1 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

We’ve all heard that laughter is the     1     (good) medicine, and it’s true. Laughter makes you feel better and it’s also good     2     your relationships. Laughter brings people closer, and is a     3     (power) tool for making you relax when feelings are running high. Whether with your friends and family, or co-workers, you can learn to use humor     4     (solve) disagreements, lower everyone’s stress levels, and communicate in a way that deepens the relationships.

Humor plays     5     important role in all kinds of relationships. In new relationships, humor can be a useful tool not just for attracting the other person but also for getting over any awkwardness (尴尬)     6     (arise) when we get to know each other. In old relationships, humor can keep things more exciting and fresher.

Sharing the pleasure of humor     7     (create) a sense of closeness and connection between two people—    8     (quality) that are signs of strong and successful relationships. When you laugh with one another, you create a positive relationship between you,     9     acts as a strong buffer (缓冲剂) against stress, disagreements and disappointments in your relationship. And laughter is spreading—just hearing someone laugh often makes you smile     10     (happy) and join in the fun.

2 . 阅读下面材料，在空格处填入适当的词或所给词的正确形式。

“Look on the bright side” is one of those     1    (suggest) that people always consider inspiring but less helpful. However, new research shows that finding something     2     interest in a terrible situation makes people quickly stop complaining. Besides looking at a challenge with humor is a good method,     3     may even be helpful in preventing depressed people     4     feeling sad.

In a study     5    (publish) earlier this year, researchers gave the participants some photos that show negative situations. Then they would describe these photos according to     6     request of researchers. Those using humorous words to describe the photos     7    (find) to have fewer negative emotions and more possibilities to go through a hard time in their life than those who described the photos     8    (direct).

So there appear to be no disadvantages to looking at difficult things in your life with humor and lightness. The conclusion from the study is that for those at higher risk of depression, humor can develop an ability     9    (control) negative emotions. What’s more, humor has an extra benefit of     10    (make) others around you smile. Therefore, when you feel stressed and couldn’t focus your mind on what you are doing, find something that can make you laugh first.

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Lindsay didn’t feel herself last month. She was a really good student, but to her     1    (anxious), her grades were falling. That was because she sometimes felt     2    (confuse) about what the teacher said and sometimes had trouble     3    (concentrate) on her study. Her behavior attracted her father’s attention. He asked what had happened     4    her, but she refused     5    (communicate) with him and just cried.

Worried that it affected her daily life     6    (terrible), the father turned to his neighbor — a knowledgeable architect for help. The architect told him     7     unique solution to the problem. He recommended that he     8    (plan) a trip for his daughter. By getting close to nature and experiencing a different life, Lindsay did recover from it.     9     you have such signs, don’t worry. Maybe travelling     10    (be) a good choice for you.

4 . 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.

Express Your Gratitude

Recent research found that expressions of gratitude, such as saying “thanks” or nodding in appreciation, were rarer than expected.

One explanation for the absence of thank-yous in some languages could be an unspoken understanding of our social obligations in informal contexts, such as with close friends and family,     1     makes explicit (外显的) acknowledgement less vital.

Or it could be     2     we simply don’t realise the impact on others of saying thanks. In a series of three experiments in 2018 at the University of Chicago, Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley asked volunteers to write letters expressing gratitude, and to predict how surprised, happy, and awkward receivers     3     (feel). The pair then asked receivers how the letters actually made them feel. The results were disheartening: the letter writers always overestimated     4     awkwardness that receivers felt, while underestimating positive feelings and surprise about the letters and their contents. In other words,     5     people really like receiving letters of gratitude, we send them far less often than we should because we underestimate their beneficial impact.

Kumar advises     6     overthinking your thank-yous. “One thing we observe is that expressers are too much concerned with how     7     (express) their gratitude — how expressive they’ll be, whether they’ll get the words just right, he says. But those on the receiving end     8     (not bother) as much as expressers think. “     9     (say) something irrespective of precisely how you go about doing it could improve your own well-being, as well as the well-being of another person,” he says.

High time to drop the excuses and get those thank-you notes     10     (do).

5 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入一个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

One year, and now another. It’s still not the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. How do you feel when     1     (talk) about the pandemic? 

Many studies     2     (carry) out looking into the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in the past three years.     3     (surprising), experts have found that there are more people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders than they imagined during this period, reported CNBC. 

    4     study published in February found that in 2020, there were 76 million new cases of anxiety disorders and 53 million new cases of major depressive disorders all over the world. Besides, the study found that those     5     had a higher chance of being affected were women and younger people.

According to Valentine Raiteri, a psychiatrist (精神科医生) working in New York, one of the main     6     (reason) for these mental illnesses is the loss of daily social communication. Raiteri told CNBC that many of his patients are still working remotely with many feeling “disconnected and     7     (lose)”.

Since going outside becomes     8     (convenient) due to the pandemic than before, people are unable to share big moments like weddings or final moments     9     family, friends and loved ones. Alex Desatnik, a psychologist in the UK working with adults and children, told CNBC that he believes it will take “at least a generation”     10     (recover) the damage to many young people.

