1 . We all notice bright colors. People who opt for striking attire (服装) and shiny decorative items, hear everything from, “No one is going to miss you at the party” to, “I would never have the guts to wear that.” But according to research, those comments may be both accurate and expected.

Adam D. Pazda and Christopher A. Thorstenson examined how we perceive people at first impression who wear bright colors. They specifically examined the effect of chroma, which means color intensity in a practical way. They found that targets, both male and female, who were wearing or surrounded by high-chroma colors were perceived as more open and extraverted (外向的) than in a low-chroma setting. They concluded that chroma is a variable of perception that can influence first impressions of personality. Drilling down further, they found that high-chroma colors enhanced some viewer perception on personalities, but not other traits: such as emotional stability, agreeableness, reliability, responsibility or innovation. These observations are important because some job capitalize on some of the traits (特征) inferred through bright colors.

Pazda and Thorstenson recognize what job seekers no doubt consider as they look for a career to match their personal disposition: in some occupations, success is fueled by possessing certain personality traits. They give examples of industries such as sales and marketing as well as customer service where individuals with outgoing personalities tend to excel. Accordingly, applicants for these positions may be viewed more favorably and judged as more competent if they wear highly chromatic clothing.

Regarding the generality of their results, Pazda and Thorstenson note that one of the drawbacks of their study was their use of participants living in the United States, which means their findings may not predict results in other cultures. They note the possibility that chroma may influence the perception of personality traits differently in non-Western countries, and that high-chroma clothing may be perceived as varying from social norms in other cultures.

1. What does the underlined word “guts” mean in paragraph 1?

A．Sensitivity.

B．Appearance.

C．Courage.

D．Elegance.

2. Which personalities are believed to relate to people wearing high-chroma colors?

A．Innovation and creation.	B．Openness and extraversion.
C．Responsibility and reliability.	D．Emotional stability and agreeableness.

3. What does the last paragraph focus on?

A．The possible limitation of the research.

B．The explanation of the research methodology.

C．The benefits of high-chroma colors in various jobs

D．The universality of high-chroma colors across cultures.

4. Which of the following can best describe the overall tone of the text?

A．Critical and skeptical.	B．Informative and objective.
C．Persuasive and promotional.	D．Evaluative and judgmental.

2 . The consequences of climate change weigh on all of us. Terms such as “climate change anxiety”, “eco-anxiety” and “solastalgia” are regularly used to describe the negative emotional states created by thinking and worrying about climate change and environmental destruction.

Climate fiction, or cli-fi, has been advertised as one of the ways to help save the world, with an emphasis on how imagining our future might make us reconsider our relationship with the natural world. Cli-fi novels often portray dystopian (反乌托邦的) scenarios where humanity barely survives amidst flooded or desolate wastelands, using these apocalyptic visions as warnings to spur action and prevent such dark outcomes. But do dystopian fictions help us engage with the climate crisis? An empirical (经验主义的) study of the effects of   climate fiction on readers attitudes or actions found little evidence that those who read cli-fi have a stronger engagement with environmental concerns.

Writing about a climate-changed future does more than bring up the anticipated negative emotions. Of course, sitting with the climate crisis is challenging. It demands we wrestle with guilt, shame, responsibility, rage and despair. Clare Moleta said her climate anxiety was a bit more concentrated while writing her novel Unsheltered, but also that the manifestations (表现) of this anxiety were familiar to her; I had waking patches in the night over that time, where I’d be very intensely imagining something and sad about it.

But many of the writers spoke of the writing process as helping, not worsening, their anxiety. For some, writing about climate change gave them a sense of purpose. Jennifer Mills stated that having a book to write gives you something to do. It makes you feel like you have some power over the events that are happening around you.

To imagine the complexity of the lived experience of what lies ahead, and to insist that life will go on and history will keep happening, we need to shift from worrying about the effects of cli-fi texts to thinking about the benefits of writing creatively as we imagine our possible futures. As Mireille Juchau observes, the sense of control when writing on a difficult topic helps to manage anxiety. Whether it’s climate change, or something else, when I’m preoccupied, writing helps put some order into the chaos.

