1 . “What’s the story of your piano?” a friend asked over dinner. My piano just _________ in the corner of my living room. “It has a story?” I doubted.

“All pianos have stories,” she replied. Suddenly my piano’s story came _________ out of me as if I’d always had this tale to tell.

I’ve loved _________ since childhood. I started with the recorder and moved on to the violin and guitar. Playing the piano had always been my _________ which my family couldn’t afford. I grew up in a poor immigrant family in Toronto. My father _________ tables in a restaurant and my mother worked in a laundry. Though our childhood was _________, my brothers and I were always fed with     _________. I can’t remember which birthday it was when my mother _________ some money to buy me a doll. By then I’d outgrown wanting dolls but she worked too hard to know that and I never told her. I _________ accepted it.

So it was finally with my ____________. It was in my last year of high school. I took piano lessons for about a year before university forced me to ____________. I had to make a decision: to pursue（追求） a more ____________ goal of medical school or my love for music. The realist in me ____________ and I had to give up piano lessons ____________ as with my doll it was too late to learn to play the way I wanted. I ____________ the piano around with me over the next decade until my son was born. He showed an early ____________ in music so I put him in piano lessons. I played that piano through my son although guitar ____________ became his choice.

I gradually realized that I’d let all my pleasures ____________ for my job. I figured I’d get back to playing the piano when I retire. Maybe it’s time to get that piano tuned again before it’s too late to     ____________. Maybe that’s something we should do right now.

Sometimes a ____________ question can open a path of thinking and discovery. So what’s the story of your piano?

1.

A．hides

B．sits

C．rises

D．appears

2.

A．flooding

B．jumping

C．spreading

D．breaking

3.

A．dolls

B．medicine

C．performances

D．music

4.

A．life

B．goal

C．dream

D．choice

5.

A．reserved

B．decorated

C．waited

D．made

6.

A．difficult

B．lonely

C．fantastic

D．happy

7.

A．food

B．love

C．confidence

D．hardship

8.

A．collected

B．changed

C．borrowed

D．spared

9.

A．gratefully

B．quietly

C．eagerly

D．actively

10.

A．decision

B．belief

C．piano

D．opinion

11.

A．consider

B．continue

C．refuse

D．stop

12.

A．perfect

B．practical

C．successful

D．necessary

13.

A．compromised

B．failed

C．agreed

D．won

14.

A．unless

B．till

C．because

D．before

15.

A．found

B．played

C．abandoned

D．moved

16.

A．desire

B．interest

C．ambition

D．plan

17.

A．eventually

B．gradually

C．unexpectedly

D．obviously

18.

A．fall away

B．light up

C．give out

D．show off

19.

A．experience

B．enjoy

C．learn

D．fix

20.

A．serious

B．doubtful

C．single

D．private

2 . It is a question people have been asking for ages. Is there a way to turn back the aging process?

For centuries, people have been looking for a “fountain of youth”. The idea is that if you find a magical fountain, and drink from its waters, you will not age.

Researchers in New York did not find an actual fountain of youth, but they may have found a way to turn back the aging process. It appears the answer may be hidden right between your eyes, in an area called the hypothalamus (下丘脑). The hypothalamus is part of your brain. It controls important activities within the body.

Researchers at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that hypothalamus neural (神经的) stem cells also influence how fast aging takes place in the body.

What are stem cells(干细胞)? They are simple cells that can develop into specialized cells, like blood or skin cells. Stem cells can also repair damaged tissues and organs.

Dongsheng Cai is a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He was the lead researcher in a study on aging in mice. He and his team reported their findings in the journal Nature, Cai explained when hypothalamus function is in decline, particularly the loss of hypothalamus stem cells, and this protection against the aging development is lost. it eventually leads to aging.

Using this information, the researchers began trying to activate, or energize, the hypothalamus laboratory mice. They did this by injecting the animals with stem cells, Later, the researchers examined tissues and tested for changes in behavior. They looked for changes in the strength and coordination (协调) of the animals muscles. They also studied the social behavior and cognitive ability of the mice. The researchers say the results show that the treatment slowed aging in the animals, Cai says injecting middle-aged mice with stem cells from younger mice helped the older animals live longer.

