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 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was invented by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. It is a self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. The MBTI personality inventory (量表) sorts people into 16 type categories, each of which is represented by four-letter codes such as INFP and ESTJ. Every year, about 1.5 million people have enjoyed discovering their personality type by completing the MBTI. Many companies, as well as hundreds of universities, use it in hiring and training.
Nevertheless, the MBTI has received a noticeable criticism from the academic community. Some research suggests the MBTI is unreliable because the same person can get different results when retaking the test. Other studies have questioned the validity of the MBTI, which is the ability of the test to accurately link the “types” to outcomes in the real world -for example, how well people classified as a certain type will perform in a given job.
Merve Emre, a professor a Oxford University, points out that it would be more scientifically advisable to score the MBTI scales continuously to show people the degree to which they resemble the types. Even when the MBTI’s results don’t quite match your intuition (直觉) about yourself or are just wrong, they can still provide self-insight and insight into differences and similarities between people.
Scoring and interpreting the MBTI the way other personality inventories are scored and interpreted might be less fun than finding. All of the folklore (民间看法) about INFPs, ESTJs, etc. would have to be dismissed. But, in the end the MBTI is sufficiently reliable and valid enough to be useful in a number of real-world contexts.
1. What do we know about the MBTI from the first paragraph?A.It is a personality-testing tool. | B.It is divided into 16 categories. |
C.It is a study of personal preference. | D.It is a questionnaire on four-letter codes. |
A.It performs badly in job interviews | B.Its reliability has been questioned. |
C.It requires people to retake the test | D.Its advantages are not fully shown. |
A.It is beyond criticism. | B.It is a more scientific test. |
C.It is less fun than other tests. | D.It is useful for self-exploration. |
A.How Can We Use the MBTI? | B.Why do We Criticise the MBTI? |
C.Is the MBTI Totally Meaningless? | D.Is Scoring the MBTI Really Necessary? |
3 . Are you relatively skinny but growing a “beer belly”?
Then don’t be surprised at your next checkup if the nurse measures your waistline to determine your healthy weight. That’s because research is showing that a protruding (鼓出的) belly may be a sign of VAT — a dangerous form of fat around organs deep inside your body. “Studies confirm that visceral (内脏的) fat is a clear health risk,” said Dr. Tiffany Wiley, a senior expert at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Unlike the fat just under your skin, visceral fat raises your risk for heart disease. Experts think that’s because visceral fat raises blood pressure and inflames (使发炎) tissues and organs.
However, you can’t assume you’re safe from visceral fat if your overall weight is healthy, experts stress. That’s because you can have dangerous visceral fat even if you’re not considered overweight — and not have any visceral fat even if you are overweight.
How do you know if your stomach is protruding into dangerous size? Do a check. Non-pregnant women with a waist size greater than 88 cm and men with a waist larger than 102 cm, are at higher risk according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you’re Asian, it drops to 80 cm for women and 90 cm for men. But it is only a rough measure. “The only sure way to know is to check your visceral fat levels on a CT scan or MRI,” say experts.
According to the AHA committee, the most salutary physical activity to “shrink” belly is aerobic exercise. Aerobic means “with oxygen”, so aerobic exercise increases your breathing rate and promotes the circulation of oxygen through the blood. This type of exercise makes the heart work more effectively and improves its ability to move oxygen-carrying blood with every beat. Speed walking, jogging, stair climbing, cycling and swimming are all examples of aerobic exercise.
“However, more studies are needed to determine the best physical activity, food and other lifestyle changes to reduce heart disease risk,” Dr. Tiffany Wiley added.
1. What would a “beer belly” cause?A.Enlarged organs inside the body. | B.Higher risk of heart disease. |
C.Raised mental pressure. | D.Inflamed stomach. |
A.A white man with a waist size of 120 cm. |
B.A white woman with a waist size of 90 cm. |
C.An Asian man with a waist size of 102 cm. |
D.An Asian woman with a waist size of 75 cm. |
A.Beneficial. | B.Difficult. | C.Enthusiastic. | D.Useless. |
A.Doing aerobic exercise can remove visceral fat completely. |
B.Heart ability improves when one does speed walking. |
C.Further studies are needed to reduce heart disease risk. |
D.Food and life style determine one’s body shape. |
A New Addition to the Family
For the initial ten years of his life, Victor was the prince of the household. As he was an only child, his parents petted him and showered all their love and attention on him. Whatever toys his parents bought, they were always meant for him. Whatever food was in the refrigerator, there was no one to compete with him to polish it off first. Victor could leave his toys or books around the house with complete ease of mind, knowing that there was no one who would get their hands on his belongings and cause any damage.
