1 . The expression, "everybody's doing it," is very much at the center of the concept of peer pressure. It is a social influence applied on an individual in order to get that person to act or believe in a(n) ___ way as a larger group. This influence can be negative or positive, and can exist in both large and small groups.

People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly ___that some part of their self-respect comes from the approval of others. This instinct explains why the approval of peers, and the fear of ____, is such a powerful force in many people's lives. This instinct drives people to dress one way at home and another way at work, or to answer a simple “fine" when a stranger asks "how are you?" even if it is not necessarily true. There is a(n) _____aspect to this: it helps society to function efficiently, and encourages a general level of self-discipline that ___day-to-day interaction between people.

For certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes a(n) ___: in order to satisfy the desire, they may go so far as to ___their sense of right and wrong. Teens and young adults may feel forced to use drugs, or join gangs that ____criminal behavior. Mature adults may sometimes feel ___ to cover up illegal activity at the company where they work, or end up in debt because they are unable to hold back the desire to buy a house or car that they can't afford in an effort to ___ the peers.

However, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends are good at ___may be urged to work harder and get good grades. Players on a sports team may feel driven to play harder in order to help the team win. This type of ___can also get a friend off drugs, or to help an adult take up a good habit or drop a bad one.

Although peer pressure is sometimes quite obvious, it can also be so ___that a person may not even notice that it is affecting his or her behavior. For this reason, when making important decisions, simply going with a(n) ___is risky. Instead, people should seriously consider why they feel drawn to taking a particular action, and whether the real ____ is simply that everyone else is doing the same thing.

1.

A．traditional

B．similar

C．peculiar

D．opposite

2.

A．understandable

B．believable

C．acceptable

D．surprising

3.

A．disapproval

B．failure

C．absence

D．independence

4.

A．uncertain

B．practical

C．impossible

D．vague

5.

A．promotes

B．prevents

C．simplifies

D．increases

6.

A．challenge

B．inspiration

C．promise

D．addiction

7.

A．recognize

B．abandon

C．decrease

D．define

8.

A．avoid

B．encourage

C．decline

D．punish

9.

A．pressured

B．respected

C．delighted

D．regretted

10.

A．catch sight of

B．stay away from

C．make fun of

D．keep up with

11.

A．competitions

B．interaction

C．academics

D．adaptation

12.

A．knowledge

B．interest

C．assistance

D．influence

13.

A．abstract

B．ridiculous

C．subtle

D．reasonable

14.

A．consciousness

B．motivation

C．instinct

D．encouragement

15.

A．motivation

B．danger

C．support

D．achievement

2 . Migrant workers

In the past twenty years, there has been an increasing tendency for workers to move from one country to another. While some newly independent countries have ____ most jobs to local people, others have attracted and welcomed migrant workers. This is particularly the ____ in the Middle East, where increased oil incomes have enabled many countries to ____ outsiders to improve local facilities. Thus the Middle East has attracted oil-workers from the USA and Europe. It has brought in construction workers and technicians from many countries, including South Korea and Japan.

In view of the ____ living and working conditions in the Middle East, surprising it is not that the pay is high to attract suitable workers. Many engineers and technicians can earn at least twice as much money in the Middle East as they can in their own country, and this is a ____ attraction. An allied (联合的) benefit is the low ____ or a complete lack of it. This ____ the amount of pay received by visiting workers and is very popular with them.

Sometimes a disadvantage has a compensating (补偿的) advantage. ____, the difficult living conditions often lead to increased friendship when workers have to depend on each other for safety and comfort. ____, many migrant workers can save large sum of money partly because of the lack of entertainment facilities. The work is often complex and full of problems but this merely presents greater ____ to engineers who prefer to find solutions to problems rather than do ____ work in their home country.

One major problem which affects migrant workers in the Middle East is that their jobs are ____ ones. They are nearly always on contract, so it is not easy for them to plan ahead with great confidence. This is to be ____ since no country welcomes a large number of foreign workers as permanent residents. In any case, migrant workers accept this ____, along with others, because of the ____ financial benefits which they receive.

1.

A．presented

B．devoted

C．adapted

D．restricted

2.

A．style

B．evidence

C．case

D．hint

3.

A．call in

B．bring up

C．turn down

D．help out

4.

A．excellent

B．difficult

C．fair

D．stable

5.

A．casual

B．familiar

C．major

D．final

6.

A．consumption

B．pressure

C．competition

D．taxation

7.

A．occupies

B．increases

C．blocks

D．protects

8.

