Be yourself and always follow your heart. Never let anyone change who you are. This is the lesson I have learned from my childhood experience when I figured out I wasn’t invited to the party, Bridget’s party.
One morning, I got off the bus and saw my friends except me hugging under the tree where we used to stand. The circle seemed tighter as I approached；the white invitation cards being hastily stuffed into backpacks gave it away. I knew as well as the entire universe that Bridget’s party was this weekend. Bridget was the most popular girl in our class. She was thin and beautiful, always wearing fabulous clothes and fine makeup.
Why hadn’t she invited me? My feet were too big? No. Maybe. My face was broken out? Why did she invite every person in my group except me? I tried to think of any interactions I’d had with Bridget recently. A few days earlier, we’d been partners during a sixth period project. I was determined to get the project done and she was absorbed in looking at fashion magazines. She barely spoke to me except to say, “You’re so serious. You know, you should smile more."
Soon, I had overheard all the details about the party. They were going swimming. It was a sleepover. They were renting scary movies and were going to stay up all night. Each time someone mentioned the party, I smiled weakly and nodded, with my stomach in knots.
When having my favorite English class, I found myself just unable to concentrate on the short stories we were supposed to be reading in class. Maybe she didn’t invite me because of my coat. It is pretty ugly compared to some of the other girls’ coats. I should have bought another color. Maybe I should smile more but I just can’t get into smiling at people unless I know them really well. But I just couldn’t pretend to be the person I wasn’t. I felt sick.
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。
At lunch, my friend Kate who had been invited came over to me, trying to show off.
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I was about to let it go when Bridget invited me as a substitute for a girl who couldn’t come.
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Here’s the story of my growth over the past year. It’s a story of how I found the strength to change myself for better and then how I get rid of my fears to be even better. If anyone is inspired by this, that’s wonderful.
I’d been stuck as this incredibly insecure, under-confident and just scared individual for years and years. Since childhood I’d been stuck like this. Kids I met for the first time looked at me rudely and unkindly. Even my friends—actually, I had very few friends because I just felt too ashamed and frightened to make some, though I was eager to and felt extremely lonely in the depth of my heart—laughed at me and gave me bad nicknames. I felt terrible, but I’d just resigned to a life where I’d be afraid of everything and be this “introvert” (内向的人) or whatever. I thought I would never be able to change, never, for my whole life.
But then it all started changing. Something clicked. I suddenly determined to go on a diet, and lost some weight. It was tough. I felt hungry all the time. I was always tempted by the smell of bread and hamburger, even when I didn’t see them. But the toughest thing was that even if I had just had my meals, I felt hunger mentally. However, I held on. In over a period of 6 months I finally managed to stick to one of my diets. I didn’t know how. But I did make it.
The loss of 90 lbs brought me from overweight straight down to underweight. This isn’t the best part. More importantly and inspiringly, I suddenly found strength in me. I realized I could be totally different. And maybe, I could even be whatever I wanted to be. This taught me that I could change myself.
Then I wondered, perhaps, I could also get rid of those of my fears, just like I succeeded in losing my extra pounds. It might not be easy, but it might not be that difficult.
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。
Chance presented itself soon.
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It was from that point on that I started changing rapidly.
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4 . Planting more breadfruit trees could help make food supplies more stable (稳定) as the planet warms. Climate models suggest they will grow well across the tropics. There is an especially big opportunity in tropical Africa, where large areas are suitable for growing breadfruit trees and will remain so until the end of the century.
Breadfruit is a bit like a potato that grows on a tree, says Lucy Yang at Northwestern University in Illinois. The fruits can be cooked in many ways and also turned into a flour. “They are highly productive and very valuable to the body as food,” she says. “In addition, once a tree is planted, it is quite resilient (适应力强的).”
Yang and Daniel Horton, also at Northwestern, worked together to look at where in the tropics breadfruit grows now and to identify the climatic (气候的) conditions the trees require. Next, they used climate models to see where breadfruit could still be grown between 2060 and 2080. They found that the crop will not be affected, with reduction of the overall suitable area by just 4 % globally.
