1 . Why you should be eating more pulses (豆类)

World Pulses Day is February 10, so we need get to know some popular pulses and know their benefits.     1     Pulses are rich, colourful superfoods such as lentils, chickpeas and dried beans. They promote good health, contribute to food security, and are delicious.

Healthy and nutritious (有营养的).

Maintaining good health means a healthy choice of foods. Pulses are healthy foods that benefit our overall health.     2     Pulses are also nutritious, meaning they provide the body with vitamins and minerals the body needs.

    3    

You can buy pulses almost all year round, and all types are recognized as a kitchen staple (主食). Pulses are more affordable than meat. And they are an inexpensive source of protein, especially important in countries where meat and dairy products are not easily accessible or too costly. Adding pulses to stews and bolognese sauces will help reduce your shopping bill. These little changes will make your sauce-based meals healthier, tastier and more filling.

Great for the environment.

    4     Farmers need less irrigation (灌溉) water for growing pulses than other crops, and the roots are deeper and more abundant, which are important factors when cultivating in dry regions where other crops fail. Pulses release nitrogen into the ground, a process known as nitrogen fixation. This has a positive effect, improves the quality of the soil and reduces the need for fertilizers.

Economical and versatile (多用途的).

Essential and delicious pulses are economical and easy to prepare.     5     Never salt the beans before you start cooking, doing this will make them tough. Don’t cook beans in the soaking water. A pinch of baking soda will speed up the cooking of your beans.

A．Delicious and special.

B．Cooking pulses is not complicated if you respect the three golden rules.

C．An affordable, practical choice.

D．How they are good for our health.

E．Pulses boast sustainable agriculture.

F．Why should we be eating more throughout the year?

G．In other words, pulses will help prevent us from being sick.

3 . We all enjoy being part of a group — there’s no better work than teamwork, right? Actually, I disagree. Teamwork can be hard. In fact, it was so difficult that I left my office job and started working from home on my own. It’s a much better fit for me, and it has made me think about why teamwork can make our jobs harder rather than easier.

Personalities can make teamwork difficult. There’s often someone on the team that puts their needs first. The team often goes along with this person, whose ideas might not be the best, just the loudest. Just one difficult personality can make teamwork hard. Combining (结合) several challenging personality types is even harder.

Not having enough time together can also make teamwork challenging. To successfully work as a team, you need time together — and lots of it.

A final reason why teamwork is difficult is that there’s often no training on how to work on a team. You can’t just put people in a room and expect them to work well with each other. You need to build trust with your team members.

Teamwork can be hard, but working alone has its challenges, too. When I have a great idea, I don’t have anyone to share it with to see if it really is a great idea. Don’t get me wrong — I still like my team of one and enjoy making all of the important decisions by myself. But now I realize what was wrong with the teamwork I did in the past and how good teamwork could be if done correctly. And that’s useful information because one day I might want to turn my ME TEAM into a WE TEAM.

1. Why did the writer choose to work from home on his own?

A．To keep himself busier.	B．To keep himself healthier.
C．To make his job easier.	D．To make his team harder.

2. Which of the following makes teamwork difficult?

A．Strong personalities.	B．Lots of teamwork time.
C．Challenging ideas.	D．More training on teamwork.

3. What do you need to do if you want to work on a team?

A．You need to work with others in a room.

B．You need to build trust with your team members.

C．You just need to make all decisions by yourself.

D．You need to have different ideas with your team members.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．A WE TEAM has hardly any advantages.

B．A ME TEAM needs a lot of IT engineers.

C．A ME TEAM has no challenges for the writer.

D．A WE TEAM may be the writer’s choice one day.

5. What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To show the advantages of teamwork.	B．To explain the difficulties of teamwork.
C．To introduce the influence of teamwork.	D．To tell the importance of teamwork.

4 . He Jiazheng, 22, a college student in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said he used to buy only big brands (品牌) during middle school. Then he realized that a piece of clothing, regardless of whether it is from a well-known brand or not, may only be worn for one or two years. Besides, the quality of famed brands sometimes is not as good as that of ordinary ones.

Now he spends no more than 100 yuan on each item of clothing. “As long as the clothes are suitable to wear, this is fine.”

“I hope to realize maximum happiness through minimum spending. As luxury food and brand-name clothing cannot increase my happiness, why not satisfy myself by spending less for the same amount of happiness?” He said.

Ma Yuan, 36, a college teacher in Shanxi province, began saving money a year ago. She wants to save money for advanced studies and her family expects to travel.