A．For example

B．In particular

C．By comparison

D．In other words

9.

A．Therefore

B．Likewise

C．Consequently

D．However

10.

A．agreement

B．outcome

C．prediction

D．challenge

11.

A．skillful

B．vivid

C．routine

D．potential

12.

A．temporary

B．ordinary

C．voluntary

D．revolutionary

13.

A．claimed

B．criticized

C．considered

D．expected

14.

A．sacrifice

B．reminder

C．disadvantage

D．appreciation

15.

A．limited

B．considerable

C．reasonable

D．potential

3 . “Don’t get sick in July!”

This is a common concern in teaching hospitals in the U.S. It’s driven by the academic calendar: July is when the new interns, fresh out of medical school, start work. In other words, it’s when everyone is most ________. The theory is that this disadvantage leads to mistakes.

So is medical experience good or bad? Well, in most cases, your doctor’s experience is very helpful, allowing her to pick up on a(n) ________ symptom early in a disease process, when machines still can’t take a hand. She can also determine the right treatment when your condition falls outside of what is in the ________, where newbies get most of their ideas. For many medical treatments, there’s a direct connection between physician experience and your treating outcome.

In a variety of situations, though, experience can backfire. The reason is simple ________. Doctors are humans too and they ________ tricks of the mind—like believing that an ineffective treatment really works. In fact, entire fields of research are devoted to understanding why these errors of thought occur. They ________ from so-called cognitive prejudice that can mislead even ________ practitioners into making the wrong decisions.

Doctors are usually locked onto a diagnosis early and disregard new and ________ information. For example, a patient may be diagnosed with a quickly fatal cancer, but then ends up trying various herbal remedies and lives for 30 more years. Instead of analyzing the ________ diagnosis, the patient, and maybe even the doctor, may assume that the herbal remedies cured the cancer.

Also, some experienced doctors tend to believe evidence when it supports their previous opinion while subconsciously ignoring information opposing it. Let’s say your doctor is pretty certain you have ill digestion and orders a test to________ the suspicion, which produces negative result. But she treats you for ill digestion anyway because she was ________ with the prior diagnosis by experience.

In fact, there are clearly many benefits to having a highly experienced doctor, such as technical proficiency. But there may actually be some unexpected benefits to having a less-experienced one too. She may have a more up-to-date education, boundless energy and perhaps is less vulnerable to biases, freed from the same ________ for years.

To safeguard yourself as a patient, one thing you should always do is ________. It may not always be possible to determine that your doctor has met with an unconscious thinking ________. But asking questions does force your doctor to think twice and ________ her decision about your case.

1.

A．innocent

B．productive

C．inexperienced

D．prohibited

2.

A．slight

B．objective

C．complex

D．sustainable

3.

A．media

B．tradition

C．reality

D．textbook

4.

A．psychology

B．education

C．procedure

D．priority

5.

A．take advantage of

B．make sense of

C．fall victim to

D．play fire with

6.

A．spring

B．depart

C．benefit

D．distinguish

7.

A．highly-motivated

B．well-seasoned

C．deeply-offended

D．wide-eyed

8.

A．moderate

B．visible

C．conflicting

D．permanent

9.

A．initial

B．tough

C．multiple

D．private

10.

A．evaluate

B．operate

C．confirm

D．revise

11.

A．preoccupied

B．labelled

C．associated

D．concerned

12.

A．professional circle

B．thinking pattern

C．academic background

D．operating order

13.

A．investigating

B．questioning

C．monitoring

D．observing

14.

A．obstacle

B．trap

C．horizon

D．struggle

15.

A．practice

B．accommodate

C．justify

D．remove

4 . Artists have long claimed alcohol and other drugs as inspiration for their creativity. But is there really a(n) _______ between intoxication（醉酒）and inspiration? A recent study published in Consciousness and Cognition explored the effects of moderate drunkenness on people’s creativity. The authors suggest that alcohol’s well-known effect in _______ executive function may be helpful for these types of creation problems.” Sometimes a reduced ability to _______ one’s attention can have positive implications for select cognitive tasks.” they write.

The findings raise the question of whether drugs that _______ attention and focus, in particular, stimulants（兴奋剂）, would have the opposite effect on creative thinking. _______, very little research has been done on the issue, and what results exist so far have been mixed. The outcomes may well vary according to individual _______ to the drugs. _______, some research has found that while stimulants can _______ test performance for those who are less intelligent, for the smartest folks, the drugs can have the opposite effect.

