1 . The person who set the course of my life was a school teacher named Marjorie Hurd. When 1 stepped off a ship in New York Harbor in 1949, I was a nine-year-old war refugee, who had lost his mother and was coming to live with the father he did not know. My mother, Eleni Gatzoyiannis, had been imprisoned and shot for sending my sisters and me to freedom.
I was thirteen years old when I entered Chandler Junior High. Shortly after I arrived, I was told to select a hobby to pursue during“club hours.” The idea of hobbies and clubs made no sense to my immigrant ears, but I decided to follow the prettiest girl in my class. She led me into the presence of Miss Hurd, the school newspaper adviser and English teacher.
A tough woman with salt-and pepper hair and determined eyes, Miss Hurd had no patience with lazy bones. She drilled us in grammar, assigned stories for us to read and discuss, and eventually taught us how to put out a newspaper. Her introduction to the literary wealth of Greece gave me a new perspective on my war-torn homeland, making me proud of my origins. Her efforts inspired me to understand the logic and structure of the English language. Owing to her inspiration, during my next twenty-five years, I became a, journalist by profession.
Miss Hurd retired at the age of 62. By then, she had taught for a total of 41 years. Even after her retirement, she continually made a project of unwilling students in whom she spied a spark of potential. The students were mainly from the most troubled homes, yet she alternately bullied and charmed them with her own special brand of tough love, until the spark caught fire.
Miss Hurd was the one who directed my grief and pain into writing. But for Miss Hurd, I wouldn't have become & reporter. She was the one who sent me into journalism and indirectly caused all the good things that came after.
1. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?| A．Hobbies and clubs did not interest the author. |
| B．The author turned a deaf ear to joining clubs. |
| C．Hobbies and clubs were inaccessible to immigrants like the author. |
| D．The author had no idea what hobbies and clubs were all about. |
| A．Stepping on the American soil for the first time. |
| B．Being exposed to Greek literary works. |
| C．Her mother's miserable death. |
| D．Following the prettiest girl in his class. |
| A．Miss Hurd employed a unique way to handle these students. |
| B．Miss Hurd's contribution was recognized across the nation. |
| C．Students from troubled homes preferred Miss Hurd's teaching style. |
| D．The students Miss Hurd taught were all finally fired. |
| A．How the author became a journalist. |
| B．The importance of inspiration in one's life. |
| C．The teacher who shaped the author's life. |
| D．Factors contributing to a successful career. |
2 . Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.
It doesn’t seem that US singer Bob Dylan has much in common with literary mavens like Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Elliot.
Influential US writer Jodi Picoult joked that she might now deserve a Grammy. And well-known British-Indian novelist Hari Kunzru lamented on social media by saying: “This feels like the lamest Nobel win since they gave it to Obama for not being Bush.”
Dylan’s new status — a musician awarded the Nobel Prize for literature–to a degree defies convention. However, this is by no means his first prize for his writing talents. Back in 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded Dylan a special citation “for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power”.
In a speech during the MusiCares pre-Grammy honors in 2015, Dylan revealed how he uses lyrics to document American culture and create an American songbook of his own. “I learned lyrics and how to write them from listening to folk songs,” said Dylan. “And I played them, and I met other people that played them, back when nobody was doing it.”
| A．There is nothing more honorable to win praise from one’s competitors. |
| B．In this sense, it could be argued that what the Nobel Committee is doing is simply reinforcing Dylan’s unshakable standing in the world of literature. |
| C．Dylan’s competitors questioned his winning the Nobel Prize for literature. |
| D．But, last week, these three figures became forever bonded by the Nobel Prize for literature. |
| E．Therefore, the Nobel committee just holds a different opinion from that of Pulitzer Prize jury. |
| F．The words behind Dylan’s songs address social issues and have been transmitted from generation to generation. |
3 . There is a Web site called the “World Database of Happiness.” It combines and analyzes the results of hundreds of surveys from around the world that have been conducted on life satisfaction. Most of the findings are
The database makes it clear that there is not a strong connection between material wealth and general contentment. It is a cliché to say that money can’t buy happiness, but the old saying seems to be
Studies have been
If material wealth does not bring happiness, then what does? Perhaps happiness has something to do with where you live. The authorities at the World Database on Happiness have surveyed
Other surveys consistently
Nowadays people look to technology as an
| A．different | B．predictable | C．satisfactory | D．unexpected |
| A．challenged | B．widespread | C．overtaken | D．supported |
| A．generous | B．positive | C．hesitated | D．mistaken |
| A．turned out | B．done with | C．carried out | D．put forward |
| A．essential | B．pleasant | C．initial | D．enviable |
| A．felt | B．had | C．chose | D．lived |
| A．as | B．so | C．and | D．while |
| A．levels | B．standards | C．senses | D．examples |
| A．Strangely | B．Hopefully | C．Apparently | D．Surprisingly |
| A．point to | B．hold up | C．deal with | D．depend on |
| A．Partner | B．Family | C．Relative | D．Society |
| A．situations | B．relations | C．destinations | D．references |
| A．convenient | B．alternative | C．everlasting | D．adequate |
| A．as far as | B．rather than | C．as well as | D．in case of |
| A．environment | B．circumstance | C．investment | D．civilization |
4 . Much discussed and rarely achieved in full, work-life balance is an elusive prize in modern professional culture. While it can depend greatly on the priorities and values of an individual and their manager, some jobs provide strong opportunities for those looking to combine a fulfilling career with a thriving personal life.
