1 . Steps to Take to Become a Morning Person

Seek out as much natural light as possible.

The secret to becoming a morning person is exposure to bright light, says Jennifer Martin, president of the board of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. That’s because light suppresses melatonin, a hormone that plays an important role in circadian rhythm.     1    

Ease in gradually.

    2     You could force yourself to get up at your desired time every day, knowing that you’ll feel tired during the transition but will naturally start falling asleep earlier within a few weeks. But for some people — like those who need to drive long distances — those first few days of exhaustion from switching to a new schedule aren’t safe. In that case, Martin recommends gradually easing into the early-bird life. “What I’ll suggest to people is to shift half an hour, wait a few days, shift another half an hour, wait a few days, and then shift another half an hour,” she says.

    3    

A consistent bedtime isn’t as crucial as sticking to the same wake up time every day, but it’s still important to make sure you’re getting enough sleep. Most people should aim for at least seven hours a night — so you’ll probably need to inch your bedtime forward as you transition to a new schedule. Starting at least an hour before you hit the sack, cut back on how much exposure to bright light you’re getting, experts advise.     4    

Plan something to look forward to.

    5       “Now is the time to go buy your favorite coffee or pick up some pastries to have when your alarm goes off at 5 a. m.,” she says. “You’re not dreading it if you think of that.”

A．Reschedule your bedtime.

B．Wind down in the evenings.

C．The sun is the driver of our internal clock.

D．There are two ways to approach your journey to early rising.

E．To tempt you out of bed, Martin suggests treating yourself to something special.

F．Being exposed to artificial light in the late evening could interfere with your ability to fall asleep.

G．They also recommend rethinking the curtains you might use to foster a very dark sleeping environment.

2 . Many significant international projects have considered how schooling might change to better match the changes that have taken place in the 21st century.     1     One is a shift in the meaning of knowledge, and the other is the need to build education systems based around what we now know about learning.

The term “knowledge age” or “knowledge economy” refers to a reorganization away from an Industrial Age economy, where exploitation (开采) of natural resources, primary production and mass production were the standard models for economic development.     2     This is achieved through the rapid creation of new knowledge and has become the basis for economic development. It is argued that education for the knowledge age must focus on the development of learners’ competences to deal with new situations and environments.

    3     Nor does it deny the need for obvious goals for students’ knowledge development. Rather, the future-focused education literature suggests we need to adopt a much more complex view of knowledge, one that incorporates knowing, doing and being. Alongside this we need to rethink our ideas about how our learning systems are organized, resourced and supported. Research clearly shows that people do not learn well as passive recipients (接受者) of pre-packaged, bite-sized pieces of knowledge.     4    

Although some of these principles are understood by many teachers, our education systems and practices are often set up in ways that do not support these principles to operate in practice. Teachers and school leaders are attempting paradigm (范式) shifts.     5    

A．There needs to be wider public support for them.

B．There are two important ideas that support this work.

C．This does not mean that knowledge no longer matters.

D．Good learning requires active engagement in the “whole game”.

E．We are required to prepare young people for the knowledge age.

F．This is possible only when active learning approaches are applied.

G．In the knowledge age, the ability to generate value is put in the first place.

3 . Most of us assume those hyper-achievers who are always able to squeeze in their workout, eat healthy foods and pick their kids up on time must have superhuman self-control. But science points to a different answer:    1     The only catch is that building good habits takes effort and insight. Thankfully, here are a few research-backed steps that can set you on the path to where you want to be.

1.Set a specific goal

The way you define the goal you hope to turn into a habit does matter. Goals like “meditate regularly” are too abstract, research has shown.     2    Don’t say “I’ll meditate regularly. “ Say, “I’ll meditate for 15 minutes each day. “This is actually key to habit formation, making the task easy to carry out, but it’s often overlooked.

2.Create a detailed, cue-based plan

    3    Scientists have proven that you’ll make more progress toward your goal if you decide not just what you’ll do, but when and where you’ll be cued to do it. Making this kind of plan reduces the chances you’ll forget to follow through because the when and where in your plan will serve as cues to action.

A plan like “I’ll study Spanish for 30 minutes every weekday” is OK. But a detailed, cue-based plan like “Every workday after my last meeting, I’ll spend 30 minutes studying Spanish in my office” is more likely to stick as a habit.

3.     4    

We’re strongly influenced by the behaviors of the people around us, evidence shows. Want to start running regularly? You’re probably better off joining an established running club than asking a few friends who aren’t yet in the habit of jogging to get in shape with you.

However, it’s important not to get too crazy - if you try to train with marathoners when you’re just hoping to work up to a 5K, it can be discouraging.

4.Make it fun to repeat

Research has shown you’ll persist longer and ultimately achieve more if you focus on finding ways to make goal pursuit fun. One excellent way is to try “temptation bundling”. Research shows that temptation bundling improves follow-through; it transforms goal pursuit into a source of pleasure, not pain.     5    

A．Find the right kind of social support.

B．Tell your friends and family about your goals.

C．What we mistake for willpower is often a natural outcome of habit.

D．You’ll benefit from being more specific about what exactly you aim to do and how often.

