1 . Princeton University, a private institution founded in 1746, is located in the quiet town of Princeton, New Jersey. The Princeton Tigers, members of the Ivy League, are well known for their consistently strong men’s and women’s lacrosse (曲棍球) teams. First-year students and sophomores live in one of seven residential colleges that provide a residential community as well as dining services. One unique aspect of Princeton’s academic program is that undergraduate students are required to write a senior thesis, or for students in some engineering departments, take on an independent project. Notable alumni (校友) include U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, model/actress Brooke Shields and former first lady Michelle Obama.
Setting: Suburban Tuition & Fees: $59,710Undergraduate Enrollment (注册) : 5,604 Acceptance Rate: 6%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private institution founded in 1861, is located, outside Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Freshmen are required to live on campus, - and about 70% of all undergraduates live on campus. The Independent Activities Period, a four-week term in January, offers special courses, lectures, competitions and projects. Distinguished alumni include Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Setting: Urban Tuition & Fees: $60,156Undergraduate Enrollment: 4,657 Acceptance Rate: 4%
University of Pennsylvania is a private institution that was founded in 1740. It is situated in Philadelphia, and was founded by Benjamin Franklin. The Penn Quakers have more than 25 NCAA Division I sports that compete in the Ivy League, and are noted for successful basketball and-lacrosse teams. Penn offers housing in more than 10 College Houses, but many students live in the numerous off-campus apartments and houses available. More than 2, 500 students each year participate in international study programs offered in more than 50 countries around the world. Notable Penn alumni include singer John Legend, poet William Carlos Williams and President Donald Trump.
Setting: Urban Tuition & Fees: $66,104Undergraduate Enrollment: 9,760 Acceptance Rate: 7%
1. What’s special about Princeton University?
| A．It lies in an urban area. | B．It has the longest history. |
| C．It enrolls the fewest students. | D．It charges the lowest tuition fees. |
| A．Students in engineering departments will do independent projects. |
| B．Academic activities in January are different from the rest of the year. |
| C．A large number of students have access to international study programs. |
| D．Undergraduate students are required to hand in a senior thesis independently. |
| A．An enthusiastic fan of Buzz Aldrin. |
| B．A student enjoying peaceful suburban life. |
| C．An applicant wishing to study in New Jersey. |
| D．A student planning to join a super basketball team. |
Steven Price is the class clown and has an unyielding (执着的) passion for coins. He tells silly jokes and asks dumb riddles while Ms. Redfield is trying to teach. “Ms. Redfield,” said Steven. “What have a head and a tail, but no body?”
“I don’t know,” said Ms. Redfield. “Coins!” Steven laughed and laughed.
When his attention is diverted (转移) from coins, he finds amusement in playing tricks. I don’t mind when Steven plays tricks on Ms. Redfield or on some other kids. I just hate it when he plays tricks on me. I try to avoid or ignore him, but he gets me every time!
During recess (课间休息) on Monday, Steven was holding a small box in his hand. “Come and see what I’ve got,” he said to me. Before I could reject it, Steven lifted the lid. As the lid of the creaks opened, a horrifying clown figure sprang forth with a sudden burst of energy. Its painted bloody grin stretched unnaturally wide, revealing rows of sharp, jagged (锯齿状的) teeth. I was startled! My heart raced as the clown’s high-pitched cackle (咯咯的笑) echoed through the classroom. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!” I said. Steven just made a face and disappeared.
On Tuesday, we were studying measurement. Steven asked me to help him measure part of the hallway for his project. I told him I was busy working on my own math problem. “This will just take a minute!” he said. He had a piece of string 30 feet long. He wanted to see if it would reach to the cafeteria. I held one end of the string, and Steven went down the hall and around the corner. Pretty soon I felt the string get tight. I thought he was measuring. Keeping holding the string, I thought he would come right back.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Ms. Redfield came around the corner, looking strangely at me.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On Wednesday, I decided to fight back and play a trick on Steven.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Thirty cultural relics have been returned to the Chinese mainland from Taiwan thanks to the joint efforts of people on both sides
They,
Analysis of cutting marks on some head statues led to the guess
4 . Like humans, being overweight can have consequences for our pet's health, both short term and long term. Studies have shown that overweight dogs do not live as long.
Using special calorie-controlled foods from the vet is usually the most effective way of losing weight and well worth considering.
With calorie-controlled food from the vet, you will be advised how much to feed daily. Many dry diets come with calibrated scoops (带刻度的勺子) but it is easy to overfill these. You can reduce hunger by feeding two or three times a day, so long as you don't go above the daily recommended amount.