But these results were just from studying mice in a laboratory. If the mice can live longer, does that mean people could have longer lives? The next step is to see if the anti-aging effects also work in.

1. In Paragraph 2 a “fountain of youth” is mentioned to ________.

A．introduce the main topic

B．show a hidden secret.

C．describe scientists research

D．recommend a way to stay young

2. Aging takes place in the body when _______.

A．stem cells develop into specialized cells

B．there are important activities within the body

C．hypothalamus neural stem cells fail to protect against aging

D．the hypothalamus fails to repair damaged tissues and organs

3. What do we know about the researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine from the text?

A．They did experiments to see how stem cells work.

B．They studied mice to find their connection with humans.

C．They have found a possible way to slow the aging progress.

D．They have found no changes in mice s behavior during the experiment

4. What will the researchers probably do next?

A．They will help some animals live longer.

B．They will announce the fountain of youth doesn’t exist

C．They will develop products to help people live a longer life immediately

D．They will do research to see if what they have found in mice will apply to humans.

3 . Kyle Cassidy and three other members of the Annenberg Running Group were stretching on the grounds of the University of Pennsylvania, waiting for a few slow members to start. The Penn colleagues and other community members meet three days a week for a roughly 30-minute jog and an occasional lecture. It's not your normal exercise chatter—during some runs, one of them delivers a talk; the topics range from the brain to Bitcoin（比特币）.

But on this day last January, it would not be their normal run. The first sign was the man who ran past them very fast. "Probably running a 7:15 pace（per mile）," Cassidy thought admiringly.

Cassidy discovered why the man was so fast at running when another man ran by, yelling "Help! He took my phone!"

Hearing that, the group did what running clubs do: They ran, chasing the suspect down the streets until he quickly hid in a construction site. The runners split up. Cassidy ran around to the far side of the site to cut the thief off while the others wandered the neighborhood hoping he had abandoned the stolen phone in a backyard.

No luck. Then they asked the residents whether they'd seen the guy. When they knocked on the door of one house, they were in for a surprise. They didn't know the thief had already come out of the construction site and was hiding behind a bush by that very house. As the owner opened the door, the suspect suddenly rushed out from behind the bush and right into the arms of the campus police, who had joined the chase shortly behind the runners.

The members of this running group are not passionate（狂热的）runners. But they do understand the benefit of a little exercise. "Running is typically a useless sport where you turn fat cells into heat," Cassidy said. "But occasionally it can be useful, and here was one of those opportunities."

1. What does the running group do at times while exercising?

A．Share ideas.	B．Talk nonsense.
C．Help search for lost things.	D．Play with their smartphones.

2. How did Cassidy feel right after the thief ran past him?

A．Confused

B．Frightened

C．Motivated

D．Impressed

3. What does the underlined phrase "split up" refer to?

A．gave up.

B．stayed up.

C．got separated

D．ran away.

4. What message can we get from the story?

A．It's very important to keep fit.

B．Exercising can be socially beneficial.

C．Whatever you do, you should do your best.

D．Teamwork is more important than individual skills.

4 . Growing Pains

The term "adulting started as a sort of joke 一一 whenever a millennial（千禧一代）would do something age-appropriate, this was an act of "adulting." Now, though, millennials obviously require training in being an adult.

Rachel Flehinger has co-founded an Adulting School, which includes online courses on simple sewing, conflict resolution and cooking. The cause for such classes is that many millennials "haven’t left childhood homes" 一一 in America 34 percent of adults aged 18 to 34 still lived with their parents as of 2015, up from 26 percent a decade before.

There's a good deal of truth to this. If you're living at home, with Mom and Dad doing their best to spoil（(溺爱）you, you're less likely to know how to do laundry, cook or balance a checkbook. Dependency breeds enervation.

But here's the catch: Living at home doesn't necessarily lead to dependency. As of 1940, more than 30 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds lived at home with parents or grandparents. They were adulting, even while living at home. Parents expected their kids to do chores, to prepare for life. Instead of blaming living at home, then, we have to blame our style of parenting. The truth is that we've simply become lazier as parents.