E．Having a bite-size objective makes it less daunting to get started and easier to see your progress.

F．Now you have established a specific goal, it’s time to think about what will cue you to follow through.

G．For example, watch your favorite show while at the gym or enjoy a beloved podcast while cooking healthy meals.

4 . On June 6th Columbia University announced that it will no longer co-operate with US News & World Report’s undergraduate rankings. It is the first top-notch institution to do so. Might its departure be the start of a mass departure?

Columbia’s decision follows a rankings scandal last year. In February 2022 one of Columbia’s own maths professors accused the college of fudging its data in several areas. The university later admitted to having used “outdated and/or incorrect methodologies”.

In the 1980s prospective students started to expand their college search beyond their local area, and it was hard to learn about universities and compare them. Hence, US News began ranking America’s top universities in 1983, and has released its findings annually since 1988.

Colleges have gone to great lengths to move up in the ratings. Richard Freeland, Northeastern University’s former president, capped class sizes and hired faculty to improve its spot; it moved from 127th in 2003 to 44th this year. Others went too far. A dean at Temple University’s business school was sentenced to prison and was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine after being found guilty of fraud in relation to artificially inflating his programme’s rankings.

The ranking system used to seem unstoppable. Universities have tried to ditch it before, only to find that doing so can backfire badly. US News still ranks non-participating universities, using publicly available information, and the data often do not go in their favour. Reed College, a liberal-arts college, stopped taking part in 1995. It tumbled from the top quartile to the bottom. Columbia did not submit data for this year’s analysis, citing concerns about Dr Thaddeus’s claims, and its ranking fell from second in 2021-22 (tied with Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to 18th in 2022-23 (tied with the University of Notre Dame).

Recently the mood has begun to change, however, especially among graduate schools. In 2022, of the 15 highest-ranked law schools, only the University of Chicago submitted data. Some undergraduate schools have already opted out this year (Rhode Island School of Design, Colorado College, Stillman College), but none are as prestigious as Columbia.

In May US News announced changes to its ranking methodology. It is moving away from metrics that rely on reputation and towards student outcomes. One way or another, the rankings—and universities more broadly—are in a state of constant change.

1. What is true about the US News undergraduate rankings?

A．It faked the information for the ratings.	B．It filled an information gap at one time.
C．It promoted the quality of higher education.	D．It has been released every year for 40 years.

2. If a college does not cooperate with US News, ______.

A．it will be ordered to pay a fine	B．it will be excluded from the list
C．its ranking will suffer consequently	D．its spot in the ranking won’t be affected

3. The underlined word “capped” in the fourth paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.

A．limited

B．increased

C．inflated

D．maintained

4. It can be inferred from the passage that US News undergraduate rankings may focus more on ______ in the future.

A．scores given by former students	B．donations from all walks of life
C．evaluations from other colleges	D．earnings for college graduates

5 . Aesthetic (审美) education aims to enhance aesthetic perception, experience aesthetic qualities, stimulate aesthetic creativity, and promote aesthetic judgement.

In order for kids to be able to appreciate natural wonders, shapes and pictures, they must be able to first notice them. This is why the development of the ability to notice the beautiful is the primary task of aesthetic education.     1     Kids are incapable of noticing particular shapes if their ability to notice object s and forms is undeveloped. The aesthetic relationship begins with the noticing of aesthetic qualities.

    2     This means that they generate emotional responses like excitement and joy, enriching individuals’ emotional lives and inspiring artistic expression. The ability to experience aesthetically must also be developed. The cognitive (认知的) elements of the processes that we experience during noticing must also include emotional tones with which we form impressions.     3     The aim of this task is, with the aid of aesthetic qualities, to enrich the emotional life of children and young people and the development of a sense for aesthetic values.

It is essential to allow children to participate in activities that will develop their creative abilities.     4     Instead, it is about creativity in the creation of aesthetic values in everyday life. We are not simply born with creative abilities which have to be developed.

Judging or evaluating aesthetic qualities demands formed evaluation criteria. In order for beauty to reveal its true value, we must be familiar with its particularities. Throughout the process of aesthetic education, various types of knowledge, abilities and evaluation criteria must be applied.     5    

A．Aesthetic qualities have to be felt.

B．Beauty can be found all around us.

C．The beautiful will be likely to be created.

D．And it is these that the aesthetic experience is built upon.

E．In some way, this is the ability to perceive aesthetic qualities.

F．This way, the child will develop the foundations for assessing the beautiful.

G．This is not so much about creating aesthetic abilities in the sense of training artists.

8 . Comparing college entrance exams, there are different needs for admission. The national college entrance examination, or gaokao, is known as the most competitive test for Chinese students. Do students in other countries also need to take a standardized test to get into university?

South Korea holds the College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT) in November each year. The CSAT plays an important role in the country’s education. On test day, bus and subway frequency increases to make sure that students can get to the test sites in time.

Japan is trying to reform its standardized national college entrance exam. In January 2022, Common Test for University Admissions took the place of the National Center Test for University Admissions, which had been adopted since 1990. The new exam aims to put emphasis on the ability of students to discover and solve problems by themselves.

