1 . People around the world take celebrating seriously, and many of them are willing to go to great effort and expense to plan and participate in public celebrations.
Exactly when and where human beings began coming together in public to celebrate as a group can date back to hunter-gatherer societies, when success in the never-ending search for food, clothing, and shelter must have aroused the need to celebrate together.
Besides the need for food and survival, there are records of religious parades dating back to 3000 B.C. Parades were also used to demonstrate military power and celebrate military victories; to attract customers to events such as the circus by giving the public a sample of the entertainment; or to celebrate ethnic (民族的) connection and holidays. The New York Times of October 28, 1917, summed it up by saying, “If you take the parades out of history, you have precious little history left.”
Of course, many modern celebrations are not connected to any religion. In the Internet era, electronic communication makes it possible to organize celebrations almost instantly. “Flash mobs” are a new way of gathering and celebrating. Secretly planned online, they bring together tens, hundreds, or thousands of individuals to perform some unusual or funny act in a public place. Flash mobs not only reflect the increased speed of communication but also a lighter attitude to celebration. No longer is public celebrating something necessarily linked to human survival, religion, or deep traditions.
This does not mean, however, that modern celebrations are not socially conscious. One striking image inspiring community spirit is Edwards’ photograph of crowds in Australia, who were gathering in the rain for a music festival to raise funds for wildfire relief. Throughout history, across countries and cultures, celebrations are always worth significant amount of time and money spent planning, preparing, organizing, and carrying out an event. The priority given to celebrating seems to put it alongside food, shelter, love, and freedom as a basic need of humanity.
1. According to the passage, which one of the following events can make celebrations happen?A.A business has made a huge profit. | B.It has been sunny for a week. |
C.Farmers harvest in the autumn. | D.A new museum opens in the city center. |
A.If there is no parade, human history will be more precious. |
B.Students should be taught the importance of parades in history class. |
C.Only parades can be recorded in history books. |
D.Many significant historic moments featured a parade. |
A.Four strangers meet at a concert and then decide to perform together in a public square. |
B.Someone announces openly a series of performances to take place at school. |
C.An online group plans and performs a dance in a crowded train station. |
D.The number of people watching a street performer grows to several hundred. |
A.Why We Celebrate? | B.Celebration and Social Responsibility |
C.Planning a Parade | D.The Origin of Celebration |
假设你是王明,你的好友李华在暑假里与父母一起去了欧洲旅游。在旅途中,他发邮件给你,说他不喜欢旅游,宁愿在家里玩游戏。回复李华一封邮件,告诉他旅游是非常有意义的。在邮件中,你必须:
1. 指出李华的认识误区;
2. 结合具体例子来说明旅游的好处。
注意:文中不得出现真实的人名、校名。
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7 . Group Intelligence
Being smart doesn’t matter much if you’re working in a group, according to the first study to calculate collective intelligence — a group’s ability to succeed at a variety of tasks.
Surprisingly, in a team an individual’s intelligence does not have much to do with success in thought-based tasks such as visual puzzles and negotiating over limited resources, a set of recent experiments found.
That also explains why groups with more women — who score higher on tests of social sensitivity — were more likely to stand out, said study leader Anita Williams Woolley, an expert in collective intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Particularly intelligent groups also had more people who took turns speaking, according to the study, published in the journal Science.
To test the conclusion, Woolley and colleagues recruited 699 volunteers and first measured each person’s intelligence and social sensitivity using standard psychological tests.