So what's the real problem?

We're more likely to let our kids crash on our couches（长沙发）than tell them to get a job and pay rent. We don't push our kids to build families of their own, as life expectancy has increased, so has adolescence. Americans aren't expected to start building a life, particularly middle- and upper-class Americans, until they're nearing their 30s. Then the question is how we can encourage young people to "'adult" in non-circumstance-driven fashion.

1. What does the last sentence in the third paragraph "Dependency breeds enervation." mean?

A．Parents would like to do housework by themselves

B．Present kids are too lazy to do housework.

C．Dependency makes kids unable.

D．Kids depend on their parents.

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Millennials would like to be trained in being an adult.

B．Parents are too lazy to do chores.

C．Millennials don't adult because they still live in their childhood homes.

D．In the 1940s kids were adulting even when they were living at home.

3. Which of the following statements is the main idea of the passage?

A．"Adulting" is hard, but only because parents are too lazy to teach their kids.

B．Millennials should leave home early to adult.

C．Americans aren't expected to start building a life until they're nearing their 30s.

D．Adulting schools with online courses are popular.

4. According to the passage, what will be written about next?

A．The government should push off the age of adulthood.

B．Parents should leave kids in charge of society.

C．Parents should put responsibility on young people.

D．Pushing kids to adult is painful for parents.

5 . An ageless question: When is someone “old”?

What does “old” really mean these days? This isn’t a meaningless question — not only does the definition of “old” have an outsized impact on how we feel about ourselves (not to mention how others view us), it also matters to policymakers determining how to plan for aging populations.

The United Nations historically has defined older persons as people 60 years or over (sometimes 65). It didn’t matter whether you lived in the United States, China or Senegal, even though life expectancy is quite different in each of those countries. Everyone became old at 60.

Researchers Sergei Scherbov and Warren Sanderson, who study aging, are suggesting overturning the one-size-fits-all-across-the-globe definition of old. Instead, they talk about “prospective age”, which looks to the future. Everyone with the same prospective age has the same expected remaining years of life.

Scherbov explained that young and old are relative concepts, and their common reference point is life expectancy. It makes sense that “old” would vary between nations, especially between more-and less-developed countries, with differences in education, death rates, access to health care and life expectancy.

But who is “old” also varies-widely-between individuals. The point, says Scherbov, is that personal age is dependent on our “characteristics” — understanding abilities, disability, health history and even education levels. Those with more education tend not to smoke, exercise more frequently, have better diets and have regular checkups — and, therefore, live longer, meaning the beginning of their old age comes later, says Scherbov.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．How do we feel about ourselves?

B．How do others view us?

C．The importance of the definition of “old”.

D．The plan for aging populations.

2. What does the underlined phrase “prospective age” in paragraph 3 refer to according to the text?

A．The expected remaining years of one’s life.

B．The beginning of one’s old age.

C．The differences of our “characteristics”.

D．The age when one becomes old.

3. What similarity does Scherbov think young and old have?

A．Understanding abilities.	B．Nations.
C．Education.	D．The reference point.

4. Which of the following helps one to live longer?

A．As much exercise as possible.	B．Losing weight.
C．Studying history.	D．Improving the education level.

6 . Could bike share programs lead to greater cycling safety?

In April 2015, Philadelphia introduced a bike share program. By 2019, there were more than 1,300 bikes and 400 pedal-assisted electric bicycles available. People used them for about 50,000 trips a month.

Before the introduction of the bike share program, the rate of bicycle-car accidents had been gradually increasing. By May 2015, the month after the introduction of the program, the rate was twice that of January 2010.

But the researchers, writing in the American Journal of Public Health, found that from that time through the end of 2018, the rate decreased by an average of 13 percent a year, despite the increases over those years in the number of bicycles on city streets, and even though Philadelphia made no major basic construction changes, like adding many protected bike lanes (自行车道).

The lead author, Ghassan B. Hamra, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said it appeared that there is safety in numbers: the more bikes on the road, the more car drivers adapt to their presence, and the safer cyclists may be.