If less executive function is linked to more creativity, this may also explain why artists, writers and musicians appear to be more _______ to have an addiction. Perhaps creative people are more likely than others to be ________ to drugs in the first place, as a possible source of inspiration. And then, if reduced executive function is ________ in part for their initial talent, this, too, could make them more easily influenced by ________ once they start using. Having less executive control before you even take drugs means you’ll have less ability to stop once you start.

Whatever the real relationship between drunkenness, addiction and art, the authors ________ that their study findings don’t give people ________ to get drunk to “inspire the muse（冥想）” Co-author Jennifer Wiley, associate professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest.” We tested what happens when people are slightly drunk-not when people drank to ________. There could be no argument from these findings that drinking excessively would have the same effects.”

A glass of wine or two, however, may occasionally help.

1.

A．attraction

B．reservation

C．connection

D．decoration

2.

A．strengthening

B．damaging

C．maintaining

D．assessing

3.

A．block

B．reduce

C．disturb

D．control

4.

A．remain

B．drop

C．shift

D．increase

5.

A．However

B．Moreover

C．Instead

D．Therefore

6.

A．additions

B．responses

C．oppositions

D．contrasts

7.

A．For example

B．On the contrary

C．As a result

D．On the other hand

8.

A．conceal

B．executive

C．improve

D．delete

9.

A．vital

B．likely

C．ideal

D．difficult

10.

A．attracted

B．contributed

C．responded

D．withdrawn

11.

A．responsible

B．illegal

C．natural

D．impossible

12.

A．confusion

B．ambition

C．addiction

D．exhaustion

13.

A．lower

B．monitor

C．function

D．caution

14.

A．sacrifice

B．privacy

C．appreciation

D．license

15.

A．priorities

B．extremes

C．bottom

D．Affection

5 . Though people have discussed the relationship between science and nature for many years, there is no consensual(统一的) explanation. While some view science as a powerful tool in ______ nature’s source of power, others view it as a danger. One example is Barry Commoner’s article, Unraveling(解开) the DNA Myth, which explains the recent developments in DNA technology and expresses ______. Another example is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, The Birthmark. It is a tale about a famous scientist, Aylmer, who seems to be unraveling nature’s deepest secrets one by one. Despite all of his ______ and vast understanding of science, Aylmer is unable to direct that knowledge into ______ free from nature’s grasp. He was unable to rid his wife of her birthmark and, in the end, killed her.

Despite the different presentations of the concepts, though time separated the two men, both pieces express a similar view on the relationship between science and nature. Both pieces suggest that nature is ______ and holds wonders, secrets, and powers that many scientists constantly dream about discovering. Although there is a gap of one hundred and sixty years, Commoner still shares and gives evidence to Hawthorne’s beliefs that there is a unique ______ in nature that cannot be discovered or understood through science and that the ______ to uncover nature’s secrets are ______ and can lead to disaster. According to Commoner, nature’s universal power continues to prevent and control their discoveries. Commoner criticizes and ______ doubt on the true power of science.

As Commoner’s article suggests, nature only allows science to have limited power and success. Both men believe that complete trust in science is ______, however wonderful and groundbreaking some scientific discoveries are. Commoner believes that people only seem to focus on the few achievements, while avoiding and ignoring all of the laws. For example, “most clones exhibit developmental failure before or soon after birth”. By stressing all of the ______ and shortcomings of science, he conveys the notion that nature’s secrets are well kept and far from being understood and ______ by man. The government and private companies have invested billions of dollars in mapping the human genome, but we still have no ______ for it. Such a discovery is useless, however interesting it might be.

Commoner’s article clearly represents science as weak and useless, but more importantly, dangerous. It gives evidence to support the suggested dangers ______ with science’s attempts to discover nature’s power. If the result is not ______ dangerous, it can still have harmful side effects.

1.

A．building

B．defining

C．showing

D．uncovering

2.

A．concerns

B．views

C．findings

D．achievements

3.

A．interests

B．ambitions

C．discoveries

D．thoughts

4.

A．preventing

B．earning

C．destroying

D．breaking

5.

A．mysterious

B．powerful

C．fantastic

D．special

6.

A．prosperity

B．perfection

C．improvement

D．integrity

7.

A．beliefs

B．experiences

C．actions

D．attempts

8.

A．disappointing

B．meaningful

C．useless

D．significant

9.

A．throws

B．expresses

C．holds

D．casts

10.

A．improper

B．unbelievable

C．dangerous

D．unwise

11.

A．reforms

B．failures

C．experiments

D．changes

12.