“Work-life balance is not a situation anymore where you’re at work and then you’re at home, it’s more this balancing between the two,” said Lauren Griffin, senior vice president of Adecco Staffing U.S.
Topping the list of jobs that provide strong work-life balance is data scientist. According to IBM, “A data scientist represents an evolution from the business or data analyst role.” IBM notes that while the formal training in computer science and applications, modeling, statistics, analytics and math for these jobs is similar, “What sets the data scientist apart is strong business acumen, coupled with the ability to communicate findings to both business and IT leaders in a way that can influence how an organization approaches a business challenge.”
Stan Ahalt, director of the Renaissance Computing Institute at UNC Chapel Hill, said that the strong demand for data scientists, coupled with the anemic supply of these professionals currently available in talent pipelines, is likely creating a situation where companies will go above and beyond to attract the right talent.
“The demand for people who are able to analyze massive amounts of data and extract actionable decisions has really blossomed,” said Ahalt. “The people who are being hired are being highly sought-after, so I suspect they’re getting relatively good offers, and offers that include flexibility in their hours and locations simply because there are many more jobs than there are people.”
The list is also diverse and representative of a broad spectrum of occupations, with part-time and seasonal jobs like lifeguard and substitute teacher holding spots, as well as corporate jobs and skilled trades.
And for job-seekers or those planning a career change who want to prioritize work-life balance in their next role, Griffin said the most important step is identifying your greatest personal commitment so you can target a job that’s accommodating by nature, or an employer that will work with you to reach a solution.
“You need to define what’s non-negotiable for you,” said Griffin. “What’s that specific thing that you know you need some balance for, is it dropping your kids off, or taking your mother to a doctor’s appointment twice a month? What are those key points for you? Because then you can have a more open conversation with your employer.”
1. A job of work-life balance is suitable for those ____.| A．who gain a prize in professional culture |
| B．whose managers care about their priorities and values |
| C．who expect satisfaction from both career and personal life |
| D．who prefer to work anytime and anywhere at their wills |
| A．in the list which provide strong life-work balance |
| B．of the data scientists, the business analyst and the data analyst |
| C．that require strong business sense and communication skills |
| D．that influence new business challenge of an organization |
| A．are professionals likely to create a new situation in talent pipelines |
| B．can analyze massive amounts of data and extra actionable decisions |
| C．have relatively good offers including flexibility in their hours and locations |
| D．are more demanded than part-time lifeguards and substitute teachers |
| A．must be very committed to the targeted job personally |
| B．have to support employers decisions without negotiation |
| C．should first decide what the balance is needed for |
| D．should drop kids off on time and take care of mothers |
5 . Like every dog, every disease now seems to have its day. World Tuberculosis (infections disease in which growths appear on the lungs) Day is on Saturday March 24th.
Tuberculosis was once terribly fashionable. Dying of “consumption” seems to have been a favorite activity of garret-dwelling 19th-century artists, has, however, been neglected of late. Researchers in the field never tire of pointing out that TB kills a lot of people. According to figures released earlier this week by the World Health Organization, 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2005, compared with about 3m for AIDS and 1m for malaria. But it receives only a fraction of the research budget devoted to AIDS. America’s National Institutes of Health, for example, spends 20 times as much on AIDS as on TB. Nevertheless, everyone seems to getting in on the TB-day act this year.
The Global Fund an international organization responsible fur fighting all three diseases but best known for its work on AIDS, has used the occasion to trumpet its tuberculosis projects. The fund claims that its anti-TB activities since it opened for business in 2002 have saved the lives of over 1m people. The World Health Organization has issued a report that contains some good news. Although the number of TB cases is still rising, the rate of illness seems to have stabilized; the caseload, in other words, is growing only because the population itself is going up.
