2 . The Stanford marshmallow (棉花糖) test was originally conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel in the late 1960s. Children aged four to six at a nursery school were placed in a room. A single sugary treat, selected by the child, was placed on a table. Each child was told if they waited for 15 minutes before eating the treat, they would be given a second treat. Then they were left alone in the room. Follow-up studies with the children later in life showed a connection between an ability to wait long enough to obtain a second treat and various forms of success.

As adults we face a version of the marshmallow test every day. We’re not tempted by sugary treats, but by our computers, phones, and tablets — all the devices that connect us to the global delivery system for various types of information that do to us what marshmallows do to preschoolers.

We are tempted by sugary treats because our ancestors lived in a calorie-poor world, and our brains developed a response mechanism to these treats that reflected their value — a feeling of reward and satisfaction. But as we’ve reshaped the world around us, dramatically reducing the cost and effort involved in obtaining calories, we still have the same brains we had thousands of years ago, and this mismatch is at the heart of why so many of us struggle to resist tempting foods that we know we shouldn’t eat.

A similar process is at work in our response to information. Our formative environment as a species was information-poor, so our brains developed a mechanism that prized new information. But global connectivity has greatly changed our information environment. We are now ceaselessly bombarded (轰炸) with new information. Therefore, just as we need to be more thoughtful about our caloric consumption, we also need to be more thoughtful about our information consumption, resisting the temptation of the mental “junk food” in order to manage our time most effectively.

1. What did the children need to do to get a second treat in Mischel’s test?

A．Take an examination alone.	B．Share their treats with others.
C．Delay eating for fifteen minutes.	D．Show respect for the researchers.

2. According to Paragraph 3, there is a mismatch between_______.

A．the calorie-poor world and our good appetites	B．the shortage of sugar and our nutritional needs
C．the tempting foods and our efforts to keep fit	D．the rich food supply and our unchanged brains

3. What does the author suggest readers do?

A．Be selective information consumers.	B．Absorb new information readily.
C．Use diverse information sources.	D．Protect the information environment.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Eat Less, Read More	B．The Later, the Better
C．The Marshmallow Test for Grownups	D．The Bitter Truth about Early Humans

3 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

There are several reasons why school uniforms are good idea. First of all, uniforms help the school look smart. The students feel that they belong to a particular group. When every pupil in the school wears the uniform, nobody     1    (have) to worry about fashion(时尚). Everybody wears     2     same style of clothes. Uniforms can be useful in unexpected ways. A school in Ireland has introduced an interesting new uniform. On the edge of the jacket, there is a piece of cloth     3     gives off light in the dark. When the children are walking or     4    (cycle) to school on dark mornings, car drivers can     5    (easy) see them.

But can uniforms help improve school standards? The answer     6     this question is not clear. One study in America found that students’ grades     7    (improve) a little after the school introduced uniforms. But some students didn’t want     8    (wear) the uniform. Other American studies showed no     9    (connect) between uniforms and school performance.

School uniforms are     10    (tradition) in Britain, but some schools are starting to get rid of them. Some very good schools don’t have a uniform policy. However, uniforms are still popular. Pupils at about 90 percent of British secondary schools wear uniforms.

5 . The word listen, as is shown in Longman Dictionary, means paying attention to what someone is saying or to a sound that you can hear. Listening is definitely an important skill in communication. “When people talk, listen completely.” Those words of Ernest Hemingway might be a pretty good guiding principle for many managers. After all, people like being listened to.

Some firms use a technique known as a “listening circle”. In such a circle, only one person can talk about the issues they face at a time and there is no interruption. A study cited in the Harvard Business Review found that employees who had taken part in a listening circle subsequently suffered less social anxiety and had fewer worries about work-related matters than those who did not.

Listening has been critical to the career of Richard Mullender, who was a hostage (人质) negotiator, dealing with everything from suicide interventions to international kidnaps (绑架). He defines listening as “the identification, selection and interpretation of the key words”. It is crucial to all effective communication.

Plenty of people think that good listening is about nodding your head or keeping eye contact. But that is not really listening, Mr Mullender argues. A good listener is always looking for facts, emotions and indications of the other person’s values. Another important point to bear in mind is that, when you talk, you are not listening. The listener’s focus should be on analysis.

Of course, a listener needs to speak occasionally. One approach is to make an assessment of what the other person is telling you and then check it with them. For example, you can check with the other person by saying “It seems to me that what you want is…”. That gives the other party a sense that they are being understood. The fundamental aim is to build up a relationship so the other person likes you and trusts you, Mr Mullender says.

1. What can we learn about a “listening circle”?

A．A listening circle focuses on personal issues.

B．In a listening circle, a speaker won’t be interrupted.

C．A listening circle increases worries about work-related matters.

