1 . Have you ever been in a bathroom, dressing room or another private area with a mirror and had that feeling that someone is watching you? You can check to see if a mirror is transparent by observing how it is installed and using a few simple techniques to determine if there’s a wall behind it.
Check out the lighting. For a two-way mirror to be effective, the light on the mirrored side needs to be 10 times brighter than the light on the other side. If the lighting is dimmer, it’s possible to see through the glass to the observation area. Look around and determine whether the lighting seems extraordinarily bright.
Sound it out. The sound of tapping a two-way mirror has also been described as bright or sharp as opposed to a thud (砰的一声) from an everyday mirror. Tap on the surface of the mirror with your knuckle (指节).
| A．Turn off the lights. |
| B．Try to look through the glass. |
| C．Observe how the mirror is installed. |
| D．If so, you might be looking at a two-way mirror. |
| E．There are some accurate ways to tell if a mirror is two-way or not. |
| F．A normal mirror will produce a dull, flat sound, since it’s placed in front of a wall. |
| G．People standing on the other side of the wall can observe someone looking in the mirror. |
2 . The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was invented by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. It is a self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. The MBTI personality inventory (量表) sorts people into 16 type categories, each of which is represented by four-letter codes such as INFP and ESTJ. Every year, about 1.5 million people have enjoyed discovering their personality type by completing the MBTI. Many companies, as well as hundreds of universities, use it in hiring and training.
Nevertheless, the MBTI has received a noticeable criticism from the academic community. Some research suggests the MBTI is unreliable because the same person can get different results when retaking the test. Other studies have questioned the validity of the MBTI, which is the ability of the test to accurately link the “types” to outcomes in the real world -for example, how well people classified as a certain type will perform in a given job.
Merve Emre, a professor a Oxford University, points out that it would be more scientifically advisable to score the MBTI scales continuously to show people the degree to which they resemble the types. Even when the MBTI’s results don’t quite match your intuition (直觉) about yourself or are just wrong, they can still provide self-insight and insight into differences and similarities between people.
Scoring and interpreting the MBTI the way other personality inventories are scored and interpreted might be less fun than finding. All of the folklore (民间看法) about INFPs, ESTJs, etc. would have to be dismissed. But, in the end the MBTI is sufficiently reliable and valid enough to be useful in a number of real-world contexts.
1. What do we know about the MBTI from the first paragraph?| A．It is a personality-testing tool. | B．It is divided into 16 categories. |
| C．It is a study of personal preference. | D．It is a questionnaire on four-letter codes. |
| A．It performs badly in job interviews | B．Its reliability has been questioned. |
| C．It requires people to retake the test | D．Its advantages are not fully shown. |
| A．It is beyond criticism. | B．It is a more scientific test. |
| C．It is less fun than other tests. | D．It is useful for self-exploration. |
| A．How Can We Use the MBTI? | B．Why do We Criticise the MBTI? |
| C．Is the MBTI Totally Meaningless? | D．Is Scoring the MBTI Really Necessary? |
3 . The discovery of the ruined palace in the Mosul Dam reservoir on the banks of the Tigris River inspired an archeological dig that would improve understanding of the Mittani Empire, one of the least-researched empires of the ancient Near East, a team of German researchers said. “The find is one of the most important archeological discoveries in the region in recent decades,” Kurdish archeologist(考古学家) Hasan Qasim said.
The palace would have originally stood just 65 feet from the river on a terrace(梯田). A terrace wall of mud bricks was later added to make the building stable. Ivana Puljiz, an archeologist from the University of Tübingen’s Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies, describes the palace, known as Kemune, as a carefully designed building with mud-brick walls up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) thick.
The team also found wall paintings in shades of red and blue, which were probably a common feature of palaces at the time but have rarely been found preserved. “Discovering wall paintings in Kemune is an archeological sensation,” Puljiz said in a press release, “Kemune is only the second site in the region where wall paintings of the Mittani period have been discovered.”
Ten clay tablets covered in cuneiform, an ancient system of writing, were also discovered and have been sent to Germany for translation. “From the texts we hope to gain information on the inner structure of the Mitani Empire, its economic organization, and the relationship of the Mittani capital with the administrative centers in the neighboring regions,” Puljiz added.
Archeologists first became aware of the site in 2010 when water levels in the reservoir were low, but this is the first time they have been able to dig. However, the site was submerged(淹没) shortly after the dig, Puljiz said, adding“It is unclear when it will come out of water again”.