1. How does cli-fi affect readers?

A．It enhances their environmental concerns.

B．It fails to inspire their environmental action.

C．It leads to their measurable behavior changes.

D．It strengthens their engagement with climate crisis.

2. What did Clare Moleta experience when writing her novel Unsheltered?

A．Great excitement of the plot.	B．The sadness over the climate crisis.
C．A long period of sleepless nights.	D．A guilt complex of her climate anxiety.

3. What do writers benefit from creating cli-fi?

A．Empowering them with a drive to act.	B．Helping them reduce anxiety fast in life.
C．Increasing their understanding of history.	D．Developing more advanced writing skills.

4. What’s Mireille Juchau’s attitude toward writing cli-fi?

A．Positive.

B．Cautious.

C．Disapproving.

D．Unclear.

3 . A survey of over 2,000 grown- ups in Britain found that more than one in ten did not have enough money to buy meals, rising to almost one in four of parents with children under the age of18, showing high levels of“ hidden hunger", according to a new report.

Most of those questioned by End Hunger UK said their food bills had gone up in the past few months. Around one in twelve of those surveyed said they had gone without food for a whole day because of lack of money in the past year. The survey also showed that one in five grown- ups bought cheaper food while almost one in ten depended on friends and families for a meal.

Laura Sandys, founder of the Food Foundation said, “Not only is this unacceptable in 21st century Britain but we also have to start considering the health problems of the next generation (一代). We know that food insecurity (无保障) can cause some unhealthy eating habits and force people to buy cheaper and less nutritious”.

Labour Member of Parliament Emma Lewell- Buck said, “Now is the time for the Government to sit up and deal with the problem of hunger in our country. We know that 1.1 million food parcels are given out in Trussell Trust food banks alone, but these numbers are clearly the tip of the iceberg-- the United Nations has said over eight million people in the UK are food insecure, and rising levels of hospital stays because of malnutrition (营养不良) cost the National Health Service £2 billion each year.”

Rachel Treweek from the Church of England said, I’m surprised by the generosity of the people who run food banks in churches all over the country, helping those most in need, but it is now clear that we need to do much more to remove the need for food banks in the first place, starting with a commitment(承诺) from the Government to deal with the hidden problem.”

1. About what percentage of Britishers surveyed live on meals given by others?

A．8%

B．10%

C．20%

D．25%

2. How does Laura Sandys look at food insecurity?

A．It may harm the health of the young.	B．It may lead to price changes in food.
C．It may force some to start stealing food.	D．It may change the youth’s opinions on society.

3. What can we learn from the underlined part in Paragraph 4?

A．More people are in need of help.	B．Food banks have more tasks to finish.
C．It is hard for food banks to get enough food.	D．More people are needed to help give out food.

4. What’s Rachel Treweek’s suggestion for dealing with hidden hunger?

A．Trying to start more food banks.	B．The Government should take some steps.
C．Encouraging more people to show kindness.	D．The Government should keep their earlier promises.

4 . One recent report found that adults in the US check their phones, on average, 344 times a day — once every four minutes — and spend almost three hours a day on their devices in total. But have you wondered what this constant use is doing to our brains?

As you might expect, the simple distraction of checking a phone can have negative consequences. And it isn’t just the use of a phone that has consequences — its me re presence can affect the way we think. In one study, researchers asked participants to either put their phones next to them or in another room. Participants then completed a series of tasks to test their abilities to process and remember information, their problem-solving, and their focus. They were found to perform far better when their phones were in another room instead of nearby — whether visible, powered on or not. The mere proximity of a phone, it seems, uses up the brain’s energy. Our brains may be hard at work in controlling the desire to check our phones. The only “fix,” the researchers found, was putting the device in a different room.

However, there is one way we can try to lessen its ill effects. And it has to do with our beliefs. People who think our brains have limited resources are more likely to give in to temptations (诱惑). But for those who believe resisting temptations strengthens our ability to keep resisting, exercising self-control on one task doesn’t worsen their performance in subsequent ones. They believe our brains have unlimited resources.

