvested more often. |
| A．All plants are poor at camouflaging. |
| B．Fritillaria are constantly changing how they look. |
| C．Camouflage can bring some side-effects to Fritillaria. |
| D．Fritillaria camouflaged to be gray which can promote growth. |
| A．The demand for the Fritillaria is intense. |
| B．Fritillaria are remarkably difficult to find. |
| C．Camouflage can present some challenges to the Fritillaria. |
| D．Human activities drive the evolution of the Fritillaria’s camouflage. |