Even drug companies are involved. In the run-up to the day itself, Eli Lilly announced a $ 50m boost to its MDRTB Global Partnership. MDR stands for multi-drug resistance, and it is one of the reasons why TB is back in the limelight. Careless treatment has caused drug-resistant strains to evolve all over the world. The course of drugs needed to clear the disease completely takes six mouths, anti persuading people to stay that course once their symptoms have gone is hard. Unfortunately, those infected with MDR have to be treated with less effective, more poisonous and more costly drugs. Naturally, these provoke still more. non-compliance and thus still more evolution.
The other reason TB is back is its relationship to AIDS. The (global Fund’s joint responsibility for the diseases is no coincidence. AIDS does not kill directly. Rather, HIV, the virus that causes it, weakens the body’s immune system and exposes the sufferer to secondary infections. Of these, TB is one of the most serious. It kills 200 000 AIDS patients a year. However, some anti-TB drugs interfere with the effect of some anti-HIV drugs. Conversely, in about 20% of cases where a patient has both diseases, anti-HIV drugs make the tuberculosis worse. The upshot is that 125 years after human beings worked out what caused TB, it is still a serious threat.
1. The first sentence “Like every dog, every disease now seems to have its day.” means _______.| A．every dog enjoys good luck or success sooner or later |
| B．human beings can deal with problems caused by disease |
| C．Tuberculosis becomes a serious infection disease |
| D．people attach importance to Tuberculosis recently |
| A．the US government is reluctant to spend millions of dollars on Tuberculosis |
| B．the death rate of AIDS is higher than that of Tuberculosis |
| C．the officials didn’t pay much attention to the research of Tuberculosis in the past |
| D．compared with AIDS, Tuberculosis can be cured effectively |
| A．Outcome. | B．Uphold. |
| C．Achievement. | D．Project. |
| A．Forgive and forget. |
| B．Forgotten, but not gone. |
| C．When the wound is healed, the pain is forgotten. |
| D．Every dog is brave at his own door. |
6 . More than a decade ago, cognitive scientists John Bransford and Daniel Schwartz, both then at Vanderbilt University, found that what distinguished young adults from children was not the ability to retain facts or apply prior knowledge to a new situation but a quality they called “preparation for future learning.” The researchers asked fifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect bald eagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans of similar quality (although the college students had better spelling skills). From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schooling had failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, major scientific ideas.
The researchers decided to go deeper, however. They asked both groups to generate questions about important issues needed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences. College students focused on critical issues of interdependence between eagles and their habitats. Fifth graders tended to focus on features of individual eagles (“How big are they?” and “What do they eat?”). The college students had cultivated the ability to ask questions, the cornerstone (最重 要部分)of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn.
Museums and other institutions of informal learning may be better suited to teach this skill than elementary and secondary schools. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studied how learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people's scientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask “What if?” and “How can?” questions that nobody present would know the answer to and that would spark exploration，they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibit-asking more questions, performing more experiments and making better interpretations of their results. Specifically, their questions became more comprehensive at the new exhibit. Rather than merely asking about something they wanted to try，they tended to include both cause and effect in their question. Asking juicy questions appears to be a transferable skill for deepening collaborative inquiry into the science content found in exhibits.
This type of learning is not confined to museums or institutional settings. Informal learning environments tolerate failure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground to cover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere, Our society depends on them being able to make critical decisions about their own medical treatment, say, or what we must do about global energy needs and demands. For that, we have an informal learning system that gives no grades, takes all comers，and is available even on holidays and weekends.
1. What is traditional educators interpretation of the research outcome mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．Students are not able to apply prior knowledge to new problems. |
| B．College students are no better than fifth grader in memorizing facts. |
| C．Education has not paid enough attention to major environmental issues. |
| D．Education has failed to lead students to think about major scientific ideas. |
| A．they have learned to think critically. |
| B．they are concerned about social issues. |
| C．they are curious about specific features. |
| D．they have learned to work independently. |
| A．It arouses students’ interest in things around them. |
| B．It cultivates students’ ability to make scientific inquiries. |
| C．It trains students’ ability to design scientific experiments. |
| D．It helps students realize not every question has an answer. |
| A．train students to think about global issues |
| B．design more interactive classroom activities |
| C．make full use of informal learning resources |
| D．include collaborative inquiry in the curriculum |
(1) women are helped more than men;
(2) men help more than women;
(3) attractive women are helped more than unattractive women.
Other factors relate to the number of people in the area, whether the person is thought to be in trouble through their own fault, and whether a person sees himself as being able to help.
According to Adrian Furnham, Professor of University College, London, there are three reasons why we tend to stand by doing nothing:
(1) “Shifting of responsibility”— the more people there are, the less likely help is to be given. Each person excuses himself by thinking someone else will help, so that the more “other people’ there are, the greater the total shifting of responsibility.