This is important because some studies suggest the production of main crops such as rice could be hard hit by rising temperatures and more extreme weather. There are expected to be many more food shocks like that of 2010, when Russia stopped exporting wheat because of a serious heatwave.
The team’s findings also made known a big opportunity in tropical Africa, where only a little breadfruit is now grown. “There’s possibility there to develop breadfruit production,” says Horton. “This tree may be able to have really positive effect on food resilience and safety.”
1. What can we learn about breadfruit trees?| A．Their fruits are very delicious. | B．They can be planted anywhere. |
| C．Their fruits grows underground. | D．They will help solve food problems. |
| A．Scientific farming. | B．Production methods. |
| C．Climatic conditions. | D．Reduction of suitable area. |
| A．To stress the growing risk of heatwaves. |
| B．To show the result extreme weather may cause. |
| C．To tell the difficulty Russians once experienced. |
| D．To explain why Russia stopped exporting wheat. |
| A．People will still worry about food shocks. |
| B．More Breadfruit trees might grow in Africa. |
| C．Breadfruit growing areas may remain the same. |
| D．The production of rice will become impossible. |
5 . An 89-year-old man, Manfred Steiner, has reached a goal he spent 20 years working toward and nearly a lifetime thinking about: earning his Ph. D. And now he is a physicist
Steiner values this degree because it is what he always wanted and because he overcame health problems that could have affected his studies. “But I made it, and this was the most satisfactory point in my life, to finish it,” he said.
When he was young, Steiner wanted to become a physicist after reading about Albert Einstein. But his mother and uncle persuaded him that studying medicine would be a better choice. He earned his medical degree in 1955 and moved to the US soon after.
Steiner studied hematology（血液学）at Tufts University and biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He became a full professor and led the hematology department at Browns’ medical school from 1985 to 1994. Steiner helped establish a research program in hematology at the University of North Carolina. He directed that program until he retired from medicine in 2000.
Steiner found medical research pleasing, but it was not quite the same as his interest in physics. “It was something like a wish that was never fulfilled, that always stuck in the back of my head,” he said. At age 70, he started taking undergraduate classes.
Physics professor Brad Marston was surprised when Steiner entered his quantum mechanics class. But he became Steiner’s adviser for his dissertation（学位论文）after realizing how serious Steiner was about the subject and how hard he worked. “He has written many papers in medical science, more papers than I’ve written in physics,” Marston said. “One thing that’s really true about Manfred is that he perseveres.”
After the university published a story about Steiner on its website, people across the US contacted him to ask for advice on how to go after their dreams later in life. His advice is: Do what you love to do.
1. Why did Steiner value his degree in physics?| A．Because it solved his health problems. | B．Because it was his long-pursued dream. |
| C．Because it met his mother’s expectation. | D．Because it was inspired by Albert Einstein. |
| A．Steiner’s contributions to teaching. | B．Steiner’s researches after retirement. |
| C．Steiner’s achievements in hematology. | D．Steiner’s performances at Tufts University. |
| A．His taking undergraduate classes at 70. | B．His writing more papers in physics. |
| C．His sticking to becoming a physicist. | D．His being a role model for Americans. |
| A．Active and open-minded. | B．Enthusiastic and easy-going. |
| C．Intelligent and warm-hearted. | D．Perseverant and hard-working. |
A New Addition to the Family
For the initial ten years of his life, Victor was the prince of the household. As he was an only child, his parents petted him and showered all their love and attention on him. Whatever toys his parents bought, they were always meant for him. Whatever food was in the refrigerator, there was no one to compete with him to polish it off first. Victor could leave his toys or books around the house with complete ease of mind, knowing that there was no one who would get their hands on his belongings and cause any damage.
However, all that was to change overnight when Victor’s parents brought back his new baby sister, Lina, from the hospital. With her rosy cheeks, wide open eyes and angelic smile, Lina caught the hearts of her parents, grandparents and relatives. Everyone focused their attention on the cute bunch of joy. Whenever she cried, her mother or father would rush to her bed. She simply cried because she wanted to be carried. There was little time left for Victor.
