1 . Even people who tend to think conventionally, such as accountants, can be creative, a recent study suggests, if they can look at emotional situations in a different light. In a set of experiments, researchers found that conventional thinkers came up with more creative ideas than peers after they practised “emotional reappraisal”. This means viewing a situation through another emotional lens, such as trying to see an anger-inducing event as one that is neutral or hopeful.

The study indicates that creativity is something that can be trained.“Whenever we break away from our existing perspective and try to think about something that’s different from our initial reaction, there’s a creative element to it. If we can practise or train that flexible-thinking muscle, it may help us be more creative over time,”said lead author Lily Zhu, an assistant professor at Washington State University.

For the study, Zhu and her colleagues conducted two similar experiments. In the first experiment with 335 people recruited through a crowdsourcing platform, the participants were first ranked on their openness levels and then shown a film scene designed to elicit (引起) anger. While viewing, they were given different instructions: to suppress their emotions, to think about something else to distract themselves or to try emotional reappraisal—looking at the scene through another lens. Some were also given no instruction on how to regulate their feelings.

After viewing the film, the participants were asked to come up with an idea to use an empty space in their building. Those ideas were then evaluated by a panel of experts who did not know anything about the participants. Ideas such as using the space for “napping capsules” were considered highly creative whereas ideas like opening a similar cafeteria as before were considered low in creativity.

The next experiment had a different group of 177 participants write about an experience that made them angry. They were then tasked with either writing about it again from a different emotional perspective or writing about something else as a distraction.

In both experiments, conventional thinking participants who tried emotional reappraisal came up with more creative ideas than other conventional thinkers who used suppression, distraction or no emotional regulation strategy at all. Notably, for participants who were considered creative thinkers to begin with, emotional reappraisal did not seem to have much effect on their creativity.

As to the implications of the study, Zhu suggested that supervisors in workplace should develop trainings to cultivate creative thinking skills in employees. Individuals can also practise emotional reappraisal when confronted with a crisis or challenge instead of suppressing negative emotions.

1. Which of the following is most probably an example of emotional reappraisal?

A．Considering an occurrence objectively.

B．Taking one’s success as an opportunity.

C．Distracting oneself from an annoying event.

D．Regarding disappointment as a turning point.

2. From the study, we know that ________.

A．creative thinkers’ creativity was enhanced after practising emotional reappraisal

B．evaluating experts had adequate information about the research subjects

C．the research findings could be applied to the training of employees

D．the first experiment aimed to select the most creative design

3. Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Change Feelings to Boost Creativity

B．Effective Strategies to Manage Emotions

C．Think Over to Explore Creative Potential

D．A New Way to Remove Negative Emotions

2 . When the need for information technology service arises, it can be a stressful moment—the user is locked out of their computer, or a program isn’t working properly. But if you ask anyone in the MIT departments of Chemistry and Physics, or the News Office—the Institute divisions that are fortunate enough to have Greg Walton as their IT service provider, they’ll acknowledge that not only is Walton the best, but whatever the issue is, he will see it through until all involved are satisfied with the outcome. Walton usually arrives on the scene with endless positive energy that transforms a technical annoyance into an enjoyable interaction, regardless of how many other IT fires he has already put out that day.

The qualities that make him a star employee extend far beyond the campus. After spending his early years in foster care, Walton lived with his great-grandmother, but mostly, he was left to support himself. While many children might, understandably, lie flat under such unsupervised circumstances, Walton excelled academically and athletically at high school. He became the first person in his family to graduate from high school, and enrolled in college.

Walton seized the chance to enroll in Year Up, a program aiming to close the “opportunity divide” by providing young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Walton remains an active ambassador for the organization.

In June of 2007,armed with shining recommendations, Walton was hired as a temp (临时工) at MIT.He eventually worked his way up to where he is today—an invaluable asset (不可或缺的人) to three departments.“I do feel lucky to work at MIT,” he says.“I’ve had the ability to tour the country sharing my story in hopes that some people may be inspired and employers may see young adults with tough backgrounds differently.”

