1 . Have you ever been in a bathroom, dressing room or another private area with a mirror and had that feeling that someone is watching you? You can check to see if a mirror is transparent by observing how it is installed and using a few simple techniques to determine if there’s a wall behind it.
Check out the lighting. For a two-way mirror to be effective, the light on the mirrored side needs to be 10 times brighter than the light on the other side. If the lighting is dimmer, it’s possible to see through the glass to the observation area. Look around and determine whether the lighting seems extraordinarily bright.
Sound it out. The sound of tapping a two-way mirror has also been described as bright or sharp as opposed to a thud (砰的一声) from an everyday mirror. Tap on the surface of the mirror with your knuckle (指节).
A.Turn off the lights. |
B.Try to look through the glass. |
C.Observe how the mirror is installed. |
D.If so, you might be looking at a two-way mirror. |
E.There are some accurate ways to tell if a mirror is two-way or not. |
F.A normal mirror will produce a dull, flat sound, since it’s placed in front of a wall. |
G.People standing on the other side of the wall can observe someone looking in the mirror. |
2 . The early bird catches the worm, right?
There was a time in my life when it seemed I couldn’t advance at work. I had this coworker who was always one step ahead of me.
Then one morning I headed into work half an hour early so I could also leave early to catch my flight for a weekend vacation. When I got there, my coworker and boss were chatting over coffee. I joined in and realized they had been having these morning chats for months!
Often, we rank things based on how we understand the importance of our punctuality for that event. How early would you show up to something like a doctor’s appointment? Do you get there right on time, or 15 or more minutes earlier?
Think about your job. If it’s more casual and relaxed, do you always show up on time?
Now think about personal events. If you went to a friend’s birthday party or their dinner, would you show up on time? Consider how you show up for even more casual hangouts, like, checking in with your parents.
When we show up early, we give ourselves the chance to reduce stress about missing out or making anybody else upset.
A.Look at a job where it’s very strict. |
B.It’s safe to say I never showed up late again. |
C.He wasn’t that much better than me at our job. |
D.Have you ever shown up late to a flight on purpose? |
E.Missing out something small in our life doesn’t matter. |
F.Now, honestly, ask yourself, could you start these things earlier? |
G.And we also account for any emergencies that might cause further panic. |
3 . Natural disasters may claim thousands of lives or destroy millions of homes. What can we learn from disasters?
Sometimes, there are no real answers. Everyone has lost something and someone, and they keep on asking what they have done to deserve this cruel fate. It’s okay to hold on to these questions, but no matter how hard and painful it is, you should keep moving, breathing and living.
Even strangers can teach you kindness. There may be millions of selfish people in the world.
Family is everything. Sometimes we forget to love our family, just because we’re too busy with our own lives.
Every day of your life should be spent loving and living. Don’t be angry at the world for letting you live an unbearable life of heartbreaks and frustrations.
A.You’ll find your way someday. |
B.Your money won’t matter in the end. |
C.Life is too short to live in its imperfections. |
D.However, it’s not a reason to lose hope in humanity. |
E.You shouldn’t be a victim forever——be a survivor. |
F.You have to help yourself first before you can help others. |
G.At times, we take them for granted because we think they’ll always be there. |
4 . Americans spend billions on vitamins, multivitamins for their health, but a review of numerous studies concluded there is little to no evidence that some of those vitamins prevent heart disease, cancer or death.
The report, released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force last week, concluded that “recent evidence is not enough” to determine whether vitamins actually help or hurt your health, based on 84 studies, 52 of which were done since 2014. Vitamins examined included vitamins A, B, C, D and E, as well as other multivitamins.
“Our suggestion is neither for nor against taking vitamins, or combinations of those nutrients (营养物质). We just don’t have enough evidence,” said Dr. John Wong, a doctor in the Department of Medicine at Tufts Medical Center who was involved in the report.
While the finding is that vitamins don’t have any benefits to “healthy, non-pregnant (未怀孕) adults”, it doesn’t apply to “children, people who are pregnant or may become pregnant, or people who are hospitalized.”
The Task Force admitted it makes sense that people would take vitamins in hopes of health benefits, as some shortage may lead to illness. But experts agreed the best way to get good health and prevent cancer is a balanced diet and regular physical activity.
