1. Why did the speaker go on the tour?
A.It was the prize of a competition. |
B.John asked her to go with him. |
C.It was her travel plan. |
A.The drinks. | B.The food. | C.The waiters. |
A.Disappointing. | B.Amazing. | C.Terrible. |
A.She rode an elephant. |
B.She went to the mountains. |
C.She relaxed in the hotel. |
1. When did the man’s boss call Jeff?
A.In the morning. | B.In the afternoon. | C.In the evening. |
A.Over the phone. | B.By e-mail. | C.In person. |
A.He was sick. |
B.He was off the day. |
C.He was working somewhere else. |
A.Excited. | B.Angry. | C.Surprised. |
1. What are the speakers doing?
A.Discussing their schedule. |
B.Packing for a journey. |
C.Deciding on a present. |
A.Swimming. | B.Playing basketball. | C.Reading books on modern art. |
A.Find a basketball. | B.Leave home. | C.Call a taxi. |
4 . In recent studies we have been investigating mirror writing by typical 4- to 6-year-old children. The term is used because the characters — numbers and capital letters — are reversed (反向), yet are correct when looked at in a mirror.
Mirror writing entered the scientific literature in 1878. The explanations for the phenomenon were not only insufficient but also often wrong. One of them is — writing with the left hand. Throughout the 20th century, scientific journals have published mirror writing mostly produced by left-handed children. Even today, left-handedness is often the favorite explanation of teachers when children produce mirror writing.
The explanation we find for the phenomenon of mirror writing of characters works on two successive levels, the first cerebral and the second behavioral. The cerebral level shows that the brain removes orientation (left or right) when storing images, a process called symmetrisation or mirror generalization. This mirror-generalization process leads children aged 5 to know, from memory, the shape of the characters, but not their left/right orientation. Given the features of the process — horizontal mirror in the visual modality (视觉模式) — it is important to note that the initial learning of the form of the characters by the children is mainly visual, and that the children only produce horizontal mirror writing.
At the behavioral level, when children write the characters from memory, they must give them an orientation. In countries whose primary languages are written in Latin characters — written from left to right — children most often point them toward the right. This leads them to reverse mainly the left-oriented characters: J, Z, 1, 2, 3, 7, and 9. However, when spatial constraints cause them to write from right to left, the children instead reverse the right-oriented letters.
Since this explanation has nothing to do with the handedness of the children, it can be predicted that right-handed children will reverse characters almost often as left-handed children, and that – left-handed or right-handed – children will primarily reverse left-oriented characters in Western culture. This is because they strictly orient the characters in the direction of writing.
1. What aspect of a character does mirror generalization help children to know?A.Its form. | B.Its pronunciation. |
C.Its meaning. | D.Its orientation. |
A.Paragraph 2. | B.Paragraph 3. |
C.Paragraph 4. | D.Paragraph 5. |
A.M. | B.C. | C.8. | D.9. |
A.Handedness is the main reason for mirror writing. |
B.Right-handed children won’t write reversed characters. |
C.Left-handed children reverse right-oriented characters more often. |
D.Children in the US tend to primarily reverse left-oriented characters. |
5 . The beauty of love is that it can happen with the most unexpected person in the most unlikely places. In the case of a one-year-old stray puppy in Duplin County, North Carolina, that “person” happened to be a bright
It is unclear how the adorable Labrador mix, now called Sisu, first caught sight of the
After Sisu attempted for the fifth time, the store owner
On March 26, 2021, the shelter staff
A.red | B.black | C.white | D.purple |
A.opportunity | B.love | C.fortune | D.challenge |
A.steal | B.touch | C.watch | D.find |
A.looked | B.pulled | C.cut | D.burst |
A.tool | B.clothing | C.toy | D.food |
A.barks | B.attempts | C.choices | D.mistakes |
A.called | B.helped | C.complained | D.attacked |
A.gently | B.leisurely | C.eagerly | D.angrily |
A.brave | B.shameful | C.regretful | D.heartbroken |
A.depressingly | B.surprisingly | C.disappointingly | D.confusingly |
A.posted | B.took | C.downloaded | D.found |
A.acquiring | B.imitating | C.adding | D.inventing |
A.shabby | B.permanent | C.fancy | D.costly |
A.borrowed | B.subscribed | C.received | D.bought |
A.without | B.around | C.between | D.against |
6 . Most people, if you quizzed them, probably wouldn’t know how much of all global trade is done by sea. It’s one of several reasons that the pollution and carbon emissions from shipping gain much less attention than those from road transport and other industries. It’s over the horizon, out of sight and out of mind.