In addition to Year Up, he is involved with a number of organizations committed to helping young adults overcome their troubled pasts. This desire to have a positive impact on people’s lives extends seamlessly into his work at MIT. “Giving back is very important to me,” Walton says. “So many people have invested their time and energy into helping me, so I feel it would be an injustice not to do so.”

1. Staff members in MIT sing high praise for Walton mainly because________.

A．he enjoys interacting with his clients

B．he knows how to put out fires for others

C．he solves problems with a positive attitude

D．he is good at developing computer programs

2. What do we know about Walton before he went to college?

A．He depended on his great-grandma for a living.

B．He stood out in study and sports in high school.

C．He lay flat just like other unsupervised children.

D．He was supported by foster care for better education.

3. Why did Walton get involved with a lot of organizations?

A．To share his troubled past with young adults.

B．To pay back to society by helping young adults.

C．To advise businesses to treat young adults fairly.

D．To promote education equality among young adults.

4. What can we conclude from Walton’s story?

A．One good turn deserves another.

B．Opportunities favor the prepared mind.

C．Education is a powerful weapon to change the world.

D．One’s future is defined by his efforts, not by his origin.

3 . Whether you’re managing medications, daily vitamins or other oral treatments, LiveFine takes the guesswork out of your routine with the ultimate efficiency and reliability system.

This WiFi-enabled Smart Organizer makes taking, tracking,and managing your medication simple—easy dosage templates (药剂模板)allow you to dispense(分配)pills anywhere from once up to nine times a day. 28 spacious sections hold multiple pills, tablets, and capsules in each part, removing the need for regular refills, which is perfect for prescriptions, supplements, vitamins, aspirin, antibiotics, etc.

The user guide provides comprehensive instructions for how to set up. In short, just fill the slots, install your preferred rings, and receive alerts. You can even customize audio and visual device alerts— plus notifications, alarms, and reminders and make missed doses a thing of the past! Just choose from multiple unique device alarm tones and adjust the volume to meet your precise needs.

Use the LiveFine mobile app reminders for added reliability, which takes patient monitoring to another level, with notifications when medications are taken or the dispenser cover is opened. Plus, the app provides simple review of past doses, with times recorded for each administered dose and an ultra-convenient remote monitoring option to help your family members and caregivers check on your progress straight from their phones.

Discover peace of mind with the dispenser that does it all—click here and add a LiveFine Smart WiFi Pill Dispenser to your cart today!

Extended LiveFine Features List Secure Cover The transparent design makes monitoring pills easy, while the lid’s manual key lock enhances security to prevent theft, spills, and mix-ups. Effortless Setup Just add your device to the app with a click. Then plan with simple button controls and an XLLCD display that make timing easy. Easy-Read LCD An LCD screen provides first-glance updates on the current time, upcoming alerts, battery life, and more. Large buttons, letters, and numbers are great for seniors. Plug-in Usage with Short Term Backup Battery Powered by included Type-C cable with rechargeable battery for backup power that supports 2-3 days use of device, in case of unexpected power outages.

1. LiveFine is a device that can____.

A．ensure efficient medical refills

B．reduce the need to see a doctor

C．remind users to track their daily routine

D．make it easier for users to take medicine

2. How can a LiveFine mobile app help the users?

A．By recording users’dosage activities.

B．By personalizing users’ rings and alerts.

C．By opening the dispenser cover remotely.

D．By keeping record of the symptoms of users.

3. What additional feature does the device have?

A．Its backup battery lasts for a week.

B．Its buttons prevent mix-ups of medicine.

C．Its lid reminds users to take medicine in time.

D．Its LCD screen makes it friendly to the elderly.

4 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求用英文回答问题。请在答题卡指定区域作答。

The capacity for empathy — to first identify and then understand and share in someone else’s feelings — is largely held as a virtue. Yet, there is a knowledge problem that makes being naturally empathetic a struggle. Why? As poet John Keats put it, “Nothing ever becomes real until it is experienced.”

So how can someone else’s perspective (视角) and emotions ever become real enough for us to develop empathy? Reading fiction may provide an answer.