She stopped buying well-known brands of make-up and using cheaper products instead. Ma also recycled empty boxes, cut back on dining out, and reduced the number of unnecessary purchases.

“While buying may bring short happiness, I have discovered that living a more frugal (节俭的) lifestyle can lead to a sense of satisfaction,” she said. “I have many dreams that require financial support. By controlling and reducing my spending. I am able to bring those dreams closer to reality.”

It’s a good idea to have a certain amount of money saved for better use in the future.

1. He Jiazheng thinks the quality of famed brands is ________ that of ordinary brands.

A．better than	B．sometimes not as good as
C．worse than	D．as good as

2. When buying clothes, what does He Jiazheng care about most now?

A．Quality.

B．Color.

C．Style.

D．Price.

3. What can we know about Ma Yuan?

A．She used to buy well-known brands of make-up.

B．She wants to save money for her children.

C．She no longer dines out.

D．She is a college student in Shanxi province.

4. What can we infer from the underlined sentence?

A．Living a frugal life can bring Ma Yuan the shortest happiness.

B．The less Ma Yuan buys, the unhappier she feels.

C．Ma Yuan prefers sense of satisfaction to short happiness.

D．Ma Yuan has never experienced a sense of satisfaction before.

5. What may be the best title for the passage?

A．Ways of Making Money	B．How to Shop Smartly
C．Spending Less and Save More	D．The Stories of Two Young People

5 . Maclay Summer Day Camp

June 5-9, 12-16, 19-23, 26-30
July 3-7, 10-14, 17-21, 24-28

The Maclay Summer Day Camp will once again provide a lot of activities. Camp hours are from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. This camp is fun as well as meaningful.

Morning activities will include computer games, swimming, kickball, arts & crafts, relay races, swimming, and many more. All of these morning activities will be organized on Maclay’s 100-acre (英亩) campus. Maclay has its own gymnasium, locker rooms, swimming pool, dining hall, and transportation.

Campers will be transported to all afternoon activities off campus by a Maclay school bus.

Afternoon Activities
Mon: Pool Party and Movie (camper’s choice)	Tues: Movie at CMX Theater
Wed: District 850	Thurs: Skate World
Fri: Wakulla Springs (all day)

The $230.00 a week tuition (学费) covers all costs, lunches, admissions (入场费), etc. However, it does not cover the cost of additional items (snacks from movies, games from Skate World, etc.)

A snack will be provided by the camp each morning and lunch will be provided at noon in the Maclay Dining Hall.

The daily lunch menu
Mon: Chicken Nuggets	Tues: Hot Dogs
Wed: Burgers	Thurs: Cheese Pizza
Fri. Turkey Subs
Daily meal includes fruit, chips, and a drink.

1. There are no camp activities on ________.

A．July 15th

B．June 27th

C．June 5th

D．July 20th

2. How can we describe the Maclay Summer Day Camp?

A．Cheap and boring.	B．Fun and meaningful.
C．Expensive and tiring.	D．Popular and helpless.

3. Which of the following is not mentioned about morning activities?

A．Morning activities will be organized on Maclay’s 100-acre campus.

B．Morning activities begin at 8:30 am.

C．Morning activities include computer games, swimming, kickball, arts & crafts and so on.

D．Morning activities end at 11:30 am.

4. What can you eat on Thursday if you are a camp member?

A．Chicken Nuggets.

B．Turkey Subs.

C．Cheese Pizza.

D．Hot Dogs.

5. Which item’s cost is not included in the $230.00 a week tuition?

A．Lunches.

B．Admissions.

C．Transportation.

D．Snacks from movies.

6 . The traditional Chinese solar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Grain Buds (小满), the 8th solar term of a year, begins on May 21 this year, and ends on June 5. It means that the seeds from the grain are becoming full but are not ripe. Let’s see what we can do during the “Grain Buds” period.

Eating herb of common sow thistle

Grain Buds is a season for eating the herb of the common sow thistle, which is one of the earliest edible potherbs in China. It tastes a little bitter, but also sweet. People in Ningxia Hui autonomous region like to eat it mixed with salt, vinegar, peppers or garlic. It tastes delicious and helps people feel refreshed. Some people boil the herb with water and then squeeze out the juice, which can be used to make soup.

Key period for flower management

This time is a good period of the quick growth of flowers. It is also a season when plant diseases and pests are at an all-time high, which makes caring for your garden even more critical. Flowers need a lot of water and extra care to stay healthy. Weeding should be done as they grow quickly and have to be extirpated in order to keep the soil loose and from competing with the flowers for nutrients.