The American College Test(ACT) and Scholastic Assessment Test(SAT) are the two main college entrance exams taken by students in the US. While SAT tests a student’s ability to learn, the ACT tests a student’s educational development. Both tests normally take place seven times throughout the year. Students can retake the exams for a better score.

In the UK, there’s no standardized test for college admission. Instead, each college has their own admission criteria. These criteria often only include submission of transcripts(成绩单) and participation in an interview. Yet, there are subject-specific exams used by some colleges.

1. What is the purpose of the new test in Japan?

A．To improve students’ learning environments.

B．To assess students’ educational backgrounds.

C．To assist more students in getting high scores.

D．To test students’ thinking and practical abilities.

2. What can American students do if they want a better university?

A．Take entrance exams repeatedly.

B．Have only one chance to be tested.

C．Sit a lot of subject-specific exams.

D．Meet each college’s admission criteria.

3. In which country do colleges hold their own entrance exams based on the text?

A．South Korea.

B．Japan.

C．America.

D．The UK.

9 . For decades the message to students in the United Slates has been nearly the same: You need to go to college. Students have heard this message loud and clear, ever since their childhood. However, while encouraging students to further their education after high school is a noble and well-intentioned action, the current system in the United States has created some damaging side effects.

The largest and most well-known consequence is the student debt. Tuition and fees at our-year universities have risen by around 54% since 1999. Total student debt in the U.S. is estimated at around $1.6 trillion, so much that even the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos would have to increase his wealth by nearly nine times to pay off all of it.

Although the price of acquiring a bachelor’s degree has gone up, the relative value of having the actual degree has been watered down by the fact that holding a degree is now an expectation, not a bonus. The poor return on investment is also evidenced by the massive waves of students earning degrees in fields where there simply are not enough jobs for the number of graduates, leaving young adults in debt and out of work.

The push for students to go to college has also prevented them from considering careers in important fields that don’t necessarily require a four-year degree, such as construction and manufacturing. Despite the good pay and benefits in these industries, the lack of new blood has lded to growing shortages of both workers and skills，causing delays and higher costs in project like road repairs and infrastructure (基础设施) improvements.

Colleges and universities remain critical to our nation. But as a society, it would benefit us greatly to acknowledge that college isn’t the only form of higher education and career preparation. Students and young adults have more options than they think and informing them of those opportunities can go a long way toward making higher education as a whole more effective, efficient and affordable.

1. How does the writer support his argument in paragraph 2?

A．By providing examples.	B．By giving numbers.
C．By explaining the logic.	D．By showing the effects.

2. What does the underlined expression “watered down” mean in paragraph 3?

A．Reduced.

B．Increased.

C．Reflected.

D．ignored.

3. What keeps students away from industries like construction?

A．Low salaries and benefits.	B．High degree requirements.
C．The trend of going to college.	D．The lack of job opportunities.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．How College Graduates End up in Debt	B．What A College Degree Really Brings
C．Who Is to Blame for The Worker Shortages	D．Why We Should Rethink Going to College

10 . There was a time when parents raised their children without relying on expert advice. In those days aunts and grandmothers were available to help. But during most of this century families have been increasingly separated from their extended families. Because child rearing seems to be a risky experiment, many parents have turned to experts. Unfortunately, that expert advice has been interpreted in the context of social trends and changed into child rearing fashions that later have been cast aside along with the reputations of some unreal experts whose names have been associated with those child rearing eras.

Early in this century, John Broadus Watson warned parents against spoiling their children with unnecessary displays of affection and recommended placing regular habits on them in order to instill self-discipline. The ideas of Sigmund Freud led the next era toward reasoning with children to help them become insightful individuals, capable of enjoying leisure as well as work. After World War Ⅱ, permissiveness (宽容) with children was inferred from the writings of Dr. Benjamin Spock, who enjoined parents to trust their intuitions (直觉) as they tried to meet their children’s needs.

Now we can choose from a variety of experts. On the “conservative” side are those who encourage firmness and “tough love” with children. On the “liberal” side are those who minimize confrontation (冲突) and stress negotiating with children.

Now parenthood has almost become professionalized so that many parents seek “the best way” to raise their children. Child rearing no longer is something that can be done by tradition, or common sense. There is a “right way” to put a child to bed, to leave a child with a sitter, to get a child started in school, and to have a friend over. Because being a parent is a career, like any career the harder we work at it the more we gain. The result is the general feeling that we cannot do enough for our children. Certainly we should raise our children better than we were raised.

1. What can be inferred from Paragraph 1?

A．Traditional child rearing wastes much money.

B．Parents are easy to be misled in child rearing.

C．Family members are major roles in child rearing.

D．Parents want to have their way of raising children.

2. What’s the point of the “conservative” side?

A．Children should have more free space.

B．Parents should treat children with equality.

C．Parents should become strict with children.

D．Parents should be careful to avoid conflicts.

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards present parenting?

A．Intolerant.	B．Doubtful.
C．Unclear.	D．Favorable.

4. What is the suitable title for the passage?

A．The Road to Creative Parenting	B．The Challenge to Bringing Up Kids
C．The Best Way to Be Clever Parents	D．The Significance of Parents’ Companion