A．controlled

B．digested

C．shared

D．applied

13.

A．question

B．doubt

C．hope

D．use

14.

A．provided

B．supplied

C．associated

D．compared

15.

A．directly

B．especially

C．definitely

D．necessarily

6 . Although it is difficult to make direct year-to-year comparisons because of increase in viewing on digital devices, the trend over the past decade is clear in numerous studies, including the Nielsen ratings. The average age of those who watch nationally televised Major League Baseball games has been _____ these years. Asked in a survey whether they _____ baseball, nearly two-thirds of those ages 18 to 36 said no.

Michael Haupert, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin ----la Crosse who studies baseball as a business, explains why many young people might be _____ by what to an older and more knowledgeable fan is one of the most exciting experiences in sports: a no-hitter. ” Failure is more ______ than success,” he says. ”If my students get a third of the answers right on their test, they fail. However, if a ballplayer gets a hit a third of the time, he’s often one of the _____ .” But watch an NBA game for 15 seconds, and you will likely see one team score.

It is not surprising that ______ the length of games----about three hours in recent years-----and increasing the pace of action has become a subject of discussion among those who love baseball. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is strongly ______ of both. For the 2018 season, the league issued a set of new rules designed to do just that. Mound visits are limited. A timer countdown is designed to shorten the break between innings(局).

No one knows if any of these changes will significantly shorten games. According to MLB, the average length of a nine-inning outing this season has been three hours---about five minutes shorter than the 2017 average, itself the longest mean on record.

All of those proposed changes seem to ______ the point. I interviewed at least 100 semi-fans in their late teens and early 20s for my recent book. All considered themselves fans to some degree, though they ______   watched more than snatches—on iPads or smartphones. They told me it made no difference whether a game lasted two or three hours: they would not pay attention for _____ amount of time.

The historic May 14 Supreme Court decision allowing all states to legalize sports betting could have an impact on all this. More people will soon be able to gamble on sports while watching a game on their couch. But whether ______ gambling will attract more young people to baseball is a huge unknown. Many already gamble, both legally and illegally, on fantasy sports, but legalization will provide yet another ______ during games in real time. Will some states allow betting reports in broadcasts? Will it make the young more likely to bet on baseball than on other sports? Stay tuned.

I don’t know what will hook young people on baseball. But abandoning the game’s unique selling proposition---the timelessness that provides both suspense and great conversationhe educated fan -----is not the ______ . Baseball, Clark told me, is like a game of chess---and too many ______ - changes might turn it into something “more similar to a game of checkers.” Baseball may survive in spite of its challenges, precisely because it stands out and stands up against the short ______ spans that negatively affect every aspect of our culture, including politics and education. As Casey Stengel is reported to have said,” Never make predictions, especially about the future. ”

1.

A．arising

B．declining

C．varying

D．rising

2.

A．followed

B．abandoned

C．secured

D．played

3.

A．Held up

B．taken up

C．picked up

D．fed up

4.

A．honorable

B．common

C．acceptable

D．worthwhile

5.

A．stars

B．losers

C．hitters

D．winners

6.

A．decreasing

B．extending

C．increasing

D．balancing

7.

A．disapproving

B．capable

C．supportive

D．independent

8.

A．miss

B．reach

C．deny

D．clarify

9.

A．frequently

B．sometimes

C．rarely

D．typically

10.

A．excessive

B．specific

C．either

D．total

11.

A．risky

B．organized

C．addictive

D．easy

12.

A．distraction

B．appeal

C．pastime

D．channel

13.

A．inspiration

B．answer

C．achievement

D．recreation

14.

A．overwhelming

B．simplifying

C．sweeping

D．underlying

15.

A．information

B．time

C．memory

D．attention

7 . Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.

An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys (调查) on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat” overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today’s parents are trying to manage their children’s lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.

However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children.

In the context (背景) of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn’t present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents - today’s grandparents - would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier.

Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.

Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyond the role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.

1. The surveys inform us of ______.

A．the development of technology

B．the changes of adult children’s behavior

C．the parents’ over-protection of their college children

D．the means and expenses of students’ communication

2. The writer believes that ______.

A．parents today are more protective than those in the past

B．the disadvantages of new technology outweigh its advantages

C．technology explains greater parental involvement with their children

D．parents’ changed attitudes lead to college children’s delayed Independence

3. What attitude does the writer hold towards greater parental involvement according to the last paragraph?

A．negative	B．supportive
C．understandable	D．sceptical

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Technology or Attitude

B．Dependence or Independence

C．Family Influence or Social Changes

D．College Management or Communication Advancement

5. Which of the following shows the development of ideas in this passage?

A．	B．
C．	D．

8 . Up and down the economic ladder, many Americans who work—and especially those raising kids—are pressed for time, wishing they had more of it to devote to leisure activities (or even just sleeping). At the same time, research has indicated that people who are busy tend to be happier than those who are idle, whether their busyness is purposeful or not.

