1 . How We Talk about Fear Matters

Lately, there seems to be plenty to fear in the world. How we talk about what we fear might offer clues to how we perceive that emotion socially and culturally.

Get the root of fear.

    1    . In Anglo Saxon times, “fear” primarily referred to sudden danger. The root of the word dates back to “pēr” from Indo-European about 6,000 years ago. This root suggests that fear developed from a sudden (frightening) experience you passed through.

Figure out the emotional meaning of fear.

Whether emotions are viewed positively or negatively varies from culture to culture.    2     . For instance, in English, the word “anxious” can be used to mean “worried” or “eager”. But the word meaning “anxious” just means “regret” in Dargwa. Therefore, many English speakers may not view anxiety as negatively as Dargwa speakers.

Find out a fearful pattern.

In looking at such patterns across the major language families, researchers found that the word “fear” was often associated with anxiety, envy and grief in Indo-European languages. But in Austronesian languages, “fear” more often was associated with surprise.     3     .

    4    

How we talk about fear changes how we react to it. When we talk about what frightens us, it may be useful to disrupt associated meanings. In addition, how our language categorizes an emotion seems to impact whether we perceive those emotions negatively or positively.

In conclusion, fear is something that can be changed by cultural and linguistic experience.    5     . Perhaps Roosevelt was right when he in famously said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

A．Talk more about fears

B．Change our perception of fear

C．The word fear has a long history in English

D．There seemed a fearful pattern across the major language families

E．This is based on what people have learned to associate with emotion words

F．It opens the door to potential ways to change how we talk about and react to it

G．This makes speakers of the latter languages associate this emotion with a less negative sense

2 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

What my father wore embarrassed me! I wanted him to dress like a doctor or lawyer, but he always dressed like my father, getting up before dawn every day to make breakfast for my mother and me.

We lived in South Texas, where my father worked as a repairman. He often wore a pair of jeans and a shirt, keeping his pencils, glasses and wrenches (扳手) in his breast pocket. His boots were those with steel toes that made them difficult to pull off his feet, which I sometimes helped him with when he returned from repairing cars — his job that also shamed me.

I blamed the way he dressed. I felt that my classmates laughed at me because they’d seen him mowing lawns (修剪草坪) in cut-off jeans and black boots. My classmates’ families paid men to beautify their lawns, while their fathers travelled in the bay wearing lemon-yellow sweaters and expensive shoes.

He preferred clothes that allowed him the freedom to move under cars. So even when taking part in a school trip with me, he was dressed in his repairman’s suit. On the school bus to the campsite, all students on the bus happily chatted with their parents except me, who lowered the head, avoiding spotting my classmates’ mocking glance (讥笑的眼光) or hearing their jokes, which I thought was about nothing else but what my father wore.

I regretted telling my parents the school trip, and I was very angry why my mother had no spare time while my father happened to have a vacation. But my father failed to read my mind. He was very happy, whistling a tune along the way.

Though my father didn’t sense my bad mood, the school bus seemed as sad as I was. It drove more and more slowly and finally it stopped on the roadside. The driver got out to check the bus but found nothing wrong. Students and parents on the bus began to whisper about what was happening, worried that the delay might spoil the journey.

注意：
1.续写词数应为150 左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卷的相应位置作答。

When others were complaining, my father stood up.

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The school bus restarted and everyone cheered.

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3 . Ways to Embrace Solitude (独处)

For many, being alone is something they shy away from because it’s like loneliness. But loneliness and solitude are not the same.    1    . The latter offers a chance to direct attention to self-care and self-discovery without outside influences or expectations from others. It sharpens your concentration and helps you focus on your tasks and also boosts your creativity regularly.

Psychologists even consider solitude as important as relationships and view the ability to be alone as a sign of healthy emotional development.    2    , just as people learn social skills to guide themselves in the world of relationships successfully. And some specific strategies may make it a constructive, enjoyable experience.

Enjoy solitary activities

People who enjoy solitude find satisfaction and meaning when getting absorbed in a hobby, reading for pleasure, or getting out in nature. They rarely experience boredom when they’re alone and genuinely enjoy themselves while doing something interesting.

    3    

In solitude, buried feelings, memories, or problems can surface. Rather than avoid being discouraged by them, you can learn to engage in the regulation with curiosity, using the private time to explore your feelings without judgment. Accepting and expressing them safely helps you self-regulate and release stress.

Be self-reflective

People who enjoy solitude are willing to self-reflect.    4    , reflecting on their values, or considering the bigger picture. Instead of going round about situations you can’t control, self-reflection invites self- awareness, bringing you closer to insight about who you are.