Studies show that when you read fiction, it not only activates the language processing center of the brain but also increases global flow in the brain. It speeds up the part involved in physical movement and areas of the brain linked to sensory experiences. In other words, reading fiction lights up the brain in ways that copy the neural (神经) activities of the experience you’re reading about. For example, if you read a well-written passage about a character hiking through the wilderness, your brain reacts as if you’re on that hike.

To really cultivate empathy, you need to be internally more aware of and connected to those around you. And again, reading fiction is associated with just such a skill. One study, which assesses one’s ability to determine someone else’s emotions based on their facial expression alone, showed that fiction readers scored higher than non-readers and readers of nonfiction. The researchers assumed that reading fiction allows people to practice taking on someone else’s perspective and thus improves their social awareness. This suggests that reading fiction improves one’s theory of mind and emotional intelligence.

The takeaway lesson is simple: If you want to build empathy, try reading more fiction, more often — especially fiction by and about people whose experiences are different from your own.

1. What does the author think can help develop empathy?
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. How does reading fiction light up our mind?
___________________________________________________________________________________
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why?
▷Non-readers and readers of nonfiction can better determine someone else’s emotions based on their facial expression alone.
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. In addition to the benefits mentioned above, what do you think are some other benefits of reading fiction? (In about 40 words)
___________________________________________________________________________________

5 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求用英文回答问题。

E-waste is a serious problem that isn’t going to get better on its own. Here are some do-it-yourself tips on how to manage e-waste.

Maybe the biggest cause of our e-waste problem is the fact that we buy things that we just don’t need. Next time you feel like you need a device or electronic item, stop yourself and ask if it is truly necessary. This is maybe also the easiest way we can manage e-waste. Organize your electronics. If you don’t keep your connectors, DVDs, wires and gadgets organized, you won’t be aware of what you have. When we buy duplicate electronics because we think we need them, we are contributing to our growing e-waste problem. “How to manage e-waste” becomes less of an issue when we keep our own houses in order.

If you do not need a piece of equipment and it is in good enough condition to be reused, donate it as soon as you can so that somebody else can use it. Donations are good for us because they are a useful way to get tax deductions, and a lot of times that tax deduction will be close to the value of the item had you tried to sell it. Take your electronics back to the store. Some stores offer trade-in programs, where you can drop off your old equipment in return for gift cards.

There are also places to sell electronics that might be valuable to somebody else. Just be sure to sell them right away, because they lose value very rapidly in our changing market.

If you are frequently receiving memory sticks and little gadgets, collect them into a good-e-bag. Whenever you no longer need a USB stick or a small electronic device, toss it into the bag. You might be surprised at how quickly it fills up. So be sure you are utilizing your materials and products thoughtfully. With these tips you can use DIY solutions to learn how to manage e-waste. Your house will be cleaner, you will save money and you’ll be doing a good thing.

1. What is the biggest cause of our e-waste problem?
_____________________________________________________________
2. How can people get tax deductions when managing e-waste?
__________________________________________________________
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Sell the electronics that you don't need right away because the earlier you sell them, the more gift cards you can get.
________________________________________________________
4. Why do we need to manage our e-waste? (In about 40 words)
_________________________________________________________________

6 . “Just think positively!”

“It could be worse.”

“You should look at the bright side!”

We’ve all heard (and maybe used) these phrases without much thought. But they could be contributing to a culture of toxic(有毒的) positivity. For those new to this term, it might sound like an oxymoron(矛盾修辞法). How can positivity be toxic? Isn’t it supposed to be helpful, or “positive”, as the name suggests?     1    

“Toxic positivity is when somebody avoids all negative thoughts or feelings, pretending everything is going well when it is not,” explains Melissa Dowd, a therapist at PlushCare, a virtual health platform for primary care and mental health services.Whitney Goodman, the author of Toxic Positivity describes toxic positivity as the “endless pressure to be happy and positive, no matter what the circumstances are.”     2     It’s also something we can cause other people to experience.

Expressing toxic positivity to others may look like offering them a simple solution to a complicated problem that we know nothing about, or not allowing people around you to appropriately express negative emotions.