Now that Victor’s mother had his baby sister to take care of, she expected Victor himself to do most of the chores he can do. Victor was asked to clean his own room, iron his own school uniform and clean his own shoes. Before Lina’s arrival, he had never lifted a finger to help out with these tasks. The whole family also went out less because it was unhealthy to expose Lina to the bacteria(细菌) being in the outside world too often.
Victor felt neglected by his parents. He felt that they loved Lina more than him. As a result, he tried to attract his parents’ attention by becoming resistant. One evening, Victor’s parents were called up by his teacher because Victor had got into a fight at school. His teacher had noticed Victor’s behaviour and work attitude changing downwards in the past two months. Before that, he had been a model student.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
Upon hearing the teacher’s feedback, Victor’s parents got lost in thought.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Victor realized that his parents still cared for him.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . Puppies can be taught. So can human children, though not for the first couple of years. Now, in the hope of fighting climate change, Dr Jan Langbein, of the Fredrich-Loweffler-Institut in Germany, and his colleagues hope they can train cows to use the toilet, too.
Cow pee（尿）contains a nitrogen-rich substance that, when broken down by enzymes（酶）, is transformed into ammonia（氨）. Bacteria in the soil, in turn, transform that ammonia into nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas. Collecting and treating cow pee before the ammonia can be produced might, therefore, seem like a good idea. But it has proved difficult in the past without limiting the cows to small areas, which is bad for their welfare.
As Dr Langbein describes in Current Biology, this confusing problem could be solved if cows could be persuaded to voluntarily relieve themselves in a toilet. He has developed a three-stage process to help cows master toilet training. The first job was to establish the toilet. Calves（小牛）were limited to a toilet and rewarded with treats after peeing in it. Next, they were given the freedom to wander around a path outside the toilet. Peeing in the toilet were rewarded; those in the path were gently punished with a spray of water. Finally, the path was extended, to allow the animals to practice self-control over a greater distance.
Of the 16 calves involved in the training process, 11 were considered successfully toilet-trained by the end of it. Their overall performance, say the researchers, was almost comparable to that of human children. The animals managed to pee in the toilet around 77% of the time.
The next step, says Dr Langbein, is to see if cattle on a working farm can be similarly trained. Whether farmers will be keen is another question. Building toilets and training animals costs time and money, after all. But when it comes to climate change, every little helps.
1. Why did Dr Jan Langbein and his team train cows to use toilet?| A．To make use of cow pee. | B．To keep the environment clean. |
| C．To reduce greenhouse gas. | D．To limit the cows to small areas. |
| A．Using rewards and punishments. | B．Forcing them to use the toilet. |
| C．Making the toilet-training interesting. | D．Keeping them from wandering around. |
| A．It was successful. | B．It was doubtful. |
| C．The training proved difficult. | D．Calves were as smart as human children. |
| A．To encourage people to train their pets. | B．To explain an abstract science concept. |
| C．To raise awareness of caring for animals. | D．To introduce a new eco-friendly method. |
8 . The following are four once-in-a-lifetime mountain hikes.
The Inca Trail, Peru
The Inca Trail offers a seven-day hike focusing on unique Peruvian culture. Led by our well-informed guides, you'll see some historical villages, visit an old-fashioned coffee farm, and attend a traditional offering to "Pachamama". After a long day on your feet, relax with a traditional Peruvian meal and have a night's rest in a local cottage（村舍）
The Dolomites, Italy
The On Foot Holidays' self-guided hike through the Dolomites covers the grassland of South Tyrol, the famous peaks of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and the amazing town of Cortina d'Ampezzo. You'll climb from the Falzarego Pass, cross through to the Col dei Bos and up Mt. Lagazuoi, with its network of World War I tunnels.
Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
More than 19,000 feet above sea level, Mount Kilimanjaro, an inactive volcano, is Africa's highest mountain. Climbing it is a multi-day trip through five climate zones. Duma Explorer offers several different routes（路线）up Kilimanjaro—the most popular are the seven-day Machame route, eight-day Lemosho route and a nine-day trip via the Northern Circuit. Hikes include camping equipment, meals and guides.
