1 . In a culture obsessed with measuring talent and ability, we often overlook the important role of inspiration because of its complicated nature. Its history of being treated as supernatural hasn’t helped the______. But as recent research shows, inspiration has a major effect on important______.

Inspiration is the springboard for creativity. Being in a state of inspiration ______the creativity of writing samples across scientific writing, poetry and fiction. Inspired writers are more ______and productive, and spend less time pausing and more time writing. The link between inspiration and creativity is in line with the surpassing aspect of inspiration, since creativity involves seeing possibility beyond existing restrictions.

Inspiration facilitates progress toward goals. In a recent study conducted by Marina Milyavskaya and her colleagues, college students were asked to report three goals they intended to_______ throughout the course of the semester. They then reported on their progress three times a month. Those who scored higher on the Inspiration Scale displayed increased goal progress, and their progress was a ______of setting more inspired goals. ______, people who were generally more inspired in their daily lives also tended to set inspired goals, which were then more likely to be successfully achieved. ______the relationship between inspiration and goal progress was mutual: goal progress also predicts future goal inspiration. Finally, inspired individuals reported experiencing more purpose in life and more gratitude.

Inspiration increases______. In another study, those who were exposed to Michael Jordan’s greatness experienced higher levels of Positive Affect, and this increase in Positive Affect was completely explained by their score on the Inspiration Scale. This inspiration was not______ though, foretelling positive well-being (e.g., life satisfaction) three months later!

Inspiration was more strongly______ future than to present satisfaction. The extent to which inspiration lasted was explained by self-reported levels of purpose and gratitude in life.

These findings show that inspiration______ a lot, which may put the burden on someone to become inspired and helpless to do so. The writer Elizabeth Gilbert rightly expresses this ______in her inspiring TED talk. I agree with Gilbert that one should not put______ on oneself to become inspired. These key scientific findings suggest that inspiration is not______— it happens. Knowing this should free you from the pressure to make inspiration happen.

1.

A．situation

B．quality

C．field

D．mystery

2.

A．moral lessons

B．academic careers

C．writing dreams

D．life outcomes

3.

A．involves

B．classifies

C．transforms

D．predicts

4.

A．ambitious

B．extraordinary

C．efficient

D．humble

5.

A．restore

B．accomplish

C．assign

D．share

6.

A．tribe

B．cause

C．survey

D．result

7.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Otherwise

D．Instead

8.

A．Relatively

B．Brilliantly

C．Importantly

D．Initially

9.

A．vision

B．dedication

C．interaction

D．welfare

10.

A．substantial

B．temporary

C．speedy

D．distinctive

11.

A．related to

B．based on

C．impressed on

D．addicted to

12.

A．improves

B．matters

C．arises

D．changes

13.

A．hatred

B．regret

C．concern

D．disappointment

14.

A．smile

B．emphasis

C．pressure

D．criticism

15.

A．ruined

B．interpreted

C．revised

D．imposed

2 . 5 Ways to Determine Website Reliability

For every trustworthy website, there is tons of information that’s inaccurate, unreliable or just crazy. For the inexperienced journalist or researcher, such sites can _________ a wide range of possible problems. With that in mind, here are five ways to tell if a website is _________.

● Look for Established Institutions

The internet is full of websites that were _________ five minutes ago. What you want are sites associated with _________ institutions that have been around for a while and have a proven track record of reliability. Such sites may include those run by government agencies, nonprofit organization or universities.

● Consult Sites with Expertise (专门知识)

You wouldn’t go to the hospital to have your car repaired. This is an obvious point: _________ websites that specialize in the kind of information you’re seeking. _________, if you’re writing a story on a flu outbreak, check out medical websites, such as The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

● _________ Commercial Sites

Sites run by companies and business—their websites usually end in. com—are often trying to sell you something. And if they’re trying to sell you something, chances are whatever information they’re presenting will be tilted (偏向) _________ their product. That’s not to say commercial sites should be _________ entirely. But be cautious.