Celebrating silkworm deity birthday

Silkworm rearing is a traditional byproduct for people in regions south of the Yangtze River. People in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces regard this season as the birthday of the silkworm deity. Those who engage in the silk industry thank the deity by offering sacrifices and staging performances. They pray to the deity for blessings and a boom season for the silk business.

1. Which of the following is true about Grain Buds?

A．It is seen as the birthday of the flower deity.

B．It is an essential period to tend to the garden.

C．It means that the seeds from the grain are mature.

D．It begins on May 21 this year, and ends on July 5.

2. People in the silk industry tend to ______ during the Grain Buds.

A．offer sacrifices to ancestors	B．pray for a close season
C．learn to count their blessings	D．give shows to thank the deity

3. In which column of a newspaper can we read the article?

A．Entertainment.

B．Economics.

C．Politics.

D．Culture.

7 . I love watching football games and couldn’t help but notice how many footballers chew gum while playing! I always thought of it as a choking danger, so why would they risk it?

When we chew something, the receptors in our mouth that sense taste and pressure from the jaw movements start firing and sending electrical signals to the brain. These electrical nervous system signals move to the brain, which works to understand these signals. This added brain activity places the mind in a more attentive state, which is why focus and concentration are improved.

Additionally, chewing gum has been reported to decrease stress and anxiety levels. The brain activity stimulated (刺激) by chewing gum occurs mainly in the prefrontal cortex, the front part of the brain responsible for decision-making and emotional regulation. When chewing gum, the prefrontal cortex is activated, leading to the release of a “feel-good” neurotransmitter called dopamine (多巴胺). Dopamine is known to promote a sense of pleasure and reward, helping to relieve feelings of stress and anxiety.

So does this mean that the harder you chew, the better the focus levels? Yes…to an extent. Chewing harder gum does boost attention more than softer gum. Similarly, chewing flavored gum is better for cognitive (认知) functioning, as it activates more receptors in the mouth than chewing flavorless gum.

With lower stress levels and better focus, athletes have better decision-making abilities in the middle of the game. It also helps them keep their anxiety levels in check during big games. Chewing gum does give your body a little boost, lifting up your spirits. That explains why athletes prefer chewing gum while playing a sport. But for the sake of safety, you’d better chew just one piece to reduce the choking risk.

1. What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 1 probably refer to?

A．Chewing gum during games.

B．Suffering from sports injuries.

C．Swallowing gum for pleasure.

D．Choking while watching games.

2. How can chewing help improve focus?

A．By affecting digestive system.

B．By releasing high pressure.

C．By adding muscle strength.

D．By stimulating the brain.

3. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．Gum proves a healthy snack for athletes.

B．Chewing gum benefits mental health.

C．Dopamine contributes to better focus.

D．Brain activity helps relieve anxiety.

4. What is the author’s attitude to chewing gum?

A．Hopeful.

B．Supportive.

C．Doubtful.

D．Uncaring.

8 . It’s always heartbreaking to learn about a medical problem that’s largely been addressed in the United States but continues to trouble low-and middle-income countries.

    1     It was a device developed by two former fellows with the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. This foot-operated resuscitator (呼吸机) was designed for clinicians who often must work alone when a newborn struggles to take a first breath.     2     When a newborn fails to breathe, one clinician holds a respirator (人工呼吸器) mask to the baby’s face while another person squeezes a ventilation (给肺提供空气) bag, pushing air into the baby’s lungs. But in low-and middle-income countries such as India, where staff is more limited, resuscitation is not so straightforward. An individual clinician commonly revives the baby alone, using one hand to perform three movements of jaw sticking, chin lift and neck leaning, sealing the respirator mask around the baby’s mouth, and using the other hand to squeeze the bag.     3     Avijit Bansal, MD, a pulmonologist from India, was well aware of this earlier.

In 2011, he met a like-minded researcher and they began work on a solution. As the article notes: They developed NeoBreathe, a foot-operated resuscitator.     4     With the freed hand, the operator can multitask more efficiently. The device is now being used in the majority of India’s states, as well as in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Mali.     5    

A．It is helping save lives, and people are taking notice.

B．That’s why it was inspiring to learn about the NeoBreathe.

C．We have created a new way of performing an age-old procedure.

D．Additionally, there are plans to introduce it in Peru, Chile and Argentina.

E．Performing this procedure without assistance can have bad consequences.

F．In the United States, saving a baby who suffers from birth choke is relatively simple.

G．It frees one of the operator’s hands, cuts down on air leakage and significantly improves ventilation.