What am I taking from this? To cut down on mindless reaching for my phone, I’ll keep practicing leaving it in another room. But I’ll also remind myself that my brain has more resources than I think — and that each time I resist the temptation to check my phone, I’m laying down new neural (神经的) pathways that will make it easier and easier to resist that temptation, and perhaps others as well, in future.

1. What did the study aim to find out by placing the phones differently?

A．How people’s performance was affected.

B．How people gained access to digital resources.

C．Whether people used different skills in the test.

D．Whether people developed dependence on phones.

2. What does the underlined word “proximity” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Thought.

B．Dependence.

C．Nearness.

D．Mention.

3. What does the author think of resisting the temptation to check the phone?

A．It will strengthen our belief.	B．It will improve concentration.
C．It will weaken brain activity.	D．It will use up the brain’s resources.

4. What will the author agree to do to reduce mindless phone use?

A．Practice self-control.	B．Increase brain power.
C．Only use the phone for work.	D．Set a timer to limit phone use.

5 . In today’s society where buying something new is only a matter of clicking a button, we’re constantly stuffing our houses with things we don’t need.     1     It also contributes to unnecessary waste and even anxiety for those living in spaces flooded with too many things. These are reasons why many are downsizing what they own.

The first step to living with less is saying goodbye to excess (过量的) stuff. But how do you decide what to keep and what to throw out? It’s never an easy task.     2     Looking around your home, you may find tons of items that haven’t been of any use within recent memory. Chances are you’ll never miss them.

Now that you’ve chosen which items you’ll be parting with, it’s time to figure out what to do with everything.     3     With easy-to-use platforms and apps, you can quickly earn cash without leaving the sofa.

Besides, if you’re looking to do a good deed or just don’t want to deal with the trouble of selling your things, donation is the perfect way.     4    

Another increasingly popular option is on- demand storage. It involves a professional team coming to the client and transporting their items to a storage facility. Oftentimes everything can be arranged straight from an app.

    5     It requires some major lifestyle and mindset changes, but if it’s something you want to commit to, you may see many benefits.

A．This creates more than a chaos problem.

B．Certain objects are only meant to be used occasionally.

C．First, stick them into storage until you decide what’s best.

D．Giving away items you rarely use can benefit people in need.

E．Pursuing a more minimalist lifestyle reduces chaos and stress.

F．The thought, “I might need this someday,” is incredibly common.

G．First, turn rubbish into treasure by selling off your extra possessions.

6 . Taking your dog for a walk can be fun to do.     1     According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 10 million people in China are bitten by dogs every year.

People in Beijing and Shanghai are already asked to keep their dogs on a leash (绳子). A similar law will soon be carried out across the country. It is listed in the newly amended (修订的) Animal Quarantine Law.     2    

The law focuses on the prevention of rabies (狂犬病).     3     The law makes it clear that anyone who keeps dogs must regularly vaccinate (给……接种疫苗) them. Those who walk their dogs outdoors must keep their dogs on a leash to prevent them from hurting people or spreading diseases. Those who don’t follow the law will face a fine.

    4     This meant that if someone was bitten by a dog, they would have to go to a hospital and get treated and vaccinated immediately.

Gao Fu, head of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said it makes more sense to vaccinate dog than humans.

Many other diseases can also spread between animals and humans.     5     And 75 percent of all new infectious human diseases come from animals.

A．The rabies virus is mainly carried by dogs.

B．In the past, it was up to dog owners whether to get their dogs vaccinated or not.

C．But it can also be a danger to others.

D．According to experts, 70 percent of animal diseases can be passed on to humans.

E．The law will come into effect on May 1.

7 . Baking lover and her bakery with “silent” staffers

Some people may open a bakery to turn their passion into a profession. Some open a bakery to realize their childhood dream. For Zheng Xiaoyan, founder of Silent Bread Tree, the main reason she chose to do so is less common.