● Check the ____________

As a reporter, you need the most up-to-date information available, so if a website seems old, it’s probably best to keep distance from it. One way to check: Look for a “last ____________” date on the page or site.

● Check the Links

Respected ____________ often link to each other. You can find out which other websites link to the site you’re researching by conducting a link-specific Google search. Enter the following text into the Google search field, ____________ “[WEBSITE]” with the domain (域名) of the site you’re researching: link: http://www.[WEBSITE].com. For example, link: http://www.baidu.com.

The search ____________ will show you which websites link to the one you’re researching. If lots of sites are linking to your site, and those sites seem reliable, that’s a good ____________. Then it seems that you don’t need to worry about them too much

1.

A．perceive

B．cause

C．track

D．confirm

2.

A．flexible

B．informative

C．reliable

D．appealing

3.

A．started

B．banned

C．visited

D．evaluated

4.

A．temporary

B．accessible

C．existing

D．trusted

5.

A．Set up

B．Communicate with

C．Look for

D．Invest in

6.

A．However

B．Contrarily

C．In addition

D．For example

7.

A．Avoid

B．Greet

C．Notice

D．Run

8.

A．in place of

B．in resistance to

C．in favour of

D．on behalf of

9.

A．considered

B．screened

C．assessed

D．refreshed

10.

A．Site

B．Journalist

C．Source

D．Date

11.

A．updated

B．registered

C．spotted

D．clicked

12.

A．fields

B．companies

C．texts

D．websites

13.

A．illustrating

B．replacing

C．connecting

D．searching

14.

A．teams

B．firms

C．results

D．authorities

15.

A．sign

B．reputation

C．journal

D．product

3 . Anyone who has ever witnessed the miracle in which infants progress from mewling to “Mama” to “Mine!” knows how critical it is for youngsters to hear normally before they speak their first words. _______, many children who don’t talk by age two turn out to be deaf. The sooner their disability is discovered and _______, the less likely they are to fall behind in the development of important language and social skills. That is why a growing number of hearing specialists (audiologists) and parents are campaigning for _______ screening of newborns for hearing loss.

Their _______ has registered in some powerful ears. To date, 22 states have passed legislation requiring at least partial screening programs. Part of the push stems from _______ in technology that, among other things, allow children as young as two months to be _______ hearing aids. But there are limits to the technology. One thing parents should realize before they start is that the screening tests are far from _______. A bad result doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem.

Audiologists estimate that 3 out of every 1,000 babies are born with some kind of hearing loss. Of those three infants, one is profoundly deaf. About half the time, doctors can identify a possible cause, such as a birth weight less than 5 pounds, or a family history of _______. The rest of the time there is simply no _______ as to why a newborn’s hearing may have been affected.

The screening tests work by introducing a sound into a baby’s ear and then measuring either the ________ of the ear’s internal mechanisms or the electrical activity of the auditory portion of the brain (the auditory brain-stem response test). Just because a baby fails either test, ________, does not mean that there is a hearing problem. A temporary buildup of fluid in the ear canal or excessive noise in the nursery can ________ the results. For this reason, experts say, hospitals should ________ the screening tests for any baby who doesn’t pass the first time before telling the parents to consult an audiologist for more thorough testing.

It is at this stage that things get a bit ________. Though 20 of every 1,000 babies fail the two-step screen, most prove on further examination to be just fine. Is it worth ________ 17 families of perfectly normal children - not to mention asking them to spend several hundred dollars on advanced tests — to identify three infants with hearing loss?

1.

A．Indeed

B．Meanwhile

C．Occasionally

D．Surprisingly

2.

A．reported

B．accepted

C．treated

D．tested

3.

A．legal

B．random

C．further

D．compulsory

4.

A．charge

B．complaint

C．appeal

D．pursuit

5.

A．procedures

B．advances

C．practices

D．insights

6.