However, all that was to change overnight when Victor’s parents brought back his new baby sister, Lina, from the hospital. With her rosy cheeks, wide open eyes and angelic smile, Lina caught the hearts of her parents, grandparents and relatives. Everyone focused their attention on the cute bunch of joy. Whenever she cried, her mother or father would rush to her bed. She simply cried because she wanted to be carried. There was little time left for Victor.
Now that Victor’s mother had his baby sister to take care of, she expected Victor himself to do most of the chores he can do. Victor was asked to clean his own room, iron his own school uniform and clean his own shoes. Before Lina’s arrival, he had never lifted a finger to help out with these tasks. The whole family also went out less because it was unhealthy to expose Lina to the bacteria(细菌) being in the outside world too often.
Victor felt neglected by his parents. He felt that they loved Lina more than him. As a result, he tried to attract his parents’ attention by becoming resistant. One evening, Victor’s parents were called up by his teacher because Victor had got into a fight at school. His teacher had noticed Victor’s behaviour and work attitude changing downwards in the past two months. Before that, he had been a model student.
注意:1.续写词数应为150左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
Upon hearing the teacher’s feedback, Victor’s parents got lost in thought.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Victor realized that his parents still cared for him.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . When asked what his father did for a living, Mike explained to his kindergarten teacher that “he steals things, but it’s OK, because he gets paid to do it. ”
He isn’t wrong. His father is a hacker(黑客), who is proud of his job, just like doctors are proud of the work they do. Thanks to security researchers’ hacking practices, leaks in a new version of the most common Wi-Fi code standard(WPA3)were found before criminals could use them to break into home and business networks. In another case, criminals found an unknown weakness in Google’s Android operating systems before security researchers did, giving the bad guys full control of more than a dozen phone models.
However, finding Mike’s father’s personalized plates for his car with the word ‘HACKING’, an employee of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles quickly took them away, claiming that a license plate displaying “HACKING” publicized criminal activity. While this reaction really isn’t the fault of the well-intentioned employee, it’s a sign of how a deeply rooted misrepresentation of his profession has created a fixed wrong image. It seems that the way that hackers are described in Hollywood has contributed to the word ‘hacker’ paralleling ‘criminal’, where hackers are often referred to as figures in dark rooms engaged in illegal activity while tapping at keyboards.
But actually, hacking is just an activity. What separates any activity from a crime is, very often, permission. People are free to drive, but they do not have permission to drive 150 miles per hour, which is a criminal offense. Since a driver is just a driver, why must a hacker be a criminal? Someone who engages in the illegal use of hacking should not be called a ‘bad hacker’ but a ‘cybercriminal’. Contrary to popular belief, most hackers like Mike’s father undoubtedly play an important role in keeping companies and people safe.
1. What did Mike’s son think of Mike’s job?A.Admirable. | B.Amazing. | C.Acceptable. | D.Annoying. |
A.Its weakness. | B.Its importance. | C.Its variety | D.Its security. |
A.To entertain the renders. | B.To question the employee’s claim. |
C.To clarify the concept of hacking. | D.To trace the wrong image of hackers. |
A.Hacking mostly counts. | B.Hacking is actually a crime. |
C.Hacking is popular with people. | D.Hacking needs licenses. |
6 . Everyone would agree that it is parents’ job to teach their kids right from wrong. The rise in teen crime suggests that some parents are failing at these tasks. To correct the problem, lawmakers in some states require parents to serve jail time when their children get into serious trouble again and again. The lawmakers hope that this punishment will motivate parents to take their responsibilities seriously.
Supporters of these laws believe that the threat of jail will scare parents into paying more attention to their teens’ behavior than before. They think that these parents would be happy to let the state try to straighten out their kids at juvenile detention centers (少管所), because the centers took the responsibility off the parents’ shoulders. With the new laws, the responsibility is put back on the parents. “The hope is,” a supporter said, “that if parents are held legally responsible, they’ll work harder to keep their youngsters in line.”
However, many people think the laws are unfair. They argue that parents should not be punished for the criminal acts of their children, unless it can be shown there is a contributory fault on the parents’ part.
People who oppose parental responsibility laws also believe that punishing parents won’t create a change in the kids’ behavior. These people argue that parents may not be at fault. The children of good parents can fall in with the wrong kids and get into trouble, they say. Worse yet, if mom is in jail, there may be no one at all to control her kid. …
The unfortunate fact is that jailing a parent punishes the rest of the family. The jailed parent cannot work to help support the family and may also be fired from a job for missing too much work. Furthermore, little evidence exists to support the idea that the threat of punishment improves a parent’s ability to control a teenager. Opponents of parental responsibility laws say that parents who are in this situation need help, not a jail sentence.