A research paper released late last year investigated this trade-off, attempting to pinpoint (精确指出) how much leisure time is best. Its authors examined the relationship between the amount of “discretionary time” people had—basically, how much time people spend awake and doing what they want—and how pleased they were with their lives.

The paper, which analyzed data covering about 35,000 Americans, found that employed people’s ratings of their satisfaction with life peaked when they had in the neighborhood of two and a half hours of free time a day. For people who didn’t work, the optimal (最佳) amount was four hours and 45 minutes.

The research traced a correlation (关联) between free time and life satisfaction, but didn’t provide any definitive (最后的) insight into what underlies that correlation—“which is exciting, because this is a work in progress,” says Cassie Mogilner Holmes, a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and a co-author of the paper, which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed or published in an academic journal.

An experiment that the researchers arranged hinted at (暗示) a possible explanation of the correlation they found. They asked participants to picture and describe what it would be like to have a certain amount of daily free time, and then report how they’d feel about that allotment (分配). “What we find is that having too little time makes people feel stressed, and maybe that’s obvious,” says Holmes. “But interestingly, that effect goes away—the role of stress goes away—once you approach the optimal point.” After that point, Holmes says, the subjects started to say they felt less productive overall, which could explain why having a lot of free time can feel like having too much free time.

It’s not clear what an individual is to do with these findings, since the amount of free time people have usually has something to do with a variety of factors, such as having children or a degree of control over work schedules. Holmes shared her research with the MBA students in her class on happiness, and some of the most time-crunched among them were comforted by the findings: “I think that two and a half hours creates a nice goal that even if you increase a little bit more of your discretionary time use, you can expect that it will translate into greater life satisfaction.”

1. According to the passage, what happens to Americans occupied with their work?

A．They allow themselves more leisure time.

B．They keep themselves busy on purpose.

C．They know how much leisure time is best.

D．They experience higher level of satisfaction.

2. What can be learned about the correlation between free time and life satisfaction?

A．Researchers have cast light on the cause of the correlation.

B．Unemployed people need more leisure time to feel content.

C．The paper on the correlation has achieved peer recognition.

D．Employed people enjoy more leisure time in the neighborhood.

3. Which of the following charts illustrates the change of stress and productivity?

A．	B．
C．	D．

4. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.

A．Holmes is optimistic about the influence of her findings

B．individuals are encouraged to control their work schedules

C．people with tight schedules can’t benefit from the findings

D．the MBA students find no free time to obtain life satisfaction

9 . _________ with heavy loads of teaching _________ he later became an easy target of the flu．

A．So tired was the teacher； that	B．The teacher was so tired； which
C．Tired as the teacher； that	D．Such was the tired teacher； which

10 . Have you ever wondered how the trainers at Sea World get the 19,000-pound whale to jump 22 feet out of water and perform tricks? They get that whale to go over a rope farther out of the water than most of us can imagine.     1    .

So how do the trainers at Sea World do it? The first thing they do is reinforce(强化) the behavior that they want repeated --- in this case, to get the whale to go over the rope.    2    , in a position where the whale can’t help but do what’s expected of it. Every time the whale goes over the rope, it’s given positive reinforcement and gets fed with fish. But what happened when the whale goes under the rope? Nothing — no criticism, no warning and no feedback.     3    .

Positive reinforcement is the key of that simple principle that produces such splendid results. And as the whale begins to go over the rope more often than under, the trainers begin to raise the rope. It must be raised slowly enough so that the whale doesn’t starve.

    4    . Make a big deal out of the good and little stuff that we want consistently. Secondly, under-criticize. People know they need help when they mess up.     5    , people will not forget the event and usually will not repeat it.

So we need to set up the circumstances so that people can’t fail. Over-celebrate, under-criticize…and know how far to raise the rope.

A．This is a great challenge

B．And the whale stays right where it is

C．If we figure out a way to motivate the whale

D．They start with the rope below the surface of the water

E．If we under-criticize, punish and discipline less than expected

F．Whales are taught that their negative behavior won’t be acknowledged

G．The simple lesson to be learned from the whale trainers is to over-celebrate