1 . In the summer of 2019, Tomas Quinones was undertaking a “bikepacking” trip, covering some remote desert in Southern Oregon. His trip had been marked with usual minor setbacks. He’d lost shoes. His water supply was sometimes uncertain. But there had also been moments of unexpected kindness: A couple parking beside offered to share their lunch; or the guy in the truck asked if he needed help. On the last day of Quinones’ trip, he was riding down a dusty track when he came upon a man lying unconscious on the ground, who was clearly dehydrated (脱水的). Quinones tried to give some water and waited until the ambulance arrived.
Quinones, who’d received help over the course of his trip, paid it forward. The odds are, if you’ve spent any time in the wild, you’ll have experienced these gestures of kindness from strangers or given them yourself too as Quinones did.
So what is it about being outside in nature that makes people want to help others?
The first explanation is that in the wild, there may not be any other help. According to the “bystander effect” (旁观者效应), the more people who are in the presence of someone needing help, the less likely any of those are to actually provide it. But another idea is that there is something about nature itself that seems to promote “prosocial (亲社会)” attitudes. As a recent study suggests, exposure to nature can stimulate feelings of transcendence — a sense of connection to other people, to the world around us and to the universe.
When we get into the wild, we become weaker. And being in an easily-hurt position makes us look at the world differently. So, in the wild, where we are removed of normal possessions, surroundings and identities, we seem more willing to go the extra mile for someone. It’s in nature, ironically, that we can learn new things about humanity.
1. What can we know about Quinones’ trip?| A．Pretty constant water supply was available. |
| B．Food was frequently provided from other strangers. |
| C．He’d usually encountered dramatic troubles. |
| D．He’d travelled to some remote desert on bicycle. |
| A．To give further details of Quinones’ trip. |
| B．To show the difficulty of Quinones’ trip. |
| C．To provide an example for the topic. |
| D．To stress the importance of strangers’ help. |
| A．It explains people’s getting help easily in nature. |
| B．It demonstrates people’s prosocial attitudes. |
| C．It reveals people’s indifference in crowds. |
| D．It stimulates people’s connecting to people and the world. |
| A．We can only learn about people’s personality in the wild. |
| B．It is a pity that people don’t often help others in daily life. |
| C．It is ironic to help strangers in need when in nature. |
| D．We can obtain new knowledge when in nature. |
2 . In the fevered world of diet and nutrition, the past year has been dominated by heated arguments about the evils (or not) of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). So are they as bad for health as many claim?
The processing of food is as ancient as humankind. But the modern-time UPFs are different—they are the products of industrial processing methods that allow cost-effective mass production. More than half of the calories an average person in the UK consumes today come from UPFs. That’s not surprising as these foods can be convenient and inexpensive.
There is more than ample evidence that consumption of too much UPSs is linked to poorer health outcomes. They often contain high levels of fat, salt and sugar and when we eat them, we leave less room for more nutritious foods. It’s also believed that the additives in these foods could be responsible for negative health effects.
But the way we currently talk about UPFs strikes me as unhelpful. The term covers such a broad range of different foods, from those that have been almost completely reconstructed from their base constituents (成分) like packaged snacks, to otherwise minimally processed foods with a few industrial additives, such as a natural yogurt, with a small amount of UPF jam.
I can absolutely understand how eating too much of the former can lead to poorer health outcomes. The latter, however, includes mass-produced supermarket bread, where a large proportion of consumed UPF calories come from. Sure, you can go to a quality bakery and purchase an organic product that will cost much more than a supermarket loaf. But ultimately, bread is made from flour, salt, water and yeast. Taste aside, supermarket bread is no worse for you than fancy bread.
I fear that the UPF concept is too imprecise to be an arbiter (权威) of how healthy or unhealthy a particular food might be, and even worse, that it is currently being used as another cudgel (棍棒) to food—shame others.
1. What’s special about today’s UPFs?| A．They are as old as humankind. |
| B．They are unaffordable for the public. |
| C．They are produced in large quantities. |
| D．They contain many harmful additives. |
| A．To clarify a concept. | B．To present a fact. |
| C．To make a comparison. | D．To explain a rule. |
| A．It contains plenty of calories. | B．It’s only minimally processed. |
| C．It tastes as good as fancy bread. | D．It’s heavily reconstructed for quality. |
| A．It’s a shame to consume UPFs. |
| B．UPFs may lead to poorer health outcomes. |
| C．The UPF concept tends to cloud people’s judgment. |
| D．Supermarket products are no worse than the organic ones. |
3 . Josefa Marin went to New York from Mexico in 1987, supporting her daughter back home with the $140 a week she earned at a sweater factory. With that small income, she had to collect recyclables, trading in cans for five cents each.
When the clothing factory closed down in the late 2000s, she became a full-time recycler, picking up cans and bottles to make ends meet.
Marin’s story is not unique. Millions around the world make a living from picking through waste and reselling it — a vital role that keeps waste manageable. In New York City, the administrative department collects only about 28 percent of the cans that could be recycled. Rubbish collectors, however, keep millions of additional recyclables out of landfills every year.
