2 . It is often said the laughter is the best medicine. But researchers at the University of Oxford think the ability to belly laughs (捧腹大笑) was unique to early humans. This, they believe, made our ancestors (祖先) able to form much larger groups.

The researchers first tested the pain thresholds (临界值) of some volunteers. They divided them into two groups. One group was shown15 minutes of comedy videos, while the other was shown boring programs.

Through this experiment, the researchers found that those who had recently experienced belly laughs were able to withstand (忍受) up to 10% more pain than they had done before watching the videos. To their surprise, the scientists also found that the other group was less able to withstand pain after watching 15 minutes of the “boring” programs.

Professor Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, who led the research, believed that belly laughs release chemicals called endorphins (安多芬) into the body which make us feel less painful.

However, not all comedy programs had such effects, according to Prof Dunbar. For example, though clever stand-up comedy was found to be enjoyable, it had no effect on raising pain thresholds. “Things that worked very well were interesting comedies such as Mr. Bean. Situation comedies such as Friends also seemed to be particularly successful,” he added.

In order to measure (测量) endorphin levels, the researchers put a bag of ice on the volunteers’ arms to see how long they could withstand them. They found that the greater the increase in pain thresholds, the greater the amount of endorphins produced.

The purpose of Prof Dunbar’s study was not to develop a new treatment. Instead, it was to study the role of laughter in the forming of human societies two million years ago.

“The next stage will be to see whether laughing really allows people to keep together and work as a group better and be more friendly towards each other. If that is the case, then it may explain why some two million years ago, the first humans were able to form large communities of up to 100,” Dunbar added.

1. Prof Dunbar’s study was to __________.

A．test the pain thresholds of humans

B．measure the endorphin levels while laughing

C．develop a new kind of medicine that reduces pain

D．explore the influence of laughter in forming human societies

2. In order to withstand more pain, we’d better _________ .

A．watch some scary films	B．watch some beautiful pictures
C．watch some boring programs	D．watch some comedy videos

3. The meaning of the underlined word “release” in the passage may be ________.

A．look out

B．stand out

C．find out

D．give out

4. What can we know from the last paragraph?

A．More experiments about laughter will be carried out.

B．Laughter makes people keep together and work as a group.

C．People who laugh a lot are more friendly towards each other.

D．The first humans could only form small communities less than 100.

3 . I once stopped behind several cars, waiting at the red light. The wind blew fiercely. Ahead of me stood a young woman alongside the street rubbing her bare hands together and dancing to keep ______. Beside her rested a sign that read, “I have a baby and no food.”

Homeless and unemployed people are a ______ sight in many of our large cities, and most people drive by without ______ assistance. No doubt they have been taught that giving them money develops a dependent ______, or that the cash may be used to buy alcohol ______ the food it was intended for. Like me, they may have been taught that one should give money to a local charity, as these organizations can ______ those in need far more effectively

As I waited for the light to turn green, I felt ______ about that woman. She was obviously in need. And whether or not she actually had a baby really didn’t ______. What should I do?

Should I give her money?As I ______, the window of the car in front of me was ______ down and a hand reached out holding a pair of warm gloves. The driver ______ her own gloves and gave them to the woman. I saw the young woman ______ the words “Thank you” and a broad smile lit up her face.

As I was wondering, somebody else ______. As I tried to decide the best way to help, somebody else just did what she could. I made myself a(n) ______ that day to always do something. Whether it is big or small, just do something.

Something is almost always better than nothing!Too often we underestimate(低估)the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the ______ to turn a life around.

1.

A．calm

B．energetic

C．warm

D．polite

2.

A．perfect

B．terrible

C．strange

D．common

3.

A．receiving

B．offering

C．seeking

D．expecting

4.

A．method

B．experiment

C．tradition

D．lifestyle

5.

A．other than

B．rather than

C．more than

D．better than

6.

A．assist

B．recognize

C．control

D．classify

7.

A．crazy

B．cautious

C．conflicted

D．satisfied

8.

A．change

B．matter

C．bother

D．differ

9.

A．hesitated

B．insisted

C．compared

D．observed

10.

A．kept

B．rolled

C．fell

D．broke

11.

A．took off

B．put on

C．took down

D．put away

12.

A．eye

B．nose

C．mouth

D．face

13.

A．continued

B．left

C．acted

D．appeared

14.

A．appointment

B．chance

C．agreement

D．promise

15.

A．benefit

B．potential

C．convenience

D．skill

5 . When couples have an argument about things like finances, jealousy, or other interpersonal issues, they tend to employ their current feelings as fuel for a heated argument. But thinking about the future helps overcome relationship conflicts, according to a University of Waterloo study just published online in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Alex Huynh, a doctoral candidate in psychology is the lead author of the study, which he published with Igor Grossmann from the University of Waterloo, and Daniel Yang from Yale University.