Toxic positivity causes us to suppress our emotions, which can make them worse.     3     “Although it can be helpful to look on the bright side when facing challenges,” Dowd says, “not coping with negative feelings in a healthy way in the moment can lead to those feelings resurfacing later in different areas of your life or as a form of anxiety.”     4     “If I feel like you’re going to dismiss me, I’m going to stop sharing how I’m feeling,” Goodman adds.

    5     If you’re using toxic positivity against yourself, Goodman suggests remembering it’s OK if you’re upset about something. It’s valid if something annoys you. “Allow ourselves and other people to share when they’re going through a difficult time,” she says. Dowd adds that it’s essential that “we all learn to cope with and process our emotions in a healthy way as opposed to avoiding how we feel” as life’s stressors continue to rise. For example, instead of simply saying “Just think positively,” we’d better say “Sometimes bad things happen. How can I help?”

A．Are there ways to avoid toxic positivity?

B．Toxic positivity also disrupts connection.

C．It can harm people who are going through difficult times.

D．This can come up in different situations when we are dealing with pressure.

E．They become more intense and can cause long-lasting health concerns in the future.

F．Experts say constant forced positivity can lead to the opposite, and have a negative effect.

G．This is what we may bring on to ourselves by not allowing negative thoughts and feelings.

7 . At a museum in Vietnam, Lena Bui’s film Where Birds Dance Their Last reflected on the beauty and vulnerability of Vietnamese feather farms after Bird Flu. During a festival in Rwanda, Ellen Reid’s audio experience Soundwalk was shared in a hopeful discussion about music, parks and mental health. These are a few of the things I have helped bring to life over the years, working at the intersection of scientific research, the arts and advocacy to support science in solving global health challenges.

Science is key to addressing these issues. But it isn’t the only key. To achieve its potential and for its advances to be implemented and reach all who could benefit, science depends on trust and good relationships. People might not always see science as relevant, trustworthy or meaningful to their lives. There are reasons why some see science as having a chequered past, from nuclear weapons to eugenics, and are therefore uninterested in, or suspicious of, what it proposes. Others feel excluded by the incomprehensibility of hyper specialist knowledge.

In its capacity to build upon and test an evidence base, science is powerful, but researchers and funders haven’t been as good at ensuring this evidence base responds to the needs and interests of diverse communities, or informs policy makers to take action. Science might be perceived as distancing itself from the personal, the poetic and the political, yet it is precisely these qualities that can be most influential when it comes to public interest in atopic or how a government prioritizes a decision.

A moving story well told can be more memorable than a list of facts. This is where the arts come in. Artists can give us different perspectives with which to consider and reimagine the world together. They can redress the proclaimed objectivity in science by bringing stories —subjectivities —into the picture, and these can help foster a sense of connection and hope.

In 2012, I set up artist residencies in medical research centres around the world. Bui was attached to the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam. The head of the research team was delighted, finding that Bui, as a Vietnamese artist, had license to be in, and to share useful insights from, villages where infectious disease researchers weren’t welcome. Six years later, I led Wellcome’s Contagious Cities program, which established artist residencies worldwide to support locally led explorations of epidemic preparedness. The recent pandemic made this work more noticeable, and has informed our Mindscapes program which is currently sharing experiences of mental health through the work of artists.

With pandemic, climate and mental health crises upon us, rising inequality and what feels like an increasingly broken world, never has there been more need to build and nurture hopeful and imaginative spaces to grow human connection and shared purpose for the common good. Science and the arts can work hand in glove to achieve this.

1. The author lists two works in Paragraph 1 mainly to ______.

A．reveal the gap between science and art	B．prove his competence in both science and art
C．introduce successful science-related artworks	D．show that science can be promoted in art forms

2. What does the underlined word “chequered” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Recent and remote.	B．Good and bad.
C．Usual and unusual.	D．Peaceful and scary.

3. Which of the following would the author agree?

A．Policy-makers base their decisions on science.	B．Researchers popularize science effectively.
C．Science is well received among the public.	D．The arts help people build connections.

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．The Value of the Arts to Science	B．Where Do Science and the Arts Meet?
C．A New Way to Fight Pandemic—the Arts	D．Which Matters More, Science or the Arts?