Know when to exit solitude

    5    , if you begin to feel lonely or your thoughts turn to self-harm. It is equally important to know when it’s time to leave solitude and seek the company of others.

A．Protect your privacy

B．Feel and regulate your emotions

C．They prefer listening to solitude signals

D．Break your solitude and turn for support

E．The former is marked by negative feelings

F．There are skills associated with its capacity

G．They spend time considering behavior patterns

4 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Come Back to Me

I’d always wanted a dog. But the answer was always no. Then when I was eight years old, my aunt came back from her daily run with a saved puppy.

After weeks of unsuccessfully looking for the owner and begging to keep him, we finally made “Pepper”, a black-and-tan Beagle mix, a member of my family. And, like many children with a new thing, l became obsessed (着迷). Learning everything about a dog was at the center of my world.

Pepper was there for me as I grew up. When I felt sad, he cheered me up and gave me unconditional love. His tail uncurled (伸直) and recurled with every movement of the tail and made me smile. His welcoming “tippy-tap dance” let me forget all the sadness. The way he cocked his head when I talked to him made me feel as if he understood every word. He’d perform tricks to win a treat or two...or four.

Then, when Pepper was sixteen, I got the call that I’d hoped would never come. I was unhappily married, living hours away, barely making ends meet, and trying to balance (平衡) life with a newborn son. The phone rang with unexpected news that it was time to say goodbye to Pepper. I anxiously tried to save enough money so that I could drive home and see him one last time. But I couldn’t.

The realization that I wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye tore my heart apart. I imagined my Pepper wondering why I was not there for him when he had been there for me for so many years. Within days, he was gone. For years, I didn’t pardon myself. Every time I remembered it, the tears returned as if the wound in my heart was fresh. That old saying, “Time heals all wounds,” was a terrible lie. How could I heal? I didn’t get to say goodbye. The only thing I could do was cry, telling his picture, “I’m so sorry,” and “I love you so much.”

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。
When my son was eight years old, another dog, Preston, came into our lives.
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It was as if Pepper had come back to me again.
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5 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

The telephone rang. Jack answered the call from his mother, “Mr. Richard died last night. The funeral is Wednesday.” Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel (新闻影片) as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days. It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son.   

“Jack, did you hear me?”

“Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It’s been so long since I thought of him.” Jack said.

“Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were doing. He’d reminisced (追忆) about the many days you spent over ‘his side of the fence’ as he put it,” Mom told him.

After Jack’s father died, Mr. Richard stepped in to make sure Jack had a man’s influence in his life and it was Mr. Richard who taught Jack many things. Jack wouldn’t have been in this business if it hadn’t been for Mr. Richard.

Busy as he was, he returned home and attended the funeral, which was small and uneventful. Mr. Richard had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.

The night before Jack had to return home, he and his mother stopped by to see the old house next door one more time. Standing in the middle of the room, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture... Jack stopped suddenly.

“What’s wrong, Jack?” Mom asked.

“Where is the watch, the thing he valued most?” he seemed to ask himself.

注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。

“It was a gold pocket watch that he used to wear every day,” he told his mom.

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One day Jack received a package on his desk.

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6 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写两段，使之构成一个完整的故事。

Everything He Needs

Ethan poured the milk slowly so that his corn flakes (薄片,小碎片) rose above the rim (边缘) of the bowl, just like Nick’s. Mom didn’t fuss (唠叨) about it. Instead, she reached over and patted Nick’s hand. “It’s our last breakfast together before you start college,” she said.

“What will you eat for breakfast at college, Nick?” Ethan asked his big brother.

“I don’t know.” Nick hugged the corn flakes box. “I’d better take this.”

Mom smiled. “Nick is teasing. He’ ll have everything he needs at college.”

“Not everything.” Nick pointed at Ethan. “I won’t have my little brother!”

Mom looked at her watch. “Oops. We need to get going, boys.”

In the car, Ethan shared the backseat with Nick’s suitcases. “I wish I could go to the airport with you,” he said. But it was class photo day.

When they arrived at Ethan’s school, Nick reached over the seat and hugged Ethan goodbye. “Smile big for the camera,” Nick said.

“Good luck at college!” said Ethan. He got out of the car and waved at Nick until the car turned the corner.

Ethan missed seeing his brother at breakfast every day. Sometimes Nick sent photos. One was of him and his friends. They were all splattered (溅泼) with mud from playing soccer.

Mom said, “I hope he has figured out how to do laundry with detergent (洗涤剂).”

Nick sent another photo of himself in the library with a tall pile of books.

Mom said, “I hope Nick is finding time to get enough sleep.”