Yet collectors are ruled out by government policies. The United States Supreme Court in 1988 stated that household garbage is public property once it’s on the street. That enables police to search rubbish for evidence, but that protection hasn’t always been extended to recyclers. And in places like New York City, which is testing city-owned locked containers to hide garbage from rats, containers are made clearly inaccessible for collectors.
“There’s value in the waste, and we feel that value should belong to the people, not the city or the corporations”, says Ryan Castalia, director of a nonprofit recycling and community center in Brooklyn.
Recognized or not, waste pickers have long been treated with disrespect. Marin recalls an occasion when someone living next to a building where she was collecting cans threw water at her. “Because I recycle doesn’t mean I am less of a person than anyone else,” she says. It’s a pity to see that the government doesn’t stand by the garbage collector’s side, either.
Fortunately, some governments are starting to realize that protecting the environment and humanity go hand in hand. Brazil classified waste picking as an official occupation in 2001. In 2009, Colombia’s government granted the right to collect valuable garbage. The U.S. is slowly catching on too. After all, to the government, the garbage is garbage, but to the collectors, it’s something they make a living on.
1. What is the author’s purpose of telling about Marin?| A．To highlight waste collectors’ role. |
| B．To reflect the unemployed’s hardship. |
| C．To praise her devotion to her daughter. |
| D．To show the seriousness of unemployment. |
| A．By citing reference. | B．By contrasting. |
| C．By giving definitions. | D．By cause-effect analysis. |
| A．No job is noble or humble. | B．Business is business. |
| C．The early birds catches worms. | D．One good turn deserves another. |
| A．Who owns our garbage? | B．How can we end poverty? |
| C．Who takes blame for waste? | D．How should we recycle rubbish? |
1. What do we know about the accident?
| A．It caused a man to die. |
| B．It occurred in the evening. |
| C．Two drivers were hurt. |
| A．Bad weather. | B．Careless driving. | C．Speeding. |
| A．At 2:00 am. | B．At 4:00 am. | C．At 9:00 am. |
A man looking at his smart phone while walking across a railway crossing in Nanjing
The smart phone
Some people blame the smart phone for the tragedy, yet in fact people’s weakening self-control and self-discipline are
6 . “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” But now scientists have given us another warning: too much play with smartphones or computers makes you dull too.
“Many focus on the benefits of digital devices (设备) in education but ignore the costs,” said Patricia Greenfield from the University of California, “losing the ability to understand the emotions of other people is one of the costs.” Greenfield and her research team did an experiment. They worked with 105 children who spend about 4.5 hours in front of screens on a school day. The students were asked to describe the emotions towards the pictures of people who were happy, sad, angry or scared. Then, half of them attended a five-day nature and science camp. There they had no smartphones, TV, or computers. The other half stayed in school and spent the five days as usual. Five days later, all the children took the test again.
Students who had been to the camp got about 5 percent more answers correct than they had done before the camp. But the other group of students didn’t show much improvement. The study is not perfect in some ways, said the researchers. But scientists say that the study is still a warning for us.
“Emotional skills develop in practice and the brain develops through real interaction,” said Professor Taylor, a professor at the University of San Francisco.
Researchers talked to 2,000 parents of children aged 2 — 16 in the UK about what activities their children could do confidently. The results were surprising: their children could use a tablet (平板电脑) (59%) and work a mobile phone (57%) more confidently than they could tie their shoe laces (鞋带) (53%)! So, spend more time away from mobile phones and computers if you want to be an understanding friend, and not a member of what the Daily Mail called “Generation Helpless”.
1. According to Professor Greenfield, what’s the possible result of using digital media in education?| A．Being on bad terms with family members. | B．Making more mistakes when taking exams. |
| C．Falling far behind others in all schoolwork. | D．Failing to relate to other people’s emotions. |
| A．The background of the experiment | B．The process of the experiment |
| C．The results of the experiment | D．The purpose of the experiment |
| A．They are alarming for people. | B．They are far from perfect. |
| C．They are quite surprising. | D．They don’t need to be improved. |
| A．To warn us to stay away from the Internet. |
| B．To explain how people become the Internet addicts. |
| C．To advise children to spend less time on screens. |
| D．To show digital devices are essential for modern education. |
7 . Nearly three in ten Brits (28%) will eschew the opinions of experts and instead seek advice from family and friends when making important life decisions.
A social experiment, with more than 1,000 participants, showed that adults are one-and-a-half times more likely to seek advice from those closest to them, than professional sources, in all areas.
When it comes to financial advice, half of those surveyed are more likely to ask family and friends about where to invest money — with 40% relying on their opinion even when it comes to high-risk investment choices over any other sources, including experts. And nearly one in five (19%) would be most likely to seek their better half’s advice on budgeting decisions, while 15% would rather take financial advice from a TV show than turn to an expert. In fact, the opinion of a banker ranked 8% lower than any other financial advice sources when it comes to budgeting matters.