The idea to open a bakery emerged when Zheng learned from a silent friend in a baking course about the difficulties they face in job hunting. She began to wonder what she could do for them, until she got inspiration from the success of a bakery in Changsha, which is run by a German couple that hires silent people. “I decided that I would also open a bakery like theirs to help some silent people in need,” told Zheng.

“And that’s why I named it ‘Silent Bread Tree’. Hopefully the jobs provided here can help the silent people feed themselves, just like bread trees feed people with their bread-like fruit,” Zheng added.

The bakery has 16 employees, six of whom are hearing and speech-impaired. The principle here is to treat all staffs in the same way wherever possible, and avoid signs indicating which staff members are different. “When we asked whether to put the words ‘Pat me if you need help’ on the back of their uniform, our silent staffs said ‘No’. That was when I realized that they just don’t want others to know they’re different,” Zheng recalled.

Although knowing what she could do for the silent community is very limited, Zheng said the efforts the silent staffs have made to keep the bakery running keep inspiring her to do even more. For every product sold, the bakery donates 0.01 yuan to help provide artificial cochlea implants (人工耳蜗) to the hearing and speech-impaired children in rural areas.

“If hearing-impaired children could have artificial cochleae implants at an early age, their lives could be completely transformed. They would be able to live like people with no difficulties in hearing,” said Zheng.

1. Why did Zheng open the bakery?

A．To offer the silent people jobs.

B．To make her dream come true.

C．To turn her hobby into a career.

D．To learn from the German couple.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The story about the bread tree.

B．The meaning of the bakery name.

C．Zheng’s expectation of the future.

D．Zheng’s satisfaction with her store.

3. What can we learn about the silent staffs from paragraph 4?

A．They value equal treatment.

B．They enjoy great social respect.

C．They consider customers disturbing.

D．They have poor communication skills.

4. Which word best describes Zheng?

A．Confident.

B．Optimistic.

C．Broad-minded.

D．Kind-hearted.

8 . This is something that all of us have noticed countless times in our daily lives. Whether you’re trying to read the fine print in a commercial or trying to make out a person’s face from a distance — it always helps to see better when you squint (眯起) your eyes.     1       

There’s a common assumption that you’re adding much stress to your eyeballs by squeezing them to make them work better.     2     If you think for a while, you’ll find squinting is a different matter. If squinting meant making your eyes become stress balls, we’d all be in a lot of trouble.

    3     When light hits an object, it bounces off its surface and enters our eyes. The light travels through the eye lens (晶状体). The lens then focuses the light rays, which fall on the retina (视网膜). A chemical present in the retina turns light into electric signals, which are then transmitted to the brain. The brain processes the signals and ultimately allows us to see stuff.

The act of squinting, quite obviously, alters the shape of the space through which light passes, which helps us form a clear image on the retina. What’s more, light from different directions enters and is subsequently perceived by the eye.     4     However, when you’re trying to focus on something, if there’s light entering from multiple directions, the lens will be overloaded. By squinting, focusing light rays becomes more precise.

Squinting does not damage your eyesight.     5     It’s one thing to occasionally squint in order to make out something far away. But if you find yourself doing it all the time, getting your eyes tested should be your focus.

A．Actually, that’s not exactly the case.

B．Has it ever occurred to you why this happens?

C．Squinting does two major things to improve our vision.

D．However, doing it for long periods of time can lead to dry eyes.

E．Normally, this is a great thing, as it feeds your situational awareness.

F．A number of biological components actually constitute the human eye.

G．Before revealing the secret behind it, let’s learn about how we see things.

9 . Whether playing tricks or holding funerals in the wild, crows have surprised the public with their unexpected capabilities. But their “intelligence” knows no bounds. A new study published in Current Biology revealed for the first time that crows can use statistical logic to solve problems.

Crows have a large brain for their size and a particularly noticeable forebrain, associated with statistical and analytical reasoning in humans. “In our lab, crows have shown complicated numerical competence and careful consideration during decision-making,” said Dr. Melissa Johnston, a fellow at the University of Tübingen. In her recent work, Johnston and her team pushed these abilities to a new extreme, testing statistical reasoning.