Make a record of everything—including table scraps (剩饭) and treats—that your dog eats for a few days. This is often valuable in highlighting "extra". A dog that does not seem to eat much dog food probably still has an appetite for sausages!
Moderate exerciseIncreasing exercise alone is not enough, although it is helpful. Start gradually, and be careful with how much you exercise elderly pets.
| A．No snacks |
| B．A food diary |
| C．Little and often is the safest way to start |
| D．It lasts longer than food and helps to strengthen your relationship more |
| E．If you must feed treats, remember to take these out of the daily total amount |
| F．And they are also more likely to suffer from illnesses that spoil their quality of life |
| G．These diets are designed to make your pet feel full and ensure the nutrients they need |
5 . A colleague of mine recently told me about a painful exposed nerve in his tooth. Rather than requesting a numbing option from his dentist, he used a "focus in" meditation (冥想) technique to direct all his attention to his mouth with as much calming equanimity (平和) as he could gather. Doing so transformed the pain for a few minutes. Each time the dentist touched the tooth, my colleague felt waves of joy, and this feeling lasted until the dentist interrupted by asking, "Why are you smiling?"
A fair question is why anyone would want to be fully aware of intensely negative or painful experiences. But what might sound like a punishing choice—to embrace suffering or pain—may in some instances be helpful. A stream of scientific articles suggests that there are benefits in turning toward discomfort or upsetting emotions with acceptance. It's important to first define the idea of turning toward discomfort. I'm not advocating for people to put themselves in dangerous or painful positions. But when we push ourselves into challenging situations, much like trainers who push athletes just past their comfort zone to make gains, learning often happens. "Equanimity" refers to a mental attitude of being at peace with the push and pull of experience.
To evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions (干预), we recruited 153 stressed adults in Pittsburgh and offered them a mindfulness-meditation training program with or without training in equanimity. For example, the mindfulness-only group built skills to recognize ongoing experiences, while the equanimity group practiced acceptance of those experiences in addition to the basic recognition. Our equanimity training group had much better outcomes on several measures. After just 14 days of training, the participants who learned equanimity skills had significantly lower biological stress responses when asked to deliver a difficult speech and solve math problems in front of experts in white lab coats. The equanimity skills group also had lower blood pressure and stress levels.
1. What helped the colleague in Paragraph 1 get through the tooth treatment?| A．The numbing option. | B．The calming equanimity. |
| C．The gentle touch from other patients. | D．The occasional interruption by the dentist. |
| A．It requires ignoring negative emotions. |
| B．It includes avoiding challenging situations. |
| C．It involves actively seeking out dangerous positions. |
| D．It means embracing suffering or pain with acceptance. |
| A．They experienced higher levels of stress. |
| B．They achieved better results in several ways. |
| C．They showed no significant changes in stress levels. |
| D．They experienced greater difficulty delivering speeches. |
| A．Facing Challenges Enhances Fulfillment |
| B．Avoiding Suffering Is the Key to Happiness |
| C．Equanimity Training Takes Lots of Practice |
| D．Accepting Discomfort Could Help You Get Stronger |
6 . Just over two years ago, at the age of 54, mv life changed tracks. Up until that point I had my parents and a family. I knew who I was. Then my mother, Diane, after a huge stroke (中风), decided to get something off her chest. And it turned out that my late father Richard, who had died in 2014, wasn’t actually my father.
At first there was sadness, then confusion and anger. One question was running around my head — who am I? Obviously I asked my mother tons of questions but she wouldn’t give me any details. Just a name, a time and a place: John Pritchard, 1966, Brighton. I asked if John knew about me. No, she never told him. Wow! Not only had I been robbed of a father, he’d also been robbed of a son.
I was chasing around like a madman, exploring all sorts of ancestry (世系) websites. Then a friend of mine suggested I get an unlocked DNA test and see what happens. So I did and a few weeks later, I got the results — a 100 percent parent DNA match. The next thing I did before I knew it was to sit in front of the computer, trying to send my dad an email.
But to be honest, all I did was sit there staring at the screen, typing and deleting. How do you write the most important email of your life? I put it gently and slowly, revealing what I’d found out. Luckily, John considerately replied, which was a huge relief, and we agreed to meet up.