Today, the international shipping industry is the main mode of transport for around 90 per cent of world trade. It’s powered almost entirely by fossil fuels. Studies show that alternative technologies and zero-emission fuels — including electrofuels such as hydrogen, ammonia and methanol — have the potential to significantly reduce the industry’s carbon footprint and thus require urgent implementation (实施). There’s just one catch: they don’t exist yet.
Even if the technology were available, the infrastructure (基础设施) for that technology or fuel is going to take time to develop. And an even bigger challenge is going to be whether that methanol or ammonia fuel is green, which touches on other industries such as renewable electricity. Do we even have enough renewable electricity in the world to be able to generate these fuels? It’s a complex supply chain that requires cooperation across the industry. It’s not something that one company can solve by itself.
According to Piotr Konopka, senior manager for energy and decarbonisation (碳减排) programs at DP World, there are some simple behavioral changes that can help cut down on fuel used in the meantime, from the regular maintenance and reduced idling of port equipment to the implementation of weather routing that helps ships avoid rougher, more fuel-intensive stretches of water. “Of course, efficiency is unlikely to ever reduce emissions by more than five or ten per cent, but it’s definitely a low-hanging fruit,” he says.
“This is the last moment for the IMO to act decisively to eliminate shipping emissions” says Delaine McCullough, shipping emissions policy manager at environmental NGO Ocean Conservancy. “We need countries to demand that the IMO set strong emission-reduction goals and take action at home if the IMO fails to do the right thing.”
1. What makes people neglect shipping emissions?A.Prejudice. |
B.Nearsightedness. |
C.Low intelligence. |
D.Lack of knowledge. |
A.Device. | B.Harvest. | C.Problem. | D.Prey. |
A.Alternative fuels. | B.Efficient use of fuel. |
C.Renewable electricity. | D.Advanced technologies. |
A.①/②③/④⑤ | B.①②/③④/⑤ |
C.①②③/④/⑤ | D.①/②③④/⑤ |
7 . A common claim states that a sheet of paper cannot be folded in half more than seven times. But is this true?
In 2002, Britney Gallivan, then a junior in high school in Pomona, California, folded a single piece of paper in half 12 times. She currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most times to fold a sheet of paper in half.
The prompt that led Gallivan to accomplish this was an extra-credit challenge in math class to fold anything in half 12 times. Her teacher asked the students to fold something thicker: a piece of paper.
Gallivan said “it was very frustrating, as I had many unsuccessful attempts at trying to fold different papers in half. I began to question if folding paper in half more than eight times could be impossible.” However, Gallivan recalled. “I knew I needed to understand what was limiting the folding progression.”
The equations (方程式) that Gallivan came up with calculated how many times a sheet of paper could be folded. She found that in order to fold many times, a long thin sheet is needed — the more a sheet is folded, the thicker the resulting stack becomes, and once the stack becomes thicker than it is long, there is nothing left to fold. She ultimately set her record with a sheet of tissue paper she found online that was 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) — more than three-quarters of a mile, or over a kilometer long, Guinness World Records noted.
“Working on the problem took a tremendous amount of time and effort,” Gallivan said. “As frustrating as it was at times, I learned an immense amount from the experience, which has been valuable to me throughout my life in more capacities than one would expect.”
Since Gallivan set her record, others have made claims of folding a sheet of paper more than 12 times. Still, “I anticipate that my current record will be surpassed,” Gallivan said.
1. What prompts Gallivan to accept the challenge?A.Peer pressure. |
B.Mathematics anxiety. |
C.Academic requirement. |
D.Guinness World Records. |
A.The stack is as thick as it’s long. |
B.The paper is neither long nor thin. |
C.The stack is thicker than it’s long. |
D.The paper is longer than it’s thick. |
A.It’s risky. |
B.It’s fruitless. |
C.It’s meaningless. |
D.It’s energy-consuming. |
A.Gallivan’s record is impossible to break. |
B.Folding paper in half is merely a math problem. |
C.Folding things in half may not be limited to 12. |
D.Folding paper 12 times is a required credit in high schools. |
8 . There is no doubt that when you receive a compliment, you feel good and when you receive a criticism, you feel upset and want to refuse it.
You shouldn’t be surprised by your reaction to the negative comment, as it’s human’s survival mechanism to avoid being criticized. Clearly, we don’t want to be seen as failures, so we’d rather shut our eyes and cover our ears than have to take any criticisms from others.