Ethan stared at the photo. Nick was smiling, but he looked tired. Maybe it was hard to get enough sleep at college.

A couple of months later, Mom said, “I bought plane tickets so we can visit Nick for his birthday.”

注意：1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Ethan pulled out his backpack, thinking that he should take something his brother may need.
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Hearing Mom’s words, he cleared his backpack of the things he had just collected.
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7 . For all the talk of helicopter parents and their snowflake children, most parents I know are more concerned with whether their children’s development would be considered normal by experts than whether they are raising a prodigy (天才).

When the teen years arrive, the “Is it normal?” instinct can go into overdrive. Adolescence is marked by many changes, including ones that manifest(显示)physically and, their more challenging counterpart, ones that manifest emotionally. The moods and deep feelings are intense, and make many helicopter parents in a state of extreme panic.

But difficult feelings are often not a cause for concern, according to psychologist Lisa Damour in her new book, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents. Not only are sadness and worrying healthy and natural parts of being a teenager, but the ability to experience these feelings(without a parent panicking)and to learn how to cope with them is developmentally necessary.

There is a lot of commercial marketing around wellness that can give people the impression that they are only mentally healthy or their kids are mentally healthy if they are feeling good, calm or relaxed. This is not an accurate definition of mental health. Mental distress is not only inevitable—it is part of mental health and experiencing it is part of how kids grow and mature.

There are many other healthy ways kids regulate emotions besides talking. Listening to mood-matching music is a very adaptive way to regulate as the experience of listening to the music catalyzes the emotion out of them. Teenagers also discharge emotions physically—by going through a run, jumping on a trampoline or banging on drums. Sometimes they will discharge them through creative channels like drawing or making music.

As adults, we should not diminish the value of emotional expression that brings relief, even if it doesn’t come in the verbal form to which we are most accustomed. Don’t join in because what we ultimately want is for our teens to become autonomous in dealing with their hard feelings.

1. Why do many helicopter parents feel alarmed in their children’s adolescence?

A．They are eager to raise a genius.

B．They are concerned about their children’s safety.

C．They can’t accept children’s physical changes.

D．They are anxious about their children’s mental development.

2. What is a common misunderstanding of mental health?

A．It is all about good feelings.

B．It means having the ability to handle hardships.

C．It contributes to kids’ growing up.

D．It refers to a person’s positive qualities.

3. Why does the author discuss kids’ ways to manage emotions in Paragraph 5?

A．To confirm bad feelings are sure to be gone.

B．To encourage parents to give a helping hand.

C．To show kids can tackle hard feelings themselves.

D．To clarify the definition of mental health.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Helicopter Parents: You Can Be More Self- reliant.

B．Commercial Marketing: A Magical Trick

C．Snowflake Children: You Are Promising

D．Hard Feelings: A Sign of Teenagers Mental Health

8 . The workplace can be a perfect breeding-ground for “Misergonia”,also called desk rage (愤怒). It's a condition in which a series of noises and disorders cause people distress.

Sounds are often the trigger for Misergonia. The routine fire-alarm test is a case in point.“Attention please, attention please,” shouts a voice that is impossible to ignore.    1    For example, every office has its share of keyboard thumpers-people whose goal seems to be not producing a document but destroying the equipment.

    2    “This is a point that has already been made,” is how weirdly large numbers of people start to make a point. Why not just say "I don't value your time?"

Small IT failures are a fact of office life, but they can still be soul-destroying. The printer just doesn’t work.    3    Your cursor(光标)is just there, but when you move your mouse towards it, nothing happens.“Either your cursor is in a coma or the battery has run out,” offers up a colleague helpfully. Someone else fills the gap.“This is a point that has already been made.”they begin.

    4    It starts innocently enough, with someone asking for help with a problem. In come one or two replies, and then suddenly, a shower, as if nothing else mattered other than answering this one question. There are replies to replies, and replies to replies to replies. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves hugely, but there is always a silent, suffering group.

Individual workers have their own triggers. There is no cure for Misergonia. The workplace is a collection of people keeping in touch in different ways. Their habits and noises turn into something familiar for some colleagues but annoying for others.    5    

A．You'd better ask them for help.

B．And then there is the reply-all email.

C．Other noises are not so loud but just as annoying.

D．Or the mouse that gives up at just the wrong moment.

E．Nowadays, the computer has become an essential tool.

F．The only release is to try to be understanding and get used to it.

G．Verbal phrases(口头禅)are another headache for Misergonia sufferers.

9 . Have you ever bought a new car and started noticing the exact color and model of car everywhere? Has that type of car just become popular in your city? Were they there before? Or are you just going crazy?