A．fitted with

B．provided with

C．entitled to

D．attached to

7.

A．reasonable

B．imaginable

C．reliable

D．predictable

8.

A．disorder

B．blindness

C．obesity

D．deafness

9.

A．solution

B．clue

C．reflection

D．doubt

10.

A．response

B．volume

C．capacity

D．activity

11.

A．however

B．therefore

C．for example

D．after all

12.

A．prove

B．produce

C．match

D．affect

13.

A．stop

B．review

C．repeat

D．improve

14.

A．shocking

B．distracting

C．unpredictable

D．complicated

15.

A．worrying

B．classifying

C．engaging

D．prompting

4 . Throughout history, humans have come up with ways to entertain themselves using objects such as cards, counters, and boards. Over thousands of years, these have evolved (进化) into the games we know today, from traditional sets with simple rules and basic pieces, all the way to modern electronic consoles (see the picture attached on the right-hand side) with advanced technology and lifelike interactive graphics (图形).

Strategy game Chess Where Asia       When c. 600 AD Many countries claim to have invented chess but one forerunner of the game appeared in India in the 7th century. Over the centuries chess has evolved and spread across the globe, becoming one of the most popular strategy games. It is played with two players who take turns to move 16 pieces to attack each other’s king. The aim is to trap the king into checkmate (将死), so that it cannot move to safety.
Card game Chinese playing cards Where China       When 9th century AD The earliest known playing cards are believed to have originated in China during the Tang Dynasty, though how games with these cards were played is not known today. The modern pack of 52 playing cards, with ♥hearts, ♠spades, ♦diamonds, and ♣clubs, developed much later, in France during the 15th century.
Word game Crossword Where US       When 1913 The first crossword puzzle was published in the Sunday supplement (增刊) of the New York World newspaper. A series of written clues help the player complete a grid (方格) of horizontal and vertical missing words. Crosswords are not only entertaining, but also expand vocabulary and aid brain development.

1. Which of the four choices best matches the description on the left?

A．	B．
C．	D．

2. The underlined word “forerunner” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ________.

A．follower

B．pioneer

C．winner

D．loser

3. The passage is likely to be an excerpt from ________.

A．Cultures of Asia	B．Playing Games
C．20th-century Fashion	D．Scientific Inspiration

5 . Universal Rhythm

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called music “the universal language of mankind.” Now researchers may know why.     1     And these characteristics tend to be those that gather people, the researchers said.

“Our findings help explain why humans make music,” study researcher Thomas Currie from the University of Exeter said in a statement. “The results show that the most common features seen in music around the world relate to things that allow people to coordinate (协调) their actions.     2    It can be a kind of social glue.”

Currie, along with Pat Savage, a doctoral student at the Tokyo University of the Arts, and their colleagues analyzed music from around the world, examining 304 recordings from the online Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. The music samples came from every inhabited continent, from both vocal and instrumental music.

    3    They systematically coded the features of each piece of music and employed a comparison system similar to those used by evolutionary biologists to classify and statistically analyze organisms. Although they found no features that were part of all the songs analyzed, the researchers did find dozens of characteristics that were present in a majority of songs across different world regions.

Some of these characteristics were not surprising, such as the music’s tendency to use separate pitches, and equally timed beats and short musical phrases.     4    “It fits that we have two legs, so the music is probably related to the natural rhythms of movement,” said Savage. “And also, two is simpler than three, so maybe it’s easier to process and coordinate.”

A．The researchers analyzed the music samples using a few different classification schemes.

B．They also suggest that the main function of music is to bring people together and bond social groups.

C．some people, as far back as Darwin, have believed that singing evolved as a way for males to gain mates.

D．Others were more unexpected, like the discovery that two-beat rhythms are more popular than three-beat rhythms.

E．A new analysis of music from diverse cultures around the globe reveals that all music shares certain universal features.

F．Previous studies showed that people who experience music together are more likely to rate those who listen with them as helpful.

