1 . In the early 1990s, Eric Domb, a highly successful lawyer, came up with the idea of building a bird park. His father-in-law ________ the idea in the beginning, but when the ________ started to make shape he backed out. Domb thus had to ________ money from former clients, his two brothers and father as well as a bank to build a zoological park known as Pairi Daiza.

After the park opened in 1994, his inexperience led to many ________, but he pushed on with his venture (冒险). By 2000, the park was turning a profit, and Domb’s ambitions were ________. The park needed more than birds, he believed, and other creatures and cultural gardens would help turn it into something ________.

Since his childhood he has been fascinated by Chinese ________. In 2006, he built the first Chinese garden, Dream of Han Wu Di in his zoo. It was said to be the largest Chinese garden in Europe. Domb kept ________ new elements. It finally took more than six years to complete the project.

Domb felt ________ by the joint panda breeding program. Domb and his people spent the following months ________ building giant panda houses with no guarantee that Pairi Daiza would be fortunate enough to ________ giant pandas. The huge enclosure built includes a pool, cave and ________ plantation.

Now, Domb is eager to tell how he ________ a pair of giant pandas, Xing Hui and Hao Hao in February 2014. The sense of ________ is all the more profound in that Pairi Daiza is one of the few private zoos outside China to ________ giant pandas.

1.

A．rejected

B．supported

C．doubted

D．raised

2.

A．project

B．rule

C．law

D．document

3.

A．steal

B．win

C．earn

D．borrow

4.

A．rewards

B．wonders

C．mistakes

D．regrets

5.

A．missing

B．spreading

C．shaking

D．growing

6.

A．extreme

B．unusual

C．irregular

D．essential

7.

A．culture

B．food

C．poetry

D．dream

8.

A．containing

B．changing

C．adding

D．removing

9.

A．embarrassed

B．surprised

C．confused

D．inspired

10.

A．willingly

B．enthusiastically

C．automatically

D．confidently

11.

A．take charge of

B．pay attention to

C．get hold of

D．gain knowledge of

12.

A．grass

B．tea

C．coffee

D．bamboo

13.

A．bought

B．protected

C．received

D．tracked

14.

A．pride

B．humor

C．security

D．duty

15.

A．hide

B．house

C．train

D．save

2 . This national park is the unique area __________ live both wild Siberian tigers and Siberian leopards.

A．where	B．which
C．as	D．who

3 . One of the oldest metaphors (隐喻) for human interaction with technology is the relationship of master and slave. Aristotle imagined that technology could replace slavery if machine became automated. Marx and Engels saw things differently. “Masses of laborers are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine,” they wrote in the Communist Manifesto.

Today, computers often play both roles. Nicholas Carr, in his new book The Glass Cage: Automation and Us, takes a stand on whether such technology imprisons or liberates its users. We are increasingly engaged, he argues, but the invisibility of our high-tech traps gives us the ‘image of freedom’. He describes doctors who rely so much on decision-assistance software that they overlook signals that are not obvious from patients.

All of this has obvious implications for the use of technology in classrooms: When do technologies free students to think about more interesting and complex questions, and when do they destroy the very cognitive (认知) capacities that they are meant to improve? The effect of spell check and AutoCorrect software is an example. Psychologists have found the act of forming a word in your mind strengthens your capacity to remember it. When a computer automatically corrects a spelling mistake, we’re no longer forced to form the correct spelling in our minds.

This might not seem very important. The process of word formation is not just supplementing spelling skills, it’s also destroying students. When students find themselves without automated spelling assistance, they don’t face the prospect of freezing to death, as the Inuits did when their GPS malfunctioned, but they’re more likely to make errors. This creates a vicious cycle: The more we use the technology, the more we need to use it in all circumstances. Suddenly, our position as masters of technology starts to seem more insecure.

1. What did Marx and Engels think of the machine?

A．It did the boring daily work for people.

B．It failed to free people from being enslaved.

C．It gave people more time to enjoy themselves.

D．It was the result of the development of technology.