So there I am, a man in his fifties, with a recently broken history, on a train to London to meet my real father. We had a long hug but there were no tears it was as if all the emotion was too big to grasp. We said hello, had a beer and talked about ordinary stuff, like we’d known each other for years. We’d both been firemen, and we were into motorbikes. What struck me was how easy it was to talk to him. We quickly fell into a pattern of texting each other, then ringing a couple of times a week. And now we are planning to go on a holiday in France together.
Through no fault of our own we lost each other a long time ago and that’s where the story could have ended. But fate has given us a second chance. So my advice for you? Don’t waste your time regretting the loss of the past — live in the present.
1. Why did the author feel annoyed?| A．His mother had an operation on her chest. |
| B．His mother held back the truth of his birth father. |
| C．His mother was in bad condition after the stroke. |
| D．His mother told him something about his late father. |
| A．The people the author turned to for help. |
| B．The feeling the author had after the truth. |
| C．The ways the author used to search for his father. |
| D．The reason why the author wanted to find his birth father. |
| A．Tense. | B．Determined. | C．Hopeful. | D．Thrilled. |
| A．Never keep the truth from your loved ones. |
| B．Opportunity awaits those with a determined mind. |
| C．Those willing to take risks often get what they want. |
| D．Don’t let regret prevent you from living in the moment. |
7 . Jokes and humor are often thought of as unimportant. If the lawyer defending you in court couldn’t stop joking, you’d be understandably alarmed.
However, regarding humour as insignificant is a mistake. Humour, jokes and laughter, have a vital role to play in human behaviour and interaction. They are a powerful part of social bonding and are genuinely beneficial for health via their stress-relieving properties.
Why do we respond, in such powerful and rewarding ways, to things that objectively make little sense? A substantial amount of data has been generated regarding how humour works in the brain and on the various types of recognisable jokes that trigger it.
Verbal puns, the most familiar type of joke, involve words that convey two meanings at once. For example, “Why did the golfer wear two pairs of trousers? In case he got a hole in one.” Here “hole in one” has two possible interpretations. Their simplicity and familiarity mean most people recognise the humour in puns. So, the brain’s humour processes are still engaged.
But where does humour arise from in the brain? Considerable research points towards a specific system in the brain for recognizing humour. This system seemingly detects and resolves incongruity (不和谐). Our brains know how things, like language and behaviors, should work. But, in the real world, many things don’t match our expectations. It seems our brains have evolved a system to recognise when this happens.
If normality is subverted, it means we don’t know what’s going to happen, which creates cognitive (认知) tension. However, the system that recognises incongruity seemingly also resolves it, by providing an explanation, or at least a confirmation that the incongruity has no negative consequences. This removes the uncertainty, relieving the tension. So, we experience a rewarding feeling. If the incongruity is not resolved, however, humour is absent. If the answer to “Why did the golfer wear two pairs of trousers?” is “in case the metal owl that lives in his gold bag attacks him”, that’s not funny. There’s unresolved incongruity.
Humour is essentially our brain going, “This isn’t how things usually work... but I’m okay with it!”
1. What does the author say about humor in the first two paragraphs?| A．Its positive role is often underrated. | B．It mainly serves to entertain and amuse. |
| C．Its harmful effects shouldn’t be ignored. | D．It is essential for professional communication. |
| A．To prove a theory. | B．To draw a conclusion. |
| C．To illustrate a concept. | D．To make a comparison. |
| A．Detected. | B．Overturned. | C．Established. | D．Repeated. |
| A．How Jokes Affect Brain Structures | B．Using Humor to Boost Brain Power |
| C．Jokes and the Brain’s Reward System | D．Unlocking Brain Secrets Behind Humor |
1. What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．How you decide what to buy in a supermarket. |
| B．How a supermarket makes people spend more. |
| C．Who decides how much to spend in a supermarket. |
| A．To provide a good service. |
| B．To lead customers to all sections of the store. |
| C．To make it easy for customers to locate the food. |
| A．1,500 cents in total. | B．40 cents each minute. | C．Five dollars each minute. |
1. What was the weather like last week?
| A．Too warm. | B．Nice and sunny. | C．Neither hot nor cold. |
| A．Summer. | B．Winter. | C．Autumn. |
| A．He thinks it’ll rain. |
| B．He thinks it’ll be cloudy. |
| C．He doesn’t think it’ll rain. |
1. What do you think the man is?
| A．A tour guide. | B．A repairman. | C．A hotel worker. |
| A．In the cupboard. | B．On the shelf. | C．In the box. |
| A．On Thursday. | B．On Friday. | C．On Sunday. |
| A．To book a room. | B．To complain. | C．To ask for help. |