“The suggestion across all organizations about vitamins is to eat a balanced diet, and then the key tends to be on plenty of fruit and vegetables and less junk foods,” Wong said.
Wong added people should refer to their health doctors to determine if any vitamins are worth taking. He said this suggestion should also serve as a need to further research into proving the official benefits and risks for each vitamin.
1. Why can’t we say whether vitamins really benefit or harm health?A.Because they really have no benefit. |
B.Because many studies have proved it. |
C.Because evidence is not enough at present. |
D.Because Dr. John Wong wasn’t involved in the research. |
A.Vitamins are of no benefit to anyone. |
B.Vitamins are beneficial to healthy adults. |
C.Children can’t take vitamins though they are in hospital. |
D.People could take vitamins if lack of vitamin may tend to illness. |
A.Taking enough vitamins. |
B.Eating more packaged foods. |
C.Following their health doctor’s advice. |
D.Having a balanced diet and doing exercise. |
A.Taking Vitamins: No Benefit to People |
B.Doctor’s Advice on Buying Vitamins |
C.Taking Vitamins: Likely to Waste Money |
D.Americans Spending More Money on Vitamins |
5 . We all have memories of what our fathers enjoyed, and all the fun we had with him: travelling, reading, or exploring the neighborhood hiking trail. Each of us has treasured stories and memories of times with dad.
The charm of storytelling,the fun of traveling, the immersion in a book...these are the gifts of a lifetime my father helped me unwrap.
My father, turning 75 this year, is still a storyteller, but his exploration of the world has turned virtual. Like almost all children, I spent my twenties walking away from his stories since I was always “occupied with my work.”
Have you ever put your ear to a seashell and heard the waves whooshing in there? On the outside, it is a hard shell — pitted, untidily edged and boldly patterned.
A.I am no exception. |
B.A father brings the world to us. |
C.In some ways, this describes fathers. |
D.However, a father can sometimes be hard on us. |
E.Inside are some valuable contents that should be treasured. |
F.Now older and wiser, I restarted listening attentively to his tales. |
G.As I look back on my childhood, I see loads of books and miles of travel. |
6 . A man may usually be known by the books he reads es well as by the company he keeps.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change.
People often discover their common characteristics by the mutual love for a book. As an old proverb goes, “Love me, love my book.”
Books are by far the most lasting products of human efforts. Temples and statues may fall into ruin, but books will survive.
The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens.
A.Their spirits walk among us. |
B.Books introduce us into the best society. |
C.Great thoughts will never fade over time. |
D.It is the most patient and cheerful companion. |
E.The book is a truer and higher bond of relationships. |
F.The world of a man’s life is the world of his thoughts. |
G.One should always live in the company of best books and best men. |
7 . Everyone wants to perform well at school. Add these tips to your life and you should be on your way to being a top student!
Taking notes is important. You don’t need to write down every single word your teacher says but write down what he or she writes on the blackboard, or any special fact you think you might need for a test.
Don’t skip school. You will be missing courses.
Keep a good attitude (态度) towards things. If you have an “ I don’t care about school or this class” attitude, then teachers will be less willing to help you with problems. The same goes for lazy attitude. Have a respectful attitude to the teacher and other students.
Always ask questions.
A.Be prepared. |
B.Write in your own words. |
C.Staying organized will be helpful. |
D.Pay attention to what the teacher says. |
E.It is true that you could make up the work. |
F.There is no shame (羞愧)in needing some help. |
G.Try not to laugh when other students make mistakes. |
8 . In looking through your social media, there’s a good chance you’ve noticed pictures accompanied by texts. The pictures are likely made possible by a text-to-image program called DALL-E. For example, Twitter user posted a tweet with the text, “To be or not to be, rabbi holding avocado, marble sculpture.” Then a matching picture appears below.
The AI models come from Google’s Imagen software as well as OpenAI. a start-up backed by Microsoft. On its website, OpenAI calls DALL-E “a new Al system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language.” But most of what’s happening in this area is coming from a relatively small group of people sharing their pictures. That’s because Google and OpenAI have not made the technology broadly available to the public.
The text-to-picture services identify the most important parts of a user’s text and then guess the best way to picture those terms. There’s generally a text box, a button to start the generation process and an area below to display images. To indicate the source. Google and OpenAI add watermarks in the bottom right comer of images from DALL-E and Imagen.
