1 . People in most countries have stopped wearing masks (口罩). In Japan, many people are still covering up. Some of those who have gone maskless, or who want to, are taking lessons in how to smile. A lot of adults say they have “forgotten” how to smile naturally after three years of wearing a face covering. They are taking lessons from “smile coaches” to relearn how to smile with confidence. One coach, Keiko Kawano from a “smile education” company, spoke to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper about her work. She said: “Mask wearing became normal, so people had fewer opportunities to smile. Many people developed a complex (情结) about smiling. I want people to smile for their physical and mental wellbeing.”
Smile coaches in Japan may be busy for some time to come. A recent survey(调查) by Laibo Research found that 27.8% of company employees in their 20s to 50s would continue to wear masks. Just over two-thirds of people said they would wear a mask depending on the situation. Only 5.5% said they would go mask-free. Ms. Kawano is well known in Japan. She has coached more than 4,000 people in the art of smiling. She has also trained hundreds of “smile specialists”. She said: “Smiling makes a good impression on others and helps communication. It also has the effect of making yourself feel more positive.” She added: “Moving and relaxing the facial muscles is the key to a good smile.”
1. Who needs to take lessons in how to smile in Japan?| A．People who are still covering up | B．People who have gone maskless, or who want to |
| C．People who knows how to smile | D．People in most countries |
| A．A basketball coach | B．A football coach |
| C．A tennis coach | D．A smiling coach |
| A．1/3 | B．2/3 | C．27.8% | D．5.5% |
| A．Learn again | B．no more study | C．teach | D．rewrite |
| A．A good impression on others and helping communication. |
| B．The effect of making yourself feel more positive. |
| C．Moving and relaxing the facial muscles. |
| D．A complex about smiling. |
| A．because | B．unless | C．before | D．after |
—Good boy! And please give my best wishes to her.
| A．what present I gave her | B．how I can give her a surprise |
| C．if I had a party for her | D．where will my family have a big meal |
4 . When I woke up, I made myself breakfast, sat and listened to the traffic. Some of my friends asked me how I could stand living somewhere so noisy. It’s true that there’s always some kinds of noise in my neighborhood, but to me, these are the sounds of life.
It was Saturday morning, so I decided to go to the park. The taxi was the fastest way to go but I took the bus instead.
When you ride the bus, you get to see so much more of the city. It can be kind of loud on the bus, with some people talking on their phones, some people chatting with their friends, and others playing music. It’s just like the traffic’s sounds, though the noise on the bus represents people working, relaxing and living.
Once I got to the park, I picked a bench over near the play area where kids played while their parents sat nearby. I could see and hear almost everything from there. Peoplewatching is one of my favorite things to do. However, I like listening even better. The only problem is that there’s so much to see and hear in the park!
Usually, I like to close my eyes. That way, I can pay more attention to the sounds and not get distracted by what I see. With my eyes closed, I could pick out parts of two old men’s conversation. One of them was telling the other about something his grandson said. I couldn’t hear the rest, but it must be hilarious because his friend’s laugh was so loud.
When I’m old, I hope that I will also have a friend who will sit in the park with me, and who will enjoy listening to the sounds of the city as much as I do.
1. Some of the author’s friends think “the sounds of life” are very________.| A．unpleasant | B．unique |
| C．magical | D．interesting |
| A．there was no other transport to go there |
| B．he wanted to see more about people’s life |
| C．it was the most convenient way |
| D．his friend advised him to do so |
| A．have a good rest |
| B．hide himself from view |
| C．enjoy the sounds of life |
| D．avoid talking with the two old men |
| A．truly different | B．quite popular |
| C．rather strange | D．extremely funny |
| A．To see a patient. | B．To see a doctor. | C．To bring a book to Mary. |
Paula started working as part of the janitorial (保洁的) staff at a big office building. As Mr. Alexander, the janitorial manager said, the job was difficult for a disabled granny like her. And some of her coworkers worried about having to take on extra work to make up for what she couldn’t do, but the older woman proved them all wrong.
She was efficient, almost better than those who could walk perfectly. She was always on time, made no excuses, and learned from her mistakes. Her teenage grandkids helped her, and together, they proved to the state that Paula was their best guardian.
For years, Paula had lived on her pension and disability benefits, which were only enough for bills and a few necessities. Also, being at home with nothing to do made her feel worthless.
But her life brightened when her grandkids visited, and her daughter and son-in-law had been fantastic parents. Their passing in a car accident was tragic, especially when it looked like the three kids would be separated into different foster homes and shelters.
Paula knew she had to do something, and she did. Mr. Alexander praised her work ethic often, and she made friends with her colleagues. It was a good situation. Tiring but better than not being able to see her grandkids ever again.
It was getting close to the end of the business day, and Paula was already done with her responsibilities. She placed everything in its proper place and looked around in case she had forgotten something. A misplaced trash bag was sitting in a corner. It wasn’t supposed to be there. Paula shook her head, smiling. “Someone forgot,” she commented as she approached the bag. She decided to take the trash out herself. However, it was heavier than usual. She couldn’t even lit it properly. “Jesus, what’s in here?” she wondered as her fingers untied the knot.
注意:
1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
To her surprise, the bag contained big piles of money, which could set a person up for life!
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The police came immediately.