Imagine you’re learning to play the guitar, and you have just done your first public performance. Your teacher says, “You did well,” which may not be as useful in helping you improve your performance skills as “Your timing needs some work.” So I believe that criticisms are better than compliments.
No one would argue that healthy nutrition is a bad thing. However, too much food or drink — no matter how healthy they may be — can make us ill. Too many compliments take us away from our original enthusiasm of enjoying an activity. We start doing the activity only for the sake of receiving self-satisfying praise. Without the expectation of praise, our enthusiasm to complete things begins to be lost.
Launched in 2010, Microsoft KIN only lasted on the market for 48 days. It was very obvious that most 15 to 30-year-olds preferred Androids, BlackBerrys and iPhones to the Microsoft KIN. If criticism and feedback from the target group had been received while the phone was in development, Microsoft KIN could have avoided the huge embarrassment and its final failure.
Just to be clear, I’m talking about constructive criticism, which I like to think of as “healthy criticism”. The right kind of criticism is honest feedback that will benefit you. Feedback forces you to reconsider your actions and the way you work. If you use constructive criticism wisely, it can guide you away from bad practices, giving you support and courage to move forward to be a better person in the future.
1. What can we learn about compliment and criticism in Paragraph 1?A.People’s response to them. | B.People’s ways to express them. |
C.People’s understanding of them. | D.People’s different opinions on them. |
A.More annoyed. | B.More satisfied. | C.Less worried. | D.Less interested. |
A.To encourage growth. | B.To develop intelligence. |
C.To avoid embarrassment. | D.To reduce enthusiasm. |
A.Criticisms are better than compliments. |
B.Constructive criticism contributes to better future. |
C.Honest feedback comes from healthy criticism. |
D.Enough enthusiasm is vital for further development. |
I grew up in southeastern Michigan. I was a fan of Detroit Tigers, a famous baseball team, as a young boy.
My childhood dream was to be like my hero, Al Kaline, and someday play for the Tigers. My Dad would take me to Tiger Stadium several times a year and my hero Al Kaline would never let me down. We never attended a game that he didn’t get at least one hit.
I was crazy about baseball. If there was a game in my high school, I was never absent. I kept practising so that I could achieve my dream of playing for the Tigers, and I was doing well at each level of play. Later, I got a chance to sign up for a strong American Legion baseball program. There I met our coach, Bob Ohm, who knew a lot of baseball and taught each of us the basics as well as more advanced baseball skills. With Bob Ohm’s help and my hard work, I had set new records in many baseball championships.
My dream to be like my hero seemed to draw near. One summer, I went up to play the final season in Marinette. There were scouts who came to find the best players. This was it! My big chance!
Well, as the game progressed I hit the ball very well getting five hits in the game. Unfortunately, I also made four mistakes. The final mistake actually drew laughter from the crowd.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150个左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
After the game, I knew my dream of playing professional baseball was lost.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Today, I teach baseball in a high school.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________10 . Finding a California condor in the wild would be the most unusual treat. perhaps even more unusual than finding a wolf in Yellowstone National Park. In fact, the wolf was what opened my eyes to the fact that humans could bring an animal back to the place where it had disappeared.
In 1987, there were only 27 California condors left, none of which were in the wild, only in captive breeding programs, It was those breeding programs that contributed to their population rise, enough that by 1991 some of them could be freed into the wild.
Still, the hope of seeing a California condor, which remains an endangered species, is very low, let alone getting a photo of one. California condor population dropped mostly due to human factors, such as poaching and living areas destruction-these are challenges California condors still face today.
Although this is just a bird’s-eye view of the challenges California condors face and there are many others, it is part of why the opportunity to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service team and their partners helping their recovery is so special to me as a photographer. I am not only able to photograph the birds in their wild living areas, but also understand and record how difficult the work is of those people on the front lines of the protection.
I am grateful for the work of the team, and my hope is that California condor population will continue to rise allowing future generations an opportunity I never had when I first got here-to look to the sky and see one flying around.
1. What helped the increase of the California condor population in 1987?A.Rules for hunters. | B.Captive breeding programs. |
C.The improved natural environment. | D.The enlargement of wild living areas. |
A.It is difficult. | B.It is easy. | C.It is boring. | D.It is dangerous. |
A.He guided ways for them. | B.He made records by photos. |
C.He helped the birds to recover. | D.He rebuilt the birds’ living areas. |
A.New Way, New Hope | B.Wolves and California Condors |
C.A Photo of a California Condor | D.The California Condor’s Coming Back |