In the experiment, two crows were first trained to peck (啄) at various images on touchscreens to earn food treats; and gradually they had to choose between two of these images, each corresponding to a different reward probability. “Crows were tasked with learning rather abstract quantities and then applying that combination of information in a reward maximizing way,” Johnston detailed. Over 10 days of training and 5,000 trials, the two crows managed to pick the higher probability of reward, showing their ability to use statistical inference. To researchers’ much surprise, even after a month without training, the crows still perform well every time.

Statistical reasoning involves using limited information about a situation to draw conclusions and make decisions. People unknowingly use such cognitive ability every day. When we select cafes for social meetups, our brains automatically weigh collected statistics from past observations and favor the one more capable of meeting needs. Similarly, crows remembered and analyzed the connections between the images and the reward probabilities to make themselves get the most treats possible.

Crows once symbolized misfortune and death, causing them disliked even killed by people. Actually, they are among the few animals to adapt to urbanization successfully due to underestimated intelligence. “I think these studies do help change public views and improve our relationship with these lovely animals,” Johnston stated.

1. What makes crows’ intelligence possible?

A．Their limitless abilities of tricks.

B．Their social leaning in the wild.

C．Their physical structure of brains.

D．Their training received in the lab.

2. Which of the following best describes the research process in paragraph 3?

A．Instruct, task, and retest.

B．Train, perform, and record.

C．Assume, prove, and reflect.

D．Prepare, teach, and examine.

3. How does the author explain statistical inference in paragraph 4?

A．By sharing a personal experience.

B．By quoting a previous study.

C．By making a detailed comparison.

D．By using a common example.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Food Prize Competition: Crows Choosing Rewards

B．Urban Bird Survival Strategies: Living with People

C．Beyond Tricks: Surprise of Crows’ Statistical Reasoning

D．Animal Behavior Study: Training Crows in Experiments

10 . It was one of those freezing cold New England mornings in 1964. A four-day-old snow had turned to ice as it pressed against my bedroom window. In my twelve-year-old sleepiness, I staggered through the dark hallway into the bedroom, hearing the truck’s engine idling (空转) outside.

Staring out, I saw his figure — a dark shadow moving against the white background — his breath clouding the air when he breathed. I heard his work boots crunching the hard snow with his giant steps. I saw his dark face hidden beneath a knit cap, the upturned coat collar, the woolen scarf wrapped around his neck and chin. One gloved hand guided the ice scraper (刮削器) across the truck’s windshield. The other brushed the shavings like a crystal bear d from the truck’s old weathered face.

That was my daddy. Driven by a commitment and responsibility, he was taught to move with a quick purpose during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Daddy was like a silent gladiator (角斗士) who was stepping once more into the day’s battlefield. Daddy was always awake while the rest of the world slept. And as he slid behind the steering wheel, driving carefully from the driveway onto the street, the truck was swallowed up by dawn’s dimness. As I returned to the warmth of my blankets — in my own bed, in my own room, I knew I could go back to sleep, to dream, because daddy was outside facing the cold.

Throughout many junior and senior high mornings, I watched my father go to work. I never told him how that vision affected me. When I reached my early thirties and I became a father myself, I saw my own father with greater clarity. As I awoke in the early morning hours, compromised my wants, dealt with insults and worked overtime in order to give my son his own room — with his own bed and his own dreams, I realized I was able to do those things because my father had done them for me.

1. What was his father doing when the writer looked out of the window?

A．He repaired his old weathered truck.	B．He got rid of the ice on the truck.
C．He moved with a quick purpose.	D．He started the truck’s engine.

2. Which of the following best describes the writer’s father?

A．Tolerant.

B．Responsible.

C．Ambitious.

D．Considerate.

3. What did the writer realize when he reached his thirties?

A．The tricks of dealing with insults.	B．The importance of owning a house.
C．The duty of being a father.	D．The benefit of waking up early.

4. Where is the text probably from?

A．A brochure.

B．A poster.

C．A book review.

D．A biography.