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This year, August 15th marked China’s first National Ecology Day,
The establishment of National Ecology Day will enhance ecological understanding among the public and help the nation
The move
China’s laws and administrative regulations
8 . I would be regretful if I did not write about the incredible people we met in Thailand. The staff at the hotels we stayed in went out of their way to make us feel
At the IuDia Hotel in Ayutthaya the staff went above and
On one of our walks my brother and I were offered bottles of freshwater by one of the locals. She felt that we needed it and did not want to take
Our experiences were a
| A．relaxed | B．amused | C．welcome | D．surprised |
| A．affair | B．share | C．problems | D．matters |
| A．across | B．besides | C．over | D．beyond |
| A．urged | B．watched | C．walked | D．informed |
| A．granted | B．delivered | C．purchased | D．provided |
| A．kept track of | B．took care of | C．caught up with | D．put up with |
| A．dreadful | B．grateful | C．regretful | D．hopeful |
| A．care | B．passion | C．generosity | D．awareness |
| A．place | B．charge | C．responsibility | D．payment |
| A．carefully | B．quickly | C．eventually | D．reluctantly |
| A．insisted | B．involved | C．persuaded | D．proposed |
| A．warms | B．moves | C．races | D．strikes |
| A．principle | B．memory | C．thought | D．reminder |
| A．strangers | B．acquaintances | C．waiters | D．givers |
| A．task | B．lesson | C．moment | D．subject |
9 . A new citizen-science project will improve the chances of finding ET
Ever since 1993, when funding from America’s space agency, NASA, was cut, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which scans the sky looking for radio signals from intelligent aliens, has been inventive in its methods. In particular, it was one of the pioneers of the field of citizen science.
In 1999 it started SETI home, an application that uses spare processing power on volunteers’ computers to filter the information generated by its radio telescopes. These days, SETI home boasts more than one million users.
On February 29th the SETI Institute launched another citizen-science project. This time, though, its researchers are less interested in the digital computers on volunteers’ desks than in the biological ones between their ears.
Unfortunately, some parts of the radio covering scope are full of signals created by Earthlings, rather than aliens. Everything from passing satellites and space junk to ground-based radar and even the starting systems of nearby cars can generate fake radio waves that confuse the software.
But SETILive will bring them into play.
| A．That’s where interested amateurs help professionals process data. |
| B．Rather than examining on stored data, aliens are hunted on the fly. |
| C．Volunteers working on SETIhome have found plenty of interesting signals. |
| D．It will do so by feeding data from these noisy parts of the scope to its users. |
| E．SETI is to detect distinctive radio-frequency emissions from advanced aliens. |
| F．Until now, the project has tackled it by ignoring the crowded bits of the scope. |
| G．SETI Live, as the project is called, uses brain capacity to solve a lingering headache. |
10 . More treasured than the gold in its vaults (金库) are the data a bank has stored on its servers. Banks enjoy a monopoly over data that has helped them get away with awful service and fend off newcomers with better ideas. In Europe, at least, that is all about to change.
The source of this disruption is a new set of regulations, named the Second Payment Service Directive, or “PSD2”. The rules, which are being finalised and will be in force from January next year, will force banks to share data easily with licensed third parties. Bankers in Europe scream that their profits and customer relationships are under threat. Fearing they could be next，America’s bankers are already trying to persuade their regulators to keep their data monopoly well-preserved. Such reactions are predictable and wrong.
Some concerns about PSD2 make sense. In particular, it is reasonable to wonder about the privacy and security implications of sensitive financial data being shared with third parties. But banks themselves are hardly immune to cyber attack. And the way that European regulators propose to deal with these worries looks promising. Third parties that want to use bank data will need to convince national regulators that their data defences are solid and must submit to annual inspections. New entrants to cyber must also takeout deception insurance; their insurers will have a clear reason to demand state of their cyber security. Many online payments will become more secure than they are today, because of the officially instructed requirements for the use of a vigorous authentication process involving two-step confirmation.
The gap between writing rules and implementing them is always large. So the following might make sense. First, agreement from customers to provide access to their bank data must be gained explicitly, not buried in pages of wordy professional terms. The purposes for which data might be used should be clearly explained; and individuals’ agreement to share their personal information should be easily reversible. Second, regulators must be decisive and cruel both in ensuring that banks open up their database to others and in withdrawing the licences of third parties that break the rules, particularly on cyber security.
Since the new entrants will not be licensed to engage in riskier forms of finance—such as lending money—it makes sense to regulate them with a lighter touch. But if some financial technology providers do end up becoming systemically important, higher standards of oversight might be necessary.
1. According to the author, what is the change about to happen to Europe?| A．Data stored in servers will fail to offer service. |
| B．Banks will better treasure their stored gold than data. |
| C．Banks will lose control of data stored on their servers. |
| D．Banks will have to share what they exclusively control. |
| A．They feel alarmed at it. | B．They feel confused at it. |
| C．They accept it as rational. | D．They take it as ridiculous. |
| A．They are predictable and wrong. | B．They are reasonable but intolerable. |
| C．They are unnecessary and insensible. | D．They are understandable but unnecessary. |
| A．Customers must be granted the right to privacy. |
| B．Regulators should be rough in conducting regulations. |
| C．Higher running supervision might be adopted if necessary. |
| D．New entrants to cyber must takeout deception insurance. |