9 . Several years ago, Joshua Madsen was driving on an Illinois freeway when he saw something strange: an electronic sign displaying the number of traffic deaths in the state. “I just kind of freaked out. I had never seen anything like that before,” Madsen, a behavioral economist at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, says of the incident. It was a troubling experience to have while driving, he says.

In the past decade, at least 28 U. S. states have started to display traffic fatality (死亡) numbers to scare motorists into safer driving. But a new analysis of Texas car crashes co-authored by Madsen suggests such signs may actually be associated with more crashes, not fewer.

“Is this helping?” Madsen wondered. So he teamed up with Jonathan Hall, who studies transportation economics at the University of Toronto, to investigate what effect the signs had on crash numbers. The researchers focused on Texas, which consistently displayed the messages for 1 week every month on 880 signs across the state’s highways. Madsen and Hall gathered data on all traffic crashes that happened on affected roads between 2010 and 2017. They compared crashes that occurred in weeks when fatality statistics were displayed with those that happened during the rest of the month, taking care to compare only the accidents that happened at the same hour and on the same day of the week. They also controlled for weather and for holidays, which can independently affect the number of accidents.

The analysis of 844, 939 accidents showed that in the 10 kilometers down road of the signs, crashes increased by 1. 35% when the numbers were displayed. Madsen and Hall propose that the fatality statistics are so in your face that they grab too much of the driver’s attention, causing a crash. The data support this explanation, they say: Crashes increased when the death numbers displayed on the signs were higher.

1. Which of the following can replace the underlined words “freaked out” in paragraph 1?

A．surprised.

B．thrilled.

C．ashamed.

D．frustrated.

2. What can we know about Madsen and Hall’s research?

A．The research cost them approximately nine years to complete.

B．The final research findings seemed to be out of their expectation.

C．The research’s purpose was to find out if the signs were effective.

D．The researchers almost paid no attention to the factors of bad weather.

3. How do the fatality statistics affect the drivers according to the last paragraph?

A．By having them speed.	B．By making them more fear.
C．By depressing them greatly.	D．By distracting their attention.

4. What message does the author want to convey in the text?

A．Researches studying traffic crashes receive great attention.

B．New regulations guaranteeing traffic safety need updating.

C．Highway signs showing traffic deaths cause more crashes.

D．Traffic deaths happening so frequently should be controlled.

10 . For anyone over the age of 30 reading this article, here’s some bad news for you: Your brain is already on the decline.

From the brain’s peak performance in our mid-20s, that decline is gradual, said Stanford neurologist Sharon Sha, MD. Despite common knowledge about aging and major mistakes in memory, the effects of healthy aging on cognitive (认知的) functions are actually quite unnoticeable. For example, a young or middle-aged adult can remember a sequence of seven numbers on average, while a person in their 60s without dementia (痴呆) can hold onto six. When asked to list as many animals as they can in a short time frame, adults over 55 can list about 4% fewer than those under 55 years old.

“Around a generation ago, we assumed that when we get older, we dramatically lose our memory,” said Sha. “That’s really not the case.” For all the talk about age, memory and cognitive ability, it seems like a good time to consult memory experts. Sha leads Stanford Medicine’s Memory Disorders Division and divides her time between clinical work with patients who have Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia and leading clinical trials in patients with these conditions. “Conditions like dementia, and specifically Alzheimer’s disease, affect us more when we’re older. The biggest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease is age. But beyond dementia, we think about a lot of other possible causes for memory mistakes. When someone comes into the clinic and says they’re having memory problems, we ask about medications, other psychiatric problems like anxiety and depression, and their sleep. There are a lot of factors that can affect memory and that are not necessarily expected in aging.” We asked her to discuss the links between aging and memory—and what steps we can take to boost brain health. Her answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

1. What can we learn about the effects of aging on the brain from Paragraph 2?

A．They are hard to detect overall.	B．They affect animals and people equally.
C．They don’t happen to people of all ages.	D．They rely largely on people’s knowledge level.

2. Which of the following can best describe Sha according to the last paragraph?

A．She concentrates on working with the patients with Alzheimer’s disease only.

B．She still thinks at present becoming older means losing our memory gradually.

C．She argues that memory problems necessarily lead to anxiety and depressions.

D．She thinks age plays an important role in causing Alzheimer’s disease undoubtedly.

3. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．How should we better our memory as we age?

B．What really happens to our memory as we age?

C．Why should we balance our aging and our memory?

D．How can we get the peak performance of our brain sooner?

4. What will be discussed in the following paragraph?

A．The interview with Sha.	B．The seriousness of aging.
C．The necessity of clinical trials.	D．The cures of Alzheimer’s disease.