2. Which of the following is Nicholas Carr most likely to agree with?

A．Technology is a guarantee of freedom.

B．Doctors should stay away from technology.

C．Too much involvement with technology may be risky.

D．Some decision-assistance software needs improving.

3. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph4 refer to?

A．Students being unable to spell words correctly.

B．Spell check helping students remember more words.

C．Students depending too much on spelling software.

D．Spellcheck destroying students’ cognitive capacities.

4. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Is technology making people stupid or not?

B．Which areas are most affected by technology?

C．Are people satisfied with the advancement of technology?

D．Why shouldn’t technology be employed in the classroom?

4 . If you’ve ever emerged from the shower or returned from walking your dog with a clever idea or a solution to a problem you’d been struggling with, it may not be an unusual thing.

Rather than constantly wearing yourself out at a problem or desperately seeking a flash of inspiration, research from the last 15 years suggests that people may be more likely to have creative breakthroughs or insights when they’re doing a habitual task that doesn’t require much thought — an activity in which you’re basically on autopilot. This lets your mind wander or engage in spontaneous cognition or “stream of consciousness” thinking, which experts believe helps recollect unusual memories and generate new ideas.

“People always get surprised when they realize they get interesting, novel ideas at unexpected times because our cultural narrative tells us we should do it through hard work,” says Kalina Christoff, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. “It’s a pretty universal human experience.”

Now we’re beginning to understand why these clever thoughts occur during more passive activities and what’s happening in the brain, says Christoff. The key, according to the latest research, is a pattern of brain activity — within what’s called the default mode network — that occurs while an individual is resting or performing habitual tasks that don’t require much attention.

Researchers have shown that the default mode network (DMN) — which connects more than a dozen regions of the brain — becomes more active during mind-wandering or passive tasks than when you’re doing something that demands focus. Simply put, the DMN is “the state the brain returns to when you’re not actively engaged,” explains Roger Beaty, a cognitive neuroscientist and director of the Cognitive Neuroscience of Creativity Lab at Penn State University. By contrast, when you’re trapped in a demanding task, the brain’s executive control systems keep your thinking focused, analytical, and logical.

A cautionary note: While the default mode network plays a key role in the creative process, “it’s not the only important network,” Beaty says. “Other networks come into play as far as modifying, rejecting, or implementing ideas.” So it’s unwise to place blind faith in ideas that are generated in the shower or during any other period of mind wandering.

1. When do people expect to get an innovative idea according to the research?

A．When doing routine work.

B．When working attentively.

C．When tackling tough problems.

D．When desperately seeking inspirations.

2. What is the cultural perception for getting exciting, unusual ideas?

A．Getting by good luck.

B．Getting by great efforts.

C．Getting by unexpected accident.

D．Getting by universal experience.

3. Who is most likely to get a novel idea?

A．A student who is playing football.

B．A student who is focusing on papers.

C．A student who is closely monitoring his research.

D．A student who is fully engaged in math questions.

4. What does the last paragraph imply?

A．We can get novel ideas by the default mode network.

B．We should take the idea popped in the shower seriously.

C．Believe in ideas that are generated by the default mode network.

D．Think twice before putting ideas playfully crossing your mind into practice.

5 . Behind Chinese proverbs there are often interesting stories. For example, the proverb, “plucking up a crop
________ it grow”, is based on the following story.

A．helping

B．helped

C．to help

D．has helped

6 . Building connection and friendship with other people is a necessary part of being human. There are ways to help you make new friends, as well as to take better care of the friendships you already have.

Accept the awkwardness (尴尬) and assume that other people need new friends, too.     1    When you reach out to somebody you don’t know well — whether that’s sending the first text message or making small talk in the elevator — you often feel uncertain. You have to accept that awkward silence and the uneasiness it may bring, because you can’t have friends without getting awkward.

Remember that people will like you more than you think

When you are moving through the world, don’t forget that human connection is yours for the taking.    2    

Take up activities that you love

Ask anyone about how to make friends and they will most likely tell you to try a new hobby.    3    Do the things you’re interested in and you will naturally draw people to you, and you’ll naturally connect with other people because you’ll be in the right place.