6 . Creativity is commonly thought of as a personality trait (特征) within the individual. Over the past several years, however, social psychologists have discovered that creativity is not only a characteristic of the individual, but may also change depending on the situation and context. The question, of course, is what those situations are: what makes us more creative at times and less creative at others?

In a recent paper, scientists have demonstrated that increasing psychological distance so that a problem feels farther away can actually increase creativity. Jia and colleagues at Indiana University at Bloomington examined the effect of spatial distance on creativity in this most recent set of studies. Participants in the first study performed a creative generation task, in which they were asked to list as many different modes of transportation as possible. The task was performed either by Indiana University students studying in Greece or by Indiana University students studying in Indiana. As predicted, students in the distant condition generated more numerous and original modes of transportation than those in the proximal condition. Similar results were obtained in a second study, in which performance on three insight problems was measured.

This pair of studies suggests that even minimal cues (提示) of psychological distance can make us more creative. Although the geographical origin of the various tasks was completely irrelevant — it shouldn’t have mattered where the questions came from simply telling subjects that they came from somewhere far away led to more creative thoughts.

The results build on previous studies which demonstrated that distancing in time — projecting an event into the remote future — and assuming an event to be less likely (that is, distancing on the probability dimension) can also enhance creativity.

This research has important practical implications. It suggests that there are several simple steps we can all take to increase creativity, such as traveling to faraway places (or even just thinking about such places) and communicating with people who are dissimilar to us. So the next time you’re stuck on a problem that seems impossible, don’t give up. Instead, try to gain a little psychological distance, and pretend the problem came from somewhere very far away.

1. What can we learn from the studies of Jia and his colleagues?

A．Students studying in Indiana were better at creative tasks.

B．They carried out two experiments with quite opposing results.

C．The participants in the studies were students living in Greece.

D．They demonstrated the impact of distance in space on creativity.

2. The underlined word proximal in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to______.

A．casual

B．near

C．promising

D．formal

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Considering unlikely alternatives to reality helps to boost our creativity.

B．According to the studies, distancing in time can help to enhance creativity.

C．People’s creativity is a fixed characteristic in spite of the situation and context.

D．Jia and his colleagues were the first to examine the factors in increasing creativity.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Creativity is a personality trait within individuals.

B．Travelling faraway is a remedy for poor creativity.

C．Psychological distance contributes to better creativity.

D．New research has demonstrated the benefits of creativity.

7 . 这位摄影师突然想到：他可以利用最不起眼的日常物品打造出一个奇幻世界。(hit) (汉译英)
____________________________________________________________

8 . 学校应重视急救设备的定期检查，以防突发情况发生。(case) (汉译英)
____________________________________________________________

9 . 这种病毒会引起高烧，通常还伴有咳嗽与喉咙痛。(accompany) (汉译英)
____________________________________________________________

10 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Ways to Stay Motivated

Many distance learners agree that the most difficult part of studying online is staying motivated. Because students must take the initiative to complete their courses completely on their own, without the physical presence of teachers and other peers, many students find it easy to become distracted and discouraged in their work. Don’t let this happen to you-plan ways for yourself to stay motivated before you’re tempted to stray from your books. Use the following motivational tips to stay on task.

Find a friend or relative who has similar interests or who would enjoy hearing about your studies and let them know what’s going on in your classes. You’ll understand the material better when you have a chance to explain it out loud and will be motivated to stay on task in order to keep up with the conversation.

Don’t rely on campus consultant; design your own map of completed classes and post it somewhere that is visible daily. There’s a certain satisfaction that comes with watching your goals be accomplished. When times get hard, you can always turn to your chart and see how far you’ve come.

You get rewarded for good credit and safe driving. Why shouldn’t you reward yourself for doing well in your coursework? Whether it be a night on the town, a new dress, or even a new car, setting up a reward system just may be the extra push you need to succeed. If you stick to your system, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.

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