D．Employees get rid of social anxiety by taking part in a listening circle.

2. What’s Mr Mullender’s attitude to speaking occasionally when listening?

A．Critical.

B．Opposed.

C．Cautious.

D．Favorable.

3. Why should we be good listeners?

A．To be liked and trusted by the other person.

B．To check our assessments with the other person.

C．To make assessments of what the other person is saying.

D．To have a sense of being understood by the other person.

4. What’s the best title of the text?

A．The Analysis of a Listening Circle

B．The Tricks of Successful Listening

C．The Misunderstanding of Listening

D．The Necessity of Effective Listening

7 . Home gardens produce delicious food.But that’s not their main virtue.

Imagine a plate holding two strawberries, identical in appearance. One came out of a super-market box, probably harvested unripe.     1    The other was picked from a garden minutes before being eaten. The first one will probably taste like a slightly sour grape while the second is likely to be sweet and rich in flavour.

Supermarket strawberries are not entirely without advantages. They are convenient and available in the northern globe even in February. But the two berries differ from each other in the same way that hearing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata in a concert hall differs from listening to it on an old tape.    2    

Other people, however, believe gardening a waste of time. But the same could be said of cooking. There are cheap and decent restaurants around, so why bother to make your own meals?     3    They mistake the product for the purpose.

Actually, a garden, especially in the early years, can produce little but frustration(挫败感). New gardeners may plant the wrong crops for their soil. Rabbits have an annoying habit of taking single bites of vegetable, then leaving the rest to go bad.    4     No matter. The real joy of gardening is the time spent doing it. The deepest pleasure — as with cooking, writing, bringing up children or almost anything worthwhile — is in the work itself.A gardener’s memories revolve not around the food produced, but around long afternoons with hands in the dirt.

    5    

A．No one can ever avoid this hard stage.

B．So why don’t we start home gardening for delicious food?

C．This might explain why many people desire a home garden.

D．These people misunderstand the ultimate appeal of gardening.

E．By the time it reached the plate it may have been off the plant for days.

F．To garden is to patiently and lovingly help life grow, in the ground and above it.

G．And even expert gardeners can lose a season’s harvest to uncooperative weather.

8 . California has lost half its big trees since the 1930s, according to a study to be published Tuesday and climate change seems to be a major factor(因素).

The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46, 000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.

Many factors contributed to the decline, said Patrick McIntyre, an ecologist who was the lead author of the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing development pushed into the woods. Aggressive wildfire control has left California forests crowded with small trees that compete with big trees for resources(资源).

But in comparing a study of California forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another one between 2001 and 2010, McIntyre and his colleagues documented a widespread death of big trees that was evident even in wildlands protected from woodcutting or development.

The loss of big trees was greatest in areas where trees had suffered the greatest water shortage. The researchers figured out water stress with a computer model that calculated how much water trees were getting in comparison with how much they needed, taking into account such things as rainfall, air temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of snowmelt(融雪).

Since the 1930s, McIntyre said, the biggest factors driving up water stress in the state have been rising temperatures, which cause trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier snowmelt, which reduces the water supply available to trees during the dry season.

1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A．The seriousness of big-tree loss in California.

B．The increasing variety of California big trees.

C．The distribution of big trees in California forests.

D．The influence of farming on big trees in California.

2. Which of the following is well-intentioned but may be bad for big trees?

A．Ecological studies of forests.

B．Banning woodcutting.

C．Limiting housing development.

D．Fire control measures.

3. What is a major cause of the water shortage according to McIntyre?

A．Inadequate snowmelt.	B．A longer dry season.
C．A warmer climate.	D．Dampness of the air.

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

A．California’s Forests: Where Have All the Big Trees Gone?

B．Cutting of Big Trees to Be Prohibited in California Soon

C．Why Are the Big Trees Important to California Forests?

D．Patrick McIntyre: Grow More Big Trees in California

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

These days, it is not unusual for 10-to 12-year-olds to publish their own websites or for second and third graders    1    （begin）computer classes. At the same time, computer games are becoming increasingly popular as major publishing houses continue to develop    2    （education）computer programs for children in preschool. Also, technological know-how has become a    3    （require）for most jobs in an increasingly digital world, as the computer has become a common tool in most    4    （profession）

The Digital World is a set of volumes    5    aim to describe how digital systems influence society and help readers understand the nature of digital systems and their many interacting parts. Each volume in the set explores    6    wide range of material, explains the basic concepts of major applications of digital systems,     7    discusses the influences they have on everyday life. Because the number of possible topics    8    （be）practically limitless, we focus on a sample of the most interesting and useful applications and tools and explain the basic principles of technology. Readers    9    （encourage）to continue exploring the digital world with the guidance of    10    （we）Further Resources section featured in each volume.