8 . To a chef, the sounds of lip smacking, slurping and swallowing are the highest form of flattery (恭维). But to someone with a certain type of misophonia (恐音症), these same sounds can be torturous. Brain scans are now helping scientists start to understand why.

People with misophonia experience strong discomfort, annoyance or disgust when they hear particular triggers. These can include chewing, swallowing, slurping, throat clearing, coughing and even audible breathing. Researchers previously thought this reaction might be caused by the brain overactively processing certain sounds. Now, however, a new study published in Journal of Neuroscience has linked some forms of misophonia to heightened “mirroring” behavior in the brain: those affected feel distress while their brains act as if they were imitating the triggering mouth movements.

“This is the first breakthrough in misophonia research in 25 years,” says psychologist Jennifer J. Brout, who directs the International Misophonia Research Network and was not involved in the new study.

The research team, led by Neweastle University neuroscientist Sukhbinder Kumar, analyzed brain activity in people with and without misophonia when they were at rest and while they listened to sounds. These included misophonia triggers (such as chewing), generally unpleasant sounds (like a crying baby）, and neutral sounds. The brain’s auditory (听觉的) cortex, which processes sound, reacted similarly in subjects with and without misophonia. But in both the resting state and listening trials, people with misophonia showed stronger connections between the auditory cortex and brain regions that control movements of the face, mouth and throat, while the controlled group didn’t. Kumar found this connection became most active in participants with misophonia when they heard triggers specific to the condition.

“Just by listening to the sound, they activate the motor cortex more strongly. So in a way it was as if they were doing the action themselves,” Kumar says. Some mirroring is typical in most humans when witnessing others’ actions; the researchers do not yet know why an excessive(过分的) mirroring response might cause such a negative reaction, and hope to address that in future research. “Possibilities include a sense of loss of control, invasion of personal space, or interference with current goals and actions,” the study authors write.

Fatima Husain, an Illinois University professor of speech and hearing science, who was not involved in the study, says potential misophonia therapies could build on the new findings by counseling patients about handling unconscious motor responses to triggering sounds—not just coping with the sounds themselves. If this works, she adds, one should expect to see reduced connected activity between the auditory and motor cortices.

1. It can be learnt from the new study that ______.

A．misophonia sufferers can’t help imitating the triggers

B．people with misophonia are more likely to flatter chefs

C．the brains of people with misophonia overreact to sounds strongly

D．misophonia sufferers tend to have similar annoying activities in their brains

2. Compared with people without misophonia, people with misophonia ______.

A．suffer less severely at the resting state	B．own markedly different brain structures
C．react more negatively at a mirroring response	D．lose control of their facial movements easily

3. What might be the significance of the study?

A．Improving speech and hearing science.	B．Developing a treatment for misophonia.
C．Drawing people’s attention to misophonia.	D．Promoting human brain structure research.

9 . “I can’t connect with your characters.”

I kept hearing the same feedback and was unable to understand why and not sure what to do. I was a character-driven writer. How could I mess up the one thing I was supposed to be good at? I was determined to convince my agent that these characters were real. After all, I knew they were real. My main character Lotus had lived inside me for years. I just needed to clarify her on the page.

I wrote and edited for a year, trying to respond to this agent’s feedback. But Lotus’ personality began to disappear. I tried to have her make “better” decisions, wear smarter fashion, and have more friends, as my agent said she acted “immature” and was “isolated”. And when this agent ultimately parted ways with me, I felt like I had failed. Now with time and distance, I realize I tried to fit Lotus into a neurotypical style to please my agent. And as a result, Lotus lost her Lotus-ness.

When that agent discouraged me from writing Lotus as autistic(自闭的), he said that would make Lotus seem more “vulnerable(脆弱的)” or an “obvious victim”. I didn’t want Lotus to seem vulnerable. Lotus’ autism is what makes her powerful, I tried to explain. But from a neurotypical perspective, Lotus’ autism could only be seen as a weakness.