“We all know that bike riding is a healthy activity, physically and mentally,” he said, “but there might be concerns that if you introduce a bike share program there will be negative consequences. We saw no evidence of that in Philadelphia.”

1. What has happened to the number of bicycle-car accidents with the introduction of the bike share program?

A．It has increased.	B．It has reduced.
C．It remains the same.	D．It is unknown.

2. What is the result of more bikes on the road?

A．Many protected bike lanes have been added.

B．Car drivers are more used to their presence.

C．More people take up bike riding as a healthy activity.

D．Negative consequences have appeared.

3. What happens between Ghassan B. Hamra and the bike share program in Philadelphia?

A．He is in favor of it.	B．He disapproves of it.
C．He brought it in.	D．He is concerned about it.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Sharing bikes, cutting accidents	B．Problems with sharing bikes
C．Basic construction changes	D．Share program in Philadelphia

7 . The volunteer work experience is a great way to give back to the community.    1    . Choosing the best volunteer work experience is largely related to your interests and your future career goals. You may want to choose to volunteer someplace where future internships (实习) or paid positions might be available. You should consider where volunteers are most needed in your community.    2    .

As you are considering the volunteer work experience you want to get, you might start by considering your interests and where you hope to take your career. If you really enjoy working with kids and want to become a teacher, volunteering in an after-school or tutoring program can be a great place to start.    3    . Those looking for environmental work experience will also find a number of environmental nonprofit organizations. They look for volunteer help, ranging from preparing letters and answering phones to actually going out: and assisting in clean-up days.

    4    , you should begin calling organizations in your area to learn about volunteer chances. Some will require a certain number of hours, which may be relevant if you have a busy schedule. Otherwise, simply tell the organization that you want to volunteer and ask what they might need help or assistance with,    5    . Let them know what you can do, and then they might be better able to match you up with volunteer opportunities.

A．It also improves your job skills

B．If you don’t know how to hunt for a job

C．Certain skills can help you get volunteer chances

D．You should find a larger organization in the community

E．Such nonprofit organizations can really need volunteers

F．If you like animals, animal rescue centers can be your best choice

G．Once you’ve narrowed down the type of volunteer work experience

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

There     1     (be) no lights in sight but the night sky glowed (发出) a dusky yellow, because the Amazon was burning. The yellow flames engulfed (吞噬) trees     2     lit up the sky. During the day, the sunshine was blocked     3     thick smoke. So far, the fire     4     (put) out.

The government has recorded 72, 843 fires. The fire is just one of     5     (they) in the Amazon, the world’s     6     (large) rainforest and a fighter against climate change. According to Brazil’s space research agency INPE, the wildfire has decreased by 17 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2018.

Environmental     7     (group)said the policies of the government encouraged deforestation (采伐森林) of the Amazon,    8     led to more fires. But the government posted a report and wanted     9     (argue) against that. The government claimed that non-governmental organizations     10     (angry) set fire to the forest after it cut their funding.

9 . As humanity has got richer, animal’s roles have changed. People need their services less than before. Fewer wolves and thieves meant less demand for dogs for protection; the internal combustion engine（内燃机）made horses unneeded; modern sanitation（卫生设备）kept rats in check and made cats less useful. No longer necessities, domestic animals became luxuries. Pet-keeping seems to kick in when household incomes rise above roughly $5,000. It is booming.

The trend is not a new one. Archaeologists（考古学家）have found 10,000-year-old graves in which dogs and people are buried together. Some cultures -- such as in Scandinavia, where dogs have long been both working dogs and companions -- have kept pets for thousands of years. But these days the pet-keeping urge has spread even to parts of the world which have no tradition of sinking into a comfortable chair with a furry creature.

The pet business is growing even faster than pet numbers, because people are spending more and more money on them. No longer are they food - waste - recyclers, fed with the remains that fall from their masters’ tables. Pet - food shelves are full of delicacies crafted to satisfy a range of appetites, including ice cream for dogs and foods for pets that are old, diabetic or suffer from sensitive digestion; a number of internet services offer food, tailored to the pet’s individual tastes.