6 . My Kid-Free Life

I had expected to have more free time after my sons, Evan and Alex each of for college, and I do. The kitchen calendar looks spare. Rarely    1     I need to prepare family dinners every day. There is a lot     2     laundry.

When the boys were babies, I wondered how I     3     (spend) all the hours before they were born. Now that I have those hours back. I can focus on my own needs.

I had also expected to worry about them when they were away. And I do. Did they get their flu shots, will they remember the talks about good choices? On the other hand, the worry is mixed with    4     (relieve). I have seen     5     energetically they grow without me.

Do I miss them? Yes and no. Do I feel united for having lost my primary role in life? No, because over the year, I took great pride     6    the fact that my identity was not dependent on theirs. But, surprisingly, yes.     7     (be) a different kind of mother defines me now.

The missing comes at unexpected moments: seeing the school bus drive by, starting to put too many plates on the table...When they have doubts about friendship or job prospects, I can only say, “I’m sure you will figure it out.”

And yet, the spaces     8     (empty) by loss are more than filled by what I’ve found. I now have the chance     9     (see) them as the whole world does but also like no one else ever will.

The rooms     10     the the boys used to lie look vacant. I feel sadness but also joy.1 knew that they would leave bur they will find their way back.

My home is empty. But overflowing.

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

A heartwarming letter written by Yuan Longping has caught international attention as the world is mourning（哀悼）over his passing away. In 2010, at the age of 80, Yuan wrote the letter     1     memory of his late mother, Hua Jing. In the letter,     2     (name) “The Rice is Ripe, Mom”, Yuan looked back to the old days with his mother in Anjiang town in central China's Hunan province,     3     his mother was buried in 1989.

“Mom, the rice is ripe. Can you smell it? It seems as if your laugh is still ringing in Anjiang. I can still see my son holding     4     (you) hands to help you walk through the rice field.” he wrote.

Born in a     5     (wealth) family in Yangzhou, eastern China's Jiangsu province, Hua was well educated and open minded. She taught Yuan English and the     6     (thought) of Nietzsche（尼采）when he was very young. Having never worked in the fields, Hua moved to Anjiang town to support her     7     (son) research.

“Mom, the rice is ripe and I come back to Anjiang     8     (see) you. Every time when I     9     (be) able to deliver a speech to the audience from around the world or take a prize in my study, I always thought of you. You made me who I am. People say I've changed the word with o tiny rice seed, but I know you had planted the seed in me when I was sill     10     little boy, mom.”

8 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Boredom is like     1     annoying desire that becomes stronger when you know you want to do something other than what you’re currently doing. Sometimes it’s the situation     2     is to blame, such as when you     3    (stick) on a repetitive work shift or listen politely to a talkative neighbour. Other times, you might be free to act as you wish, and you know you want to do something, but you just don’t know     4     to do.

Boredom is uncomfortable, but its adaptive function would seem to be that it motivates us to make a change to our circumstances, to do something more meaningful. Related to this, there’s research     5    (show) that boredom can increase creativity because of the way it motivates us to reflect and search     6     its meaning.

Some people seem to experience boredom more often than others. They tend to agree that time passes slowly and that they find it hard to entertain     7    (they). They often turn to drink and drugs     8    (ease) their discomfort, though such     9    (strategy) only relieve superficial unease temporarily. To     10    (true) overcome boredom, the secret is to find pursuits that are personally meaningful that offer just the right mix of challenge and novelty.

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

New research published by a team of psychologists at the University of Missouri-Columbia suggests that our own happiness     1     (influence) by the kindness and generosity we show to others.

    2     (arrive) at this conclusion, the researchers asked a group of research participants to engage in a series of     3     (experiment) that examine them in acts of their own happiness against those aimed at     4     (improve) the happiness of others. In one study, participants were given a few coins by a research assistant on the street after parking their cars. They were asked to put some coins either into their own parking meters (停车计时器)     5     in others' nearby.     6     (interesting), people who put coins in others' meters showed     7     (great) happiness than those who put money in their own, despite not knowing who they were helping.

The researchers offer a good     8     (explain) for the reasons why they come to such a conclusion. According to the researchers, an effort to make another person happy inspires feelings of closeness,     9    , in turn, explains why people end up feeling happy themselves.

But it is not just financial generosity that has the power to increase our happiness. Simply adopting an attitude that puts others' happiness above our own has     10     positive influence on our psychological happiness.

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Being disappointed is all about perspective. It took me a long time to realize this. I was under the impression that if someone did something I didn’t like, then I had the “right” to be disappointed. Of course the     1     (disappoint) always led to me having the “right” to be upset, depressed, or angry. After all, the situation didn’t turn out the way it     2     (suppose) to, or a particular person didn’t behave the way I       3     (believe) he or she should. Therefore, I was disappointed and felt let     4    . I never once thought it was just my attitude to the matter     5     caused my disappointment and that I could control this!

What I slowly began to realize through studying myself, as well as     6     (pay) attention to others around me, was that those     7     (thing) that would upset me, would not upset someone else. I also noticed that those things that appeared to be the biggest deal to someone else only     8     (make) me laugh. So what was going on?     9     (obvious), it couldn’t be the situation itself because that was the one constant thing in each equation. What did change was who was explaining the situation. That was     10     was different.