Unsure of how to convince my agent of the strength and power autistic women hold, I began to write Lotus as “neurotypical”. And I failed miserably. After all, what do I know about being neurotypical? My whole life, autism was my default. Not being diagnosed until 2020, I assumed the way I saw the world was “normal”.

My current agent encourages me to write from my neurodivergent(神经多样性的) experience. With this invitation, I revisited Lotus and saw her the way I first wrote her. And when I did, the characters and the entire narrative began to make more sense.

Identifying my characters as neurodivergent not only gives me joy as a writer, but it has produced my strongest writing. For so long, I’ve combatted the advice to “write what I know”, in part because I didn’t know what I actually knew. I didn’t know I was neurodivergent. But as I mine the specificity of my lived experience, my writing is stronger. There is a power to our lived experience. It’s not a limitation on our craft, but a swinging open of the gates.

1. How did the author feel when receiving the repeated response from the first agent?

A．Confused.

B．Convinced.

C．Determined.

D．Disappointed.

2. Lotus’ personality got lost because ______

A．Lotus no longer lived inside the author	B．the author attempted to please the agent
C．the agent failed to sympathize with Lotus	D．Lotus was considered childish and lonely

3. What do we know about the author?

A．She regretted parting with the agent.

B．She owed her success in life to autism.

C．She was aware of her autism in the early years.

D．She was empowered by her autistic experience.

4. What has the author learned from her own experience?

A．Stick to your dream despite discouragement.

B．Be true to yourself and write from your heart.

C．Giving in to authority is the barrier to success.

D．Everyone is born an original instead of a copy.

10 . A child science genius(天才)has wowed his professors and classmates by becoming a college graduate at the age of 13. Elliott Tanner recently graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s (学士) degree in physics, with a minor in mathematics.

Elliott’s parents are very proud of the hard work and devotion he showed to get his degree at such a young age and are pleased that he has become an inspiration to lots of people. Elliott’s mom said, “He also inspires us to be better people every day.”

Elliott’s parents first realized their son was gifted at the age 3, when he displayed amazing language and math skills. It became clear that a traditional education experience would not be a good fit for him. Elliott was then homeschooled by his parents. “Elliott ended up learning and using information quicker than we could provide it,” his mother added.

By age 9, Elliott had already completed most of the normal high school courses, and his parents were struggling to keep up with him. So they sent him to the local community college, where Elliott really developed his passion (热爱) for physics. “For a long time, I wanted to be a mathematician,” Elliott said. “Then I was introduced to a physics class, and that really inspired me to learn more about the secrets of the world.”

When he was 11 years old, Elliott moved to the University of Minnesota to start studying physics and math. Although his college experience is a little different from that of his classmates, Elliott still hangs out with his peers in the student lounge, discussing homework, debating physics topics or watching movies. Being with people that are just as passionate about physics as he is has been pleasing enough for him.

One of the biggest challenges Elliott and his family have faced is criticism online from people who make judgments about what his life must be like. Many people believe he can’t have many social skills. However, Elliott has always enjoyed interacting with kids his own age. He loves playing with other neighborhood children, and just like the other kids, Elliott goes trick-or-treating on Halloween, but in an academic way: He dresses up as Albert Einstein, his favorite scientist.

Elliott has been accepted into the University of Minnesota’s PhD program and will start his study next year. In the future, Elliott aims to be a professor at the University of Minnesota and become an expert in physics. “I can’t wait to get started,” he said.

1. What did Elliott’s parents do when they realized he was gifted?

A．They sent him to a normal high school.

B．They asked for advice from universities.

C．They taught him by themselves at home.

D．They helped him fit into traditional education.

2. When Elliott moved to the University of Minnesota, he ______.

A．discovered his passion for physics

B．enjoyed staying with his classmates

C．dressed up as Albert Einstein in class

D．refused to play with kids his own age

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Elliott has few social skills.

B．Elliott loves exploring the world.

C．Elliott has no talent for language.

D．Elliott hopes to be a mathematician.

4. From Elliott’s story, we know that ______.

A．physics is the most important subject

B．children should be educated at home

C．geniuses need support just as we do

D．the earlier kids start school, the better