In the business this is called “pet humanisation” -- the tendency of pet owners to treat their pets as part of the family. This is evident in the names given to dogs, which have evolved from Fido, Rex and Spot to -- in America -- Bella, Lucy and Max. It is evident in the growing market for pet clothing, pet grooming and pet hotels.

People still assume that pets must be working for humanity in some way, perhaps making people healthier or less anxious. But the evidence for that is weak. Rather, new research suggests that dogs have evolved those irresistible “puppy - dog eyes” precisely to affect human emotions. It has worked. The species that once enslaved others now works very hard to pay for the care of its pets. Sentimental（多愁善感的）Americans often refer to themselves not as cat-owners but as the cat’s “mommy” or “daddy”. South Koreans go one further, describing themselves as cat “butlers”. Watch an unlucky dog-walker trailing “his” hound（猎犬）, plastic bag in hand to pick up its mess, and you have to wonder: who’s in charge now?

1. Which of the following trends is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A．People’s needs for animal services are decreasing.

B．Both the pet number and the pet business are growing.

C．Pets are increasingly making their owners less anxious.

D．Pet foods are more various and customized than before.

2. Which of the following is referred to as evidence of “pet humanization?”

A．The names given to pets in American families nowadays.

B．Pet’s inbuilt ability to affect emotions of their owners.

C．Human beings ever rising urge for pet-keeping.

D．Pet’s roles as both working staff and companions.

3. Which of the following statements is the author most likely to agree with?

A．Pets should be treated as equals of their human masters.

B．Human beings are getting much benefit from their pets.

C．Pet-keeping is still restricted within certain parts of the world.

D．Some pet owners spend too much money on their pets.

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

A．The Changing Roles of Animals	B．The Urge for Pet-keeping
C．Who Owns Whom	D．Love Me, Love My Dog

10 . Examples of effective conservation of places matter to the world. They range from the 1960s Nubian campaign to safeguard Ancient Egyptian monuments from the waters of the Aswan Dam to the removal in 2018 of the Belize Barrier Reef from the List of World Heritage in Danger. Conservation is the core purpose of the World Heritage Convention and it may also be its biggest challenge.

The following example shows how successes at specific sites now serve as models for conservation and sustainable (可持续性) development. A year after Vienna was included on the World Heritage List in 2001, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) expressed concerns about the architectural solutions and height of four planned towers of the Wien-Mitte project. This development project, close to the Historic Centre of Vienna in the site’s buffer zone, the one that lies between two or more other areas, affected the urban scale (规模) and visual effects in and around the property (地产). As a result of the Committee’s concerns, Vienna changed its building codes and launched a new design competition for the Wien-Mitte project to work out architectural plans with reduced size in keeping with World Heritage protection.

The successful practice inspired the government of the city to invite over 600 experts and professionals from 55 countries to an international conference on World Heritage and contemporary architecture, held in Vienna in May 2005. The global discussion that followed, detailing an approach to managing conservation and development, was recorded in the UNESCO Recommendation in 2011.

The Recommendation put forwards an all-rounded and combined approach to balancing urban heritage (遗产) conservation and economic development, arguing that active protection and management of urban heritage supports the goal of sustainable development.

The Recommendation supports the harmonious combination of contemporary involvement into the historic urban framework while holding on to values linked to history, memory and the environment.

1. Why does the author mention the Belize Barrier Reef in Paragraph 1?

A．To explain the goal of the organization.

B．To encourage the public to protect the world.

C．To show the positive effect of conservation.

D．To remind people of the environmental problems.

2. Why was WHC worried about the Wien-Mitte project?

A．It took up too much public land of the city.

B．It had a bad effect on the Historic Centre of Vienna.

C．Its original designs were not environmentally friendly.

D．Its architectural solutions couldn’t meet safety standards.

3. What did the global discussion focus on?

A．The ways to combine conservation and development.

B．The creation of the new UNESCO Recommendation.

C．The international urban management and development.

D．The styles of the contemporary architecture of Vienna.

4. What is the authors purpose in writing the text?

A．To examine the challenges faced by global urban planners.

B．To introduce alternative ways of protecting the environment.

C．To stress the importance of the value of history and memory.

D．To promote active conservation and sustainable development.