(2) “Fear of making a mistake” — situations are often not clear. People think that those involved in an accident may know each other or it may be a joke, so a fear of embarrassment makes them keep themselves to themselves.
(3) “Fear of the consequences if attention is turned on you, and the person is violent.”
Laurie Taylor, Professor of Sociology at London University, says: “In the experiments I’ve seen on intervention (介入), much depends on the neighborhood or setting. There is a silence on public transport which is hard to break. We are embarrassed to draw attention to something that is happening, while in a football match, people get involved, and a fight would easily follow.”
Psychotherapist Alan Dupuy identifies the importance of the individual: “The British as a whole have some difficulty intervening, but there are exceptional individuals in every group who are prepared to intervene, regardless of their own safety: These would be people with a strong moral code or religious ideals.”
1. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?| A．Pretty women are more likely to be helped. |
| B．People on a bus are more likely to stop a crime. |
| C．Religious people are more likely to look on. |
| D．Criminals are more likely to harm women. |
| A．Sex. | B．Nationality. | C．Profession. | D．Setting. |
| A．When one is in trouble, people think it’s his own fault. |
| B．In a football match, people get involved in a fight. |
| C．Seeing a murder, people feel sorry that it should have happened. |
| D．On hearing a cry for help, people keep themselves to themselves. |
| A．to explain why bystanders behave as they do |
| B．to urge people to stand out when in need |
| C．to criticize the selfishness of bystanders |
| D．to analyze the weakness of human nature |
8 . Everyone gathered around and Paddy read out loud, slowly, his tone growing sadder and sadder. The little headline said: BOXER RECEIVES LIFF SENTENCE.
Frank Cleary, aged 26, professional boxer, was today found guilty of the murder of Albert Gumming, aged 32, laborer, last July. The jury (陪审团) reached its decision after only ten minutes, recommending the most severe punishment to the court. It was, said the Judge, a simple case. Cumming and Cleary had quarreled violently at the Harbour Hotel on July 23rd and police saw Cleary kicking at the head of the unconscious Gumming. When arrested, Cleary was drunk but clear-thinking.
Cleary was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Asked if he had anything to say, Cleary answered, “Just don’t tell my mother.”
“It happened over three years ago,” Paddy said helplessly. No one answered him or moved, for no one knew what to do. “Just don’t tell my mother,” said Fee numbly (麻木地). “And no one did! Oh, God! My poor, poor Frank!”
Paddy wiped the tears from his face and said. “Fee, pack your things. We’ll go to see him.”
She half-rose before sinking back, her eyes in her small white face stared as if dead. “I can't go,” she said without a hint of pain, yet making everyone feel that the pain was there. “It would kill him to see me. I know him so well — his pride, his ambition. Let him bear the shame alone, it’s what he wants. We’ve got to help him keep his secret. What good will it do him to see us?”
Paddy was still weeping, not for Frank, but for the life which had gone from Fee’s face, for the dying in her eyes. Frank had always brought bitterness and misfortune, always stood between Fee and himself. He was the cause of her withdrawal from his heart and the hearts of his children. Every time it looked as if there might be happiness for Fee, Frank took it away. But Paddy’s love for her was as deep and impossible to wipe out as hers was for Frank.
So he said, “Well, Fee, we won’t go. But we must make sure he is taken care of. How about if I write to Father Jones and ask him to look out for Frank?”
There was no excitement in the eyes, but a faint pink stole into her cheeks. “Yes, Paddy, do that. Only make sure he knows not to tell Frank we found out. Perhaps it would ease Frank to think for certain that we don’t know.”
1. Paddy cried because he thought ________.| A．what had happened to Frank was killing Fee |
| B．Frank should have told Fee what had happened |
| C．Frank did kill someone and deserved the punishment |
| D．Frank had always been a man of bad moral character |
| A．Fee was so heart-broken that she could hardly stand up |
| B．Fee didn’t want to upset Paddy by visiting Frank |
| C．Fee struggled between wanting to see Frank and respecting his wish |
| D．Fee couldn’t leave her family to go to see Frank |
| A．The jury and the judge agreed on the Boxer’s Sentence of Life Imprisonment. |
| B．Frank didn’t want his family to know the sentence to him, most probably out of his pride. |
| C．The family didn’t find out what had happened to Frank until 3 years later. |
| D．The police found Gumming unconscious, heavily struck by Frank. |
| A．Frank is Fee’s son and Paddy is Fee’s brother. |
| B．Frank is Fee’s lover and Paddy is Fee’s husband. |
| C．Frank is Fee’s brother and Paddy is Fee’s lover. |
| D．Frank is Fee’s son and Paddy is Fee’s husband. |
| A．which | B．who |
| C．where | D．what |