Engineers trained the models on various collections of words and pictures from the web. OpenAI recognizes the potential for harm that could come from a model. To avoid the risk, employees removed violent content from training data, and there are filters(筛选)stopping DALL-E from producing images if users submit(提交)violent or illegal content.
Boris Dayma, a developer from Texas spelled out the problems in an explanation of their software. Despite the risks, Dhariwal, a research scientist at OpenAI, said it could open up creative opportunities for individuals and could help with commercial applications for dressing up websites. Results should continue to improve over time.
1. What is the function of the the AI system DALL-E?A.Beautifying pictures at users’ request. |
B.Producing pictures from human words. |
C.Changing pictures into vivid descriptions. |
D.Providing pictures for users to choose from. |
A.Its users’ rights. | B.Its operating conditions |
C.Its working process. | D.Its company’s prospect. |
A.All images come from a unified model. |
B.The training data is selected beforehand. |
C.Improper requests can’t be submitted. |
D.Filters remove the unhealthy description. |
A.Positive. | B.Objective. | C.Uncertain. | D.Worried. |
9 . Picture the scene: you’ve spent years working towards a very specific goal. You’ve put in countless hours of work and made many efforts along the way, but now that you’ve got there it doesn’t feel quite like you imagined. Instead of celebration, you feel emptiness, confusion and doubt.
Welcome to the anti-climax. The often-experienced but seldom-discussed downside of achieving life’s biggest milestones. Many of us work tirelessly towards our goals. We may spend our lives dreaming of the day we get married, publish our first hook or buy our first home. However, oftentimes, when we achieve these things it doesn’t feel quite as expected. In fact, the achievement of these goals feels a bit of a letdown.
So why do we often experience an anti-climax with big goals, even though we’re happy to achieve them? “An anti-climax can be an unexpected by-product of a milestone achievement. Usually, the more significant the milestone, the greater the anti-climax may be. The intensity(强度)of an anti-climax often relies on what we expect of this achievement.” says Rachel Vora. a psychotherapist(心理治疗师).“The journey to achieving a milestone can he exciting and tiring in addition to giving us a sense of purpose and focus. Therefore, when this disappears overnight. we can often feel lost and confused, in spite of feeling proud of our achievement.
When this happens it can contribute to a mixture of emotions. We often falsely believe that we’ll feel completely different afterwards or that our feelings of low self-worth will disappear, but this is rarely the case. “Clients(客户)often present to me with an extremely great sense of ‘is this it?’ and ‘what now?’.” says Vora. “These feelings of confusion and disappointment, if let ignored, have the potential to cause clients to be in low spirits, or even worse.”
1. Why does the author mention the examples in paragraph 2?A.To present a fact. | B.To prove a rule. |
C.To explain a term. | D.To make a prediction. |
A.Low self-worth. | B.High expectations. |
C.Sense of purpose. | D.Unexpected achievements. |
A.Amy felt empty before giving a speech. |
B.Jack felt lost after his first novel came out. |
C.Mary felt proud when she joined a ballet club. |
D.Tom felt doubtful about taking further education. |
A.How to hold back feelings. |
B.How to improve self-worth. |
C.Hon to identify the anti-climax. |
D.How to deal with the anti-climax. |
10 . When water is cold, people will find it uncomfortable to swim. Wetsuits(潜水服)can help keep people warm.
The wetsuit doesn't have a long history. According to studies, the wetsuit only began during WWII when Italians started wearing wetsuits that were made of rubber. And it was widely believed in 1951, Hugh Bradner began working to improve the equipment.
Now there are many kinds of wetsuits. Contrary to what some may think, wetsuits do not work by keeping the diver(潜水员)dry; they are designed to let water into the suit. This thin layer of water is trapped(保存)between the diver and the suit. And it's allowed to move between the skin of the diver and the inside layer.
Wetsuits can also differ in thickness. They range from about 0. 5mm to 8mm in thickness. It's true that thicker wetsuits are more likely to affect your movement.
A.But they're much better at giving you warmth. |
B.As for the difference, wetsuits can differ in size. |
C.The history of the wetsuit is an interesting story. |
D.This led to the development of a kind of new wetsuit. |
E.Many wetsuits are very light and easy to wear and take off. |
F.As a result, the water gradually warms up to body temperature. |
G.And they can provide protection from the sun and cuts from rocks. |