The term “social proof”, coined by Dr Robert Cialdini in 1984, refers to the natural influence those around us have on our decision-making, with one aspect being the “wisdom of friends” which refers to the phenomenon where advice from peers carries much more weight than is wise in important choices. During the experiment, researchers found even when participants say they value expert knowledge, they often go back to the opinions of those closest to them when making a key judgement call.
Commenting on the experiment, Dr Briony Pulford, professor of psychology at the University of Leicester, said, “We prefer advice from friends and family because we trust them and believe that they have our best interests at heart, knowing our preferences and personal values, and taking those into account when advising us. Also, many want to fit in with their peers, so finding out that other people do something makes you more likely to do it, too.” Riaan de Bruyn, from investment app &me, said, “Of course the opinion of our friends and family matters, but when it comes to serious decisions, it is important to take on board expert opinion.”
1. What does the underlined word “eschew” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Value. | B．Declare. | C．Reject. | D．Assess. |
| A．8%. | B．15%. | C．19%. | D．40%. |
| A．It enables friendships to last longer. | B．People are usually unaware of its effect. |
| C．People stick to it because of peer pressure. | D．It makes professional advice more accessible. |
| A．Significance of the experiment findings. | B．Disagreeing voices about the experiment. |
| C．Practical applications of the experiment in life. | D．Possible explanations of the experiment findings. |
学生使用健身应用程序监控健康的调查结果
1. 调查结果描述；2. 简单评论；
3. 你的建议。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 题目已为你写好。
Using Fitness Apps to Monitor Health
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9 . In 1970, Alan Ayers was participating in a skydiving team competition in Gainesville, Florida. He would be
Ayers’ teammates skydived first,
“I was completely out of the plane on my back,
Thousands of feet in the air, hanging from the plane, Ayers was out of
“And what happened next was
Ayers dropped away from the plane, opened his parachute, and landed
More than 50 years later, she often came into his
| A．falling | B．jumping | C．marching | D．sliding |
| A．repaired | B．painted | C．removed | D．broken |
| A．leaving | B．recognizing | C．choosing | D．admiring |
| A．right | B．luck | C．chance | D．turn |
| A．hurt | B．caught | C．spotted | D．covered |
| A．hitting back | B．looking down | C．staring up | D．pushing forward |
| A．challenging | B．confusing | C．fearful | D．visible |
| A．sight | B．trouble | C．options | D．doors |
| A．incredible | B．exciting | C．accidental | D．disappointing |
| A．straightened | B．pushed | C．dropped | D．freed |
| A．dramatically | B．safely | C．unconsciously | D．regretfully |
| A．possession | B．mind | C．position | D．focus |
| A．young | B．practiced | C．dirty | D．bony |
| A．fame | B．victory | C．life | D．health |
| A．bravest | B．happiest | C．kindest | D．wisest |
10 . While an analysis of the Global Dietary Database for the years 1990, 2005, and 2018 found overall consumption of sweetened drinks increased—by nearly 16% worldwide over the 28-year period studied—regional intake widely varied, researchers say.
Sugary drinks have been widely associated with overweight and heart related diseases, which are among the leading causes of death and years lost to disability globally. Many national guidelines recommend limiting added sugars to less than 5% to 10% of daily calories, and because sodas (汽水) add no nutritional value, some countries tax their consumption to help their residents meet this goal.
The study, published in Nature Communications, is the latest presentation of how adults in 185 countries drink sugar-sweetened beverages (饮料). Intakes varied widely by world region. In 2018, the average person consumed 2.7 servings of sugary drinks per week, but this ranged from 0.7 servings per week in South Asia to 7.8 servings per week in Latin America. And some of the highest sugary drink intakes in the world were among urban, highly educated adults in Sub-Saharan Africa (12.4 servings per week) and in Latin America (8.5 servings per week). “We were struck by the wide variations by world regions in 2018; that Latin America had the largest intakes at all time points despite an overall decrease overtime; and that Sub-Saharan Africa had the greatest increases across all time points,” says Laura Lara-Castor, a PhD candidate at Tufts University.
“These results suggest that more work is needed such as marketing regulations, food labeling, and soda taxes.” Information from the Global Dietary Database, which gathers hundreds of survey results, also revealed a relationship between sugary beverages and socio-economic status. “Sugar-sweetened beverage intake has increased in the past few decades despite efforts to decrease their appeal,” says researchers. “Some populations are especially easily affected, and our findings provide evidence to inform the need and design of national and more targeted policies to reduce their intake worldwide.”
1. What is the main concern about sugary drinks?| A．They are just a barrier to weight loss. | B．They are linked to health issues. |
| C．They are far from nutrition standard. | D．They are a total waste of money. |
| A．To increase income for the government. | B．To promote the sales of healthier drinks. |
| C．To discourage people from drinking sodas. | D．To set a limit to the price of sugary drinks. |
| A．Sugary drink consumption trends. | B．Impact of soda taxes on purchases. |
| C．Regional variations in dietary habits. | D．Global dietary information analysis. |
| A．Sugary drinks have nothing to do with economic status. |
| B．The appeal of sugary drinks cannot be underestimated. |
| C．Some people are very particular about the sugary drinks. |
| D．National policies on sugary drinks are more than enough. |