It’s OK to treat friendships seriously

Having friends is one of the most nourishing (滋养的) parts of being alive, so it’s not strange or bad or wrong to prioritize (优先考虑) it. Get comfortable putting yourself out there a little bit.    4    It’s what all the cool kids are doing.

    5    

But if you want to prioritize and nourish your friendships, you have to show up for them. Listen and notice things about your friends. Take notes! It will help you remember your conversations and allow you to mention them later. Remember the names of people in your friends’ lives. Ask to see a picture of the person they’re talking about so it sticks better in your head.

A．Be present and attentive.

B．It might sound strange, but it works.

C．Make positive friends and get along well.

D．It’s strange and uncomfortable to make new friends.

E．Your friends will be proud of you and learn from you.

F．Spare the time and space you need to find and nourish your friendships.

G．When you talk to someone else, you’re actually going to brighten their day.

7 . What are pillows really stuffed with? Not physically, but symbolically? The question occurred to me with the photos in the news and social media from the 50 cities around the world that staged public celebrations for International Pillow Fight Day. Armed with nothing more than bring-our-own sacrificial cushions, strangers struck heavily each other in playful feather from Amsterdam to Atlanta, Warsaw to Washington DC. But why? Is there anything more to this delightful celebration?

As a cultural sign, the pillow is deceptively soft. Since at least the 16th Century, the humble pillow has been given unexpected meanings. The Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu tells a famous story about a wise man who meets a depressed young scholar at an inn and offers him a magic pillow filled with the most vivid dreams of a seemingly more fulfilling life. When the young man awakens to discover that his happy 50-year dream has in fact come and gone in the short space of an afternoon’s nap, our impression of the pillow’s power shifts from wonder to terror.

Subsequent writers have likewise seized upon the pillow. When the 19th-Century English novelist Charlotte Bronte poetically observed “a ruffled (不平的) mind makes a restless pillow”, she didn’t just change the expected order of the adjectives and nouns, but instead she made unclear the boundaries between mind and matter — the thing resting and the thing rested upon.

It’s a trick perhaps Bronte learned from the Renaissance philosopher Montaigne, who once insisted that “ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head”. On Montaigne’s thinking, intelligence and happiness confront each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win.

With the words of Tang. Bronte, and Montaigne, we can perhaps more easily measure the attraction of the global pillow fight. Like a ritual of release, the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing, a brushing off of daily worries: an emptying of the world’s collective mind. Rather than a launch-pad for weightless rest, the pillow is a symbol of heavy thought: an anchor that drags the world’s soul down — one that must be lightened.

1. The example of Tang Xianzu is used to illustrate that ________.

A．pillows give people satisfactory dreams

B．dreams are always wonderful while the real world is cruel

C．people’s impression of pillows changes from wonder to terror

D．pillows symbolically convey the meaning in contrast to their soft appearance

2. From the passage, we can learn that Charlotte Bronte ________.

A．wrote poems about pillows

B．regarded pillows as reflections of our minds

C．shared the same viewpoint as Tang Xianzu on pillows

D．was likely to have been influenced by the thoughts of the Renaissance

3. The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 “ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head” most probably means ________.

A．pillows give us comfort

B．pillows make people more intelligent

C．people with too many thoughts have less inner peace

D．people can easily fall asleep when they know nothing

4. According to the author, why is Pillow Fight Day so popular around the world?

A．Because it is a ritual release.

B．Because it makes life delightful.

C．Because it comforts restless minds.

D．Because it contains a profound meaning of life.

8 . We have much to look forward to in the future, thanks to advances in technology. I’m sure that AI doctors are________.

A．in the way

B．on the spot

C．in the end

D．on the horizon

9 . —You seem to be very upset this afternoon.
—______. I should not have said so much about Jack’s family.

A．Never say never	B．Pull your weight
C．Loose lips sink ships	D．Get a load of it

10 . When he didn’t come home, she _______ him lying dead on the roadside somewhere.

A．imaged

B．photoed

C．hoped

D．pictured