A.There’s such a focus on individual intelligence and individual accomplishment. |
B.This ability to predict group success may offer guidance in real-life situations. |
C.Instead, a group is more successful if it contains people who can read emotions from people’s faces. |
D.Group intelligence may also be rooted in the past. |
E.The volunteers were then split into groups of two to five and asked to do some simple tasks. |
F.Next, the groups were each asked to perform more complex tasks. |
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A.A high school student who goes home after school without parents. |
B.A newly married man whose wife is on a business trip. |
C.An old lady who lives alone in a suburban house. |
D.A young traveler who loves travelling on his/her own. |
A.Both devices can be delivered to users free of charge. |
B.Medical Alert Plus can help monitor body temperatures. |
C.People can order the devices either on the phone or online. |
D.On-The-Go can give warnings whenever users fall on the ground. |
A.In a science fiction novel. | B.In a literature book. |
C.On an ad page in a magazine. | D.In a textbook on medical theories. |
9 . We recently went to a friend’s backyard to meet her new puppy. He was lovely beyond words. Our friend was wearing smiles as she told us about his first days at home. It was truly puppy love.
Later that night, I walked behind my own dog to help her climb up the stairs, and heated up the homemade food that helps control her kidney (肾) disease. You can’t imagine these extra cares when you began raising a puppy. For me, I am lucky to know this more “mature” love. To love, and to be loved, by an old dog is truly an honor.
For a long time, I denied the fact that our dog was getting old, or I really didn’t notice that Skyler was getting older. But these days, there is no denying the fact. Sometimes, she will fall while eating from her bowl and wait patiently for someone to help her up.
I still remember the first days of Skyler. In the home, she always needed to be beside someone, with at least one part of her touching one part of you. At the park, it was different. If we started running toward the end of a field, she would cross the finish line before we had even made it halfway.
Now, at 15, Skyler still needs to be right beside you on the couch. But it is hard. It is sad to see this once fast, strong dog struggle to walk up the front steps or to see her begging eyes whenever she needs help to get up on the couch. Over the past few years, we have had to forgo certain family trips because we wanted to take care of her at home.
However, I know this experience has taught our children about sacrifice and unconditional love. It has taught me the same. Dogs give us unconditional love. The least we can do is give it back. There will likely be times of great sadness and hardship, but in the end, you will feel very lucky for the time you have together.
1. In paragraph 2, why does the author mention what he did late that night?A.To complain about the troubles of raising a dog. |
B.To show her regret of meeting her friend’s new puppy. |
C.To tell readers that she is taking care of an old sick dog. |
D.To illustrate the correct way of caring for dogs. |
A.When the author first got Skyler, she was always running in the house. |
B.Skyler has always been eager to have people beside her. |
C.Skyler will beg for some food before she gets up. |
D.To take care of Skyler, the author often brings her during the journey. |
A.cancel | B.forget | C.organize | D.delay |
A.She is strongly against keeping a dog. |
B.She considers it a double-edged sword to keep a dog. |
C.She suggests we should think twice before keeping a dog. |
D.She thinks keeping a dog is worthwhile for the whole family. |
10 . Anyone who has felt a moment of joy when a favorite song comes on the radio at just the right moment or cried along with a singer expressing heartache will understand the emotional power of music. Now, a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrates that music can be
In a review of 400 research papers looking into the
One 2007 study from a team of Spanish researchers found that listening to music
Music can have a huge effect on helping sick
“When children are in the hospital, their worlds get much
The parents also become part of the therapeutic process. “What’s really lovely is when you go in and you start to make music, and the children invite their parents to join,” she says. “There is this beautiful
Finding those
A.research | B.medicine | C.emotion | D.stress |
A.effects | B.causes | C.factors | D.themes |
A.benefits | B.problems | C.influences | D.profits |
A.after | B.during | C.without | D.before |
A.operation | B.participation | C.recovery | D.therapy |
A.musicians | B.students | C.patients | D.researchers |
A.males | B.females | C.adults | D.children |
A.humor | B.duty | C.control | D.loss |
A.wider | B.smaller | C.freer | D.deeper |
A.speaking | B.singing | C.sticking | D.smiling |
A.conversation | B.distinction | C.cooperation | D.interaction |
A.step back | B.join in | C.turn away | D.hold on |
A.puzzling | B.meaningful | C.ridiculous | D.disappointing |
A.forget | B.refuse | C.change | D.access |
A.medical | B.digital | C.musical | D.practical |