You’re not going crazy. The reason you are now just noticing them is what psychologists call “priming”. Basically, the cars were always there. You just didn’t recognize them consciously. However, when that certain model of car becomes part of your conscious thinking, you start “automatically” recognizing all of the other cars that are the same, because you are already “primed” to do so.

The priming effect takes many forms. In one study, students were asked to walk around a room for 5 minutes at a rate of 30 steps per minute, which was about one-third their normal pace. After this brief experience, the participants were much quicker to recognize words related to old age, such as forgetful, old, and lonely. Reciprocal priming effects tend to produce a coherent reaction: if you are primed to think of old age, you would tend to act old, and acting old would reinforce the thought of old age. This research shows that the way we think influences the way we act, and the way we act influences the way we think.

A similar conclusion was reached by the American psychologist William James a century ago, but he emphasized the effect on feeling. “Actions seem to follow feeling, but really actions and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not. Thus the path to cheerfulness, should our cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there.”

So, that’s it. If you want to be happy, just sit up and act happy. Based on these scientific findings, we can adopt certain priming effects to help make ourselves consistently happier.

One thing we have in common is our ability to think, and thus feel. Pleasant thoughts have been proven to produce the chemicals that make us feel happy, particularly thoughts and feelings of gratitude. When we purposefully go through and think about the things we’re grateful for and deliberately feel as much gratitude as we can, we are flooding our mind with the “happy chemicals”. Furthermore, by consciously thinking, feeling and expressing gratitude, we will not only be happier in the moment, we will be “primed” to recognize the things in our life to appreciate. Each time this happens, the “happy chemicals” will be produced. Do this every day and we will become consistently happier. This makes up for the momentary happiness we gain from eating chocolate or buying new clothes. More than that, combining thoughts of gratitude with happy acts like smiling and laughing will have a supplementary positive effect on our state of mind.

1. Which of the following is an example of the priming effect?

A．Walking much faster after attending a lecture about old age.

B．Donating money to the poor after seeing pictures of cute cats.

C．Learning about various types of cars after purchasing the first car.

D．Completing SO_P as SOUP rather than SOAP after seeing the word EAT.

2. What does the underlined word “reciprocal” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Related.

B．Two-way.

C．Well-rounded.

D．Opposite.

3. What will the author probably agree with?

A．Eating or shopping leads to consistent feelings of happiness.

B．Our will has greater control over emotions than over actions.

C．Happy chemicals make us think about the things we’re grateful for.

D．Practicing gratitude frequently prepares us for long-term happiness.

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

A．Prime Yourself to Be Happier

B．Share Happiness to Enhance Wellbeing

C．Why Gratitude Is Important in Psychology

D．How Happy Chemicals Affect People’s Thoughts

10 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use ONE word that best fits each blank.

Coping With the Sunday Scaries

A few years ago, I was in the kitchen of a friend’s house preparing a meal. When we all sat down to eat, my friend’s wife wolfed down her supper and then disappeared into another room to do some work. He smiled and said, “Sunday nights are the new Monday mornings around here.”

I was surprised at the time. Now, I find myself     1    (behave) in exactly the same manner. Every time I open up my calendar on Sunday evening, a subtle sense of dread comes over me. I feel as     2     I am behind before the week has even begun.

Apparently, my Sunday-night anxieties and Monday-morning blues are not unique to me alone. A new study led by Ilke Inceoglu from the University of Exeter found that this phenomenon often takes the form of mental concerns about the week ahead, as well as feelings of nervousness and difficulty with sleeping. “It’s as if your mind moves away from     3     has been experienced over the weekend as the general sense of relaxation or enjoyment, and quickly shifts towards whatever worries you have about everything you’ve got to do in the work week ahead,” said one of Inceoglu’s respondents.

Inceoglu found that these Sunday scaries were particularly pronounced     4     people who frequently checked their emails during the weekend, had tasks left over from the previous week, and had unreasonably high expectations of themselves. These matters seem     5    (make) worse as a result of the pandemic, where the rise of working from home     6    (blur) the boundaries between work and leisure.

What should we do about the “Sunday scaries”? Researchers have offered some useful suggestions that     7     help us make Monday less depressing. One is to change     8     you think about the weekend. One U.S. study found that when participants were asked to treat their weekend as a mini-vacation, they tended to do more cheerful activities and returned to work on Monday satisfied with their jobs.     9     second way is to redesign our Monday so that it has some of the features that make us feel good during the weekend. Introducing simple changes, such as starting the day with something you are good at, setting aside a little unstructured time where you are able to do what you want, or setting up a lunchtime date with     10     you find enjoyable to be around, could make all the difference.