Chilkoot Trail, Alaska
In 1897, the Chilkoot Trail was changed from a sleepy trade route into a busy road, as part of the Gold Rush. The rush dried up within a year, but you can follow in the boomers' footsteps with Alaska Shore Hikes, through thick forest and up the Sainly Hill. Then it's a peaceful raft（木筏）ride along the Taiya River. A six-hour hike provides tourists with transportation, safety equipment and guides.
1. Which of the following is suitable for hikers without guides?| A．The Inca Trail, Peru | B．The Dolomites, Italy. |
| C．Chilkoot Trail. Alaska | D．Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. |
| A．Chilkoot Trail used to be a busy road. |
| B．Hikers will cover five climates zones in the Inca Trail. |
| C．It just takes six hours to finish the Chilkoot Trail route. |
| D．Hikers can visit an old-fashioned coffee farm in Mount Kilimanjaro. |
| A．An encyclopedia. | B．A geography book | C．A science report. | D．A travel brochure. |
9 . Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are working to create a special chewing gum that could help reduce the spread of COVID-19 by "trapping" the virus so a person can't transmit it to someone else.
Experts agree that vaccinations are the best way to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, but its also known that vaccinated people can still transmit the virus. The University of Pennsylvania researchers are hoping that their chewing gum will give people a low-cost way to further prevent COVID-19 from spreading.
"This gum offers an opportunity to break down the virus in the saliva (唾液), giving us a simple way to possibly cut down on a source of disease transmission，"said Henry Daniell, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and leader of the research.
The gum contains plant-grown ACE2 proteins, which showed in laboratory studies to break down the SARS-CoV-2 virus. When researchers exposed saliva samples from COVID-19 patients to the chewing gum, they found the levels of viral RNA were sharply reduced to the point that the virus was almost undetectable.
The research is still in its early stages, and the researchers are working on getting permission to conduct a clinical trial in humans to determine if the gum is safe and effective. Should the gum work, Penn Today reported it could be used in situations where people need to be close to each other-such as a dental cleaning, for example-to reduce the risk of passing the virus to others.
Before researchers can bring their chewing gum to market, they have to determine how much of it should be used per day, which will be based on how long it takes the virus to reproduce. However, if it does prove to be an effective tool at fighting coronavirus, Daniell told "hundreds of millions of chewing gum" could be produced within three months.
1. What does the text mainly talk about?| A．Saliva has effect on virus. | B．Producing chewing gums costs little. |
| C．A research about preventing Covid-19. | D．A product to stop the spread of Covid-19. |
| A．It produces ACE2 proteins. | B．It cures the disease of COVID-19. |
| C．It destroys the virus in the saliva. | D．It detects the SARS-CoV-2 virus. |
| A．The gum will see is bright future. | B．The gum can be massively produced. |
| C．The gum will enter the market soon. | D．People's health determines the use of the gum. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Negative. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
10 . Music influences your emotions. In turn, your emotions influence your behavior. One of these is your food intake.
Researchers at the University of Arkansas studied how music influences people when they eat in a restaurant. For the study, they used four types of music: jazz, classical, rock, and hip-hop. Their results showed that people had more appetite when they listened to jazz music while they ate.
However, another study published in Psychological Reports suggests it isn’t only increased appetite that causes people to eat more.
Besides, the study conducted by the Journal of the Academy suggests that the volume of music can also have an effect on how you eat. More specifically, the study states that, with low-volume music, you eat better because you make healthier choices. On the other hand, the study claims that music at high volume increases stimulation and stress.
For this reason, restaurants should consider the fact when thinking about the optimization of their products and services.
| A．Does music influence how you eat? |
| B．Being in a rush to eat also plays a part. |
| C．Does your emotion boost your appetite? |
| D．However, they had less appetite when listening to hip-hop. |
| E．In fact, many catering establishments have already taken action. |
| F．This could prove to be quite an interesting concept for restaurants. |
| G．This means you’re more likely to order comfort food or other unhealthy options. |