1. The phrase “keep their youngsters in line” (in Paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “________”.A.get their kids to stay at home | B.make their kids behave well |
C.help their kids make a living | D.require their kids to queue in public |
A.So, they believe that it’s easy for mom to control her kid’s behavior. |
B.So, they believe that mom should be jailed for her contributory fault. |
C.So, they believe that lack of mom’s control may then lead to more crime. |
D.So, they believe that mom’s control has a negative effect on her kid’s behavior. |
A.parents should never be punished for their kids’ crimes |
B.jailing a parent may drive the family into a worse situation |
C.the laws are unfair even if they help parents control their kids |
D.responsible parents needn’t worry that their kids will commit crimes |
A.Whether parents should be jailed for their kids’ criminal acts. |
B.How parents deal with young troublemakers in their daily life. |
C.What parents need when their kids commit crimes again and again. |
D.Why laws should be made to hold parents responsible for their kids. |
7 . Can wine really improve our health and increase our life span? Scientists are beginning to say "Yes!”
Researchers have found that red wines rich in flavonoids (类黄酮) are best for our health. Flavonoids are best known for their antioxidant (抗氧化) qualities and help the body resist viruses. Red wines also contain antioxidants, which help the body resist cancer and cardiovascular (心血管的) disease. Red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Syrah and Pinot Noir contain the highest concentrations of antioxidants and flavonoids. Other red wines, such as Merlots and Red Zinfandels, contain fewer flavonoids, but more than most white wines. So the best bet for drinking wine for our health is to stick to red wines containing more antioxidants and flavonoids.
Although white contains components that are central to good health, it doesn't mean that we can get drunk every night. Don't overdo it — but adding a glass of wine to your daily diet can definitely make a difference to your health. Paracelsus, the noted 16th-century Swiss physician, wrote, “Wine is a food, a medicine and a poison — it's just a question of how much you drink." Most health officials agree that one or two four-ounce glasses of wine per day can be beneficial to men, while women should limit their consumption to one four-ounce glass per day.
Cardiovascular expert, Professor Roger Corder, has spent years studying the evidence of health benefits from red wine. Specifically, he wondered why the French have a lower rate of heart discase, despite the fact that their diet is extremely rich in fats. He concentrated his research on the southwest portion of France, where life expectancy (平均寿命) seemed to be highest. He discovered that the region produces local wines, which contain the highest levels of antioxidants of any wines in the world. This led him to further research on the amazing medical benefits of red wine.
While wine may not be able to help a man escape from death or growing old, we certainly can consider adding a glass of wine or two to our daily diet.
1. The underlined word “bet” in the second paragraph, most probably means_______.A.hope | B.result | C.choice | D.deal |
A.Red wines are not always good for our health. |
B.We need to control the amount of wine we drink. |
C.Wine is as important as food and medicine. |
D.Men need to drink more wine than women. |
A.Because they have a more balanced diet. |
B.Because the region where they live has the best climate. |
C.Because they drink more red wine than others. |
D.Because the red wine they drink contains the highest levels of antioxidants. |
A.Which kind of red wine we should drink. |
B.The amount of red wine we should drink. |
C.The health benefits of red wine. |
D.The history of red wine. |
A MOTHER’S DAY SURPRISE
The twins were filled with excitement as they thought of the surprise they were planning for Mother’s Day. How pleased and proud Mother would be when they brought her breakfast in bed. They planned to make French toast and chicken porridge. They had watched their mother in the kitchen. There was nothing to it. Jenna and Jeff knew exactly what to do.
The big day came at last. The alarm rang at 6 a.m. The pair went down the stairs quietly to the kitchen. They decided to boil the porridge first. They put some rice into a pot of water and left it to boil while they made the French toast. Jeff broke two eggs into a plate and added in some milk. Jenna found the bread and put two slices into the egg mixture. Next, Jeff turned on the second stove burner to heat up the frying pan. Everything was going smoothly until Jeff started frying the bread. The pan was too hot and the bread turned black within seconds. Jenna threw the burnt piece into the sink and put in the other slice of bread. This time, she turned down the fire so it cooked nicely.
Then Jeff noticed steam shooting out of the pot and the lid starting to shake. The next minute, the porridge boiled over and put out the fire. Jenna panicked. Thankfully, Jeff stayed calm and turned off the gas quickly. But the stove was a mess now. Jenna told Jeff to clean it up so they could continue to cook the rest of the porridge. But Jeff’s hand touched the hot burner and he gave a cry of pain. Jenna made him put his hand in cold water. Then she caught the smell of burning. Oh dear! The piece of bread in the pan had turned black as well.
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。
As the twins looked around them in disappointment, their father appeared.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The twins carried the breakfast upstairs and woke their mother up.
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