1. The function of the archeological dig is to ________.| A．attract people to travel to the Tigris River |
| B．help people know the Mittani Empire better |
| C．show ways of rebuilding the Mosul Dam reservoir |
| D．provide some clues about research on the Near East |
| A．To make the palace firmly built. | B．To offer tourists a place for rest. |
| C．To give tourists a good view. | D．To make the building better designed |
| A．Kemune is different from any other palace. |
| B．Wall paintings were an important discovery. |
| C．Kemune is famous for its special wall paintings |
| D．Wall paintings were first discovered in the Mittani Empire. |
| A．Translating the cuneiform into English | B．Knowing relationships between regions. |
| C．Waiting for the water level to drop. | D．Understanding the structure of the empire. |
1. What can students do tomorrow as usual?
| A．Do their employment program |
| B．Take the first three classes. |
| C．Have a test in the gym. |
| A．English. | B．Spanish | C．French. |
| A．On June 12th. | B．On June 14th | C．On June 16th. |
| A．Mr. Jones. | B．Mr. Brown | C．Mrs. Smith. |
5 . Ways to make a great first impression
You’ve heard it a million times already. But it really does take but a few seconds to make that all-important first impression（印象）. Here are some easy ways for you to impress your classmates or teachers.
*
Before you shake hands with somebody, make sure that your hands are clean. The hand-shake should not be too strong or weak. Most people use their right hands, unless they have a reason to use the left.
*Be on time
When meeting someone for the first time, arriving on time is as important as breathing. You may have an excuse, but that will leave the person who hardly knows you with a bad impression.
*Introduce yourself and ask for names
Make sure you properly introduce yourself. Ask for their name in a polite way.
*Make good conversation
To get the most out of your discussion, try to find something common between the two of you.
| A．Use body language |
| B．Have a proper handshake |
| C．Repeat the name and use it later in conversation. |
| D．It could be a similar taste in clothes or a common hobby |
| E．As a general rule, plan to arrive about 30 minutes early. |
| F．You’ll be in serious trouble if you leave them with a bad impression. |
| G．However, don’t have your left hand in your pocked because this appears impolite. |
1. How can people operate a self-driving car?
| A．By calling the operator. |
| B．By pressing some buttons. |
| C．By telling the car their destinations. |
| A．In Chicago. | B．In California. | C．In Los Angeles. |
| A．It broke the law. |
| B．It hit another car. |
| C．It broke the speed limitation. |
| A．About 2 million kilometers. |
| B．About 9 million kilometers. |
| C．About 19 million kilometers. |
| A．Long and boring. |
| B．Long but interesting. |
| C．Short and comfortable. |
| A．The woman wants some pancakes. |
| B．The man has had too much. |
| C．They are having lunch. |
9 . Exchanging old-fashioned postcards with random strangers around the world is great fun. And for me, it’s sending not just any postcard, but one in particular that seems to resonate (共鸣) with people everywhere.
The Postcrossing project was created by Paulo Magalhaes in 2005. He liked getting mail — especially postcards. He thought others did, too — but how could he connect with them? That’s when he came up with the idea of an online platform (postcrossing. com). There, postcard lovers like me can sign up to send a postcard to someone who has registered (注册) online, and receive a postcard in return.
Along with a randomly selected address, participants get a unique code to put on the postcard. When the postcard arrives, the recipient registers that code with the site, which then causes the sender’s address to be given to another Postcrosser in turn. In practice, this means that for nearly every postcard I send (a few get lost in the mail) I get one back. And since I never know who will be sending me a card or where in the world they live, every trip to the mailbox holds the potential for a wonderful surprise.
At the last count, there were more than 690,000 Postcrossers in 211 countries, representing nearly every race and religion on the planet — and the cards they’d like to receive are nearly as diverse. I’ve seen requests for postcards featuring maps, animals, Benedict Cumberbatch (an actor), and the color green. But no matter how lengthy or unusual a particular Postcrosser’s list of requests may be, somewhere, in nearly every card, is a sentence like this: “Please send me a card that represents something unique or special about your country.”
I love to see that request. To me, the opportunity to share what I love most about my country and to learn what other people love most about theirs is the heart and soul of this activity.
1. Why did Paulo set up the online platform?| A．To show his love to mail. |
| B．To connect with the author. |
| C．To get postcards from strangers. |
| D．To make friends around the world. |
| A．How people sign up for the platform. |
| B．Why the online platform succeeds. |
| C．What the online platform provides. |
| D．How the online platform works. |
| A．Surprised and shocked. | B．Curious and eager. |
| C．Nervous and expected. | D．Upset and unusual. |
| A．It’s an activity about sharing and communicating. |
| B．It’s a request to make people share their cultures. |
| C．It’s a way of learning about a new country. |
| D．It’s an opportunity to know more people. |