Previous research has shown that third-perspective reasoning can be a positive strategy for reconciliation (调解) of interpersonal struggles. Huynh and his collaborators investigated whether similar benefit can be induced by simply thinking about the future. Study participants were instructed to reflect on a recent conflict with a romantic partner or a close friend. One group of participants were then asked to describe how they would feel about the conflict one year in the future, while another group was asked to describe how they feel in the present.

The team examined participants’ written responses through a text-analysis program for their use of pronouns—such as I, me, she, he. These choices of pronouns were used to capture participants’ focus on the feelings and behaviourofthoseinvolvedintheconflict.Writtenresponseswerealsoexaminedforforgivenessandreinterpreting the conflict more positively, both of which implied the participants’ use of reasoning strategies.

The researchers found that envisioning future relationship affected both participants’ focus on their feelings, and their reasoning strategies. As a result, participants reported more positivity about their relationship altogether, especially when study participants extended their thinking about the relationship a year into the future.

“Our study demonstrates that adopting a future-oriented perspective in the context of a relationship conflict —reflecting on how one might feel a year from now may be a valuable coping tool for one’s psychological happiness and relationship well-being,” said Huynh.

1. What do romantic partners do in face of most disagreements?

A．They lose faith in their future.	B．They focus on their present feelings.
C．They look forward to a fierce conflict.	D．They care more about financial problems.

2. What does the underlined word “induced” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?

A．Caused.	B．Explained.
C．Reduced.	D．Influenced.

3. What were participants asked to do in the study?

A．Argue with their romantic partners.

B．Examine their use of pronouns.

C．Respond to a text-analysis program.

D．Write down their feelings about a conflict.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Reasoning properly is necessary for reconciliation.

B．Extending a year is a solution to your personal problems.

C．Thinking about future is helpful to relationship maintenance.

D．Focusing on current feelings is the real cause of your arguments.

6 . 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。

Nowadays, with the growing     1    (popular) of smartphones and computers, an increasing number of students are choosing to learn English beyond the classroom in     2    (vary) ways.

It can easily be seen that the percentage of students    3    choose listening to English     4     (song) and watching English movies is respectively 65% and 50%. However, those choosing reading English books and visiting English learning websites only account     5    18% and 12%.

As far as I’m     6    (concern), it is a disturbing trend. For students, what benefits most to their study is reading English books     7    (constant). Because of their lack of self-discipline, they’re more easily     8    (addict) to chatting online or playing games.     9     is urgent for students themselves to improve their self-discipline, and it’s also urgent for parents and teachers     10     (strength) the guidance.

8 . 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。

Nowadays, nine in ten children are now at school. However, the figure is not as     1    (impress)as it sounds. Even if most of the world's children go to school,     2    awful lot of them learn pretty much nothing there.

According to the recent World Bank study of seven African countries, half of nine-year-old cannot read a simple word and three-quarters cannot read a simple sentence. The reason is terrible     3    (teach). Several recent studies suggest educational technology can help. It seems     4    (bring)bigger improvement in poor countries than in rich ones. Some of the rare     5    (resource)being spent on teachers could therefore be better spent on educational technology. That doesn't mean dumping computers on schools, hoping that children61.    6    (understand)how to use them. Instead, it means providing schools     7    software that children can use with minimal help from an adult. It gets things right     8    (much)often than the teachers do. Besides, it sends teachers clues about    9    they are supposed to be teaching.

Of course, good     10    (tradition)teachers are not replaced, and are never likely to be.

9 . Several years ago, Jeremy Clarkson, presenter of BBC television programme discovered one of his guests was half German and half Irish. Immediately, he said, “That’s quite a strange ______ . It’s like, this must be done absolutely perfectly...tomorrow”.

This joke played on ______ of the Germans as efficient and the Irish as lazy. Many people could ______ be offended by these kinds of assertions. We do not know every Irish person, so how can we conclude that every Irish person is lazy?

I recently read on a website that Irish business people were ______ as being “generally rather casual” and more outwardly friendly than many European counties’. German business people, on the other hand, are considered very ______ and they do not need a personal relationship in order to do business. Once you hear advice like this, it becomes easier to understand where jokes like the one in the first paragraph come from.

So why do some people ______ of the kind of stereotypes as seen in Clarkson’s joke, but not batting an ______ when it comes to generalizations. What is the difference between the two?

By definition, a stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. A cultural characteristic, on the other hand, is a pattern of behaviour that is ______ of a certain group.

So what does this really mean? Stereotype are simply overstated assumptions about groups of people. Imagine if a tourist visited a small town in Switzerland and saw a number of locals playing the alphorn instrument, and then ______ that Swiss people can play the alphorn. This would be a stereotype! This is an ______ image of the Swiss which is based on one tourist’s experience.

If however, this tourist were to say that the Swiss are very punctual, this could be seen as a cultural ______ . This is because it is a pattern of behaviour which is very typical in Switzerland: from their transport system to their business meetings in this way, some people argue that generalizing another culture is not just useful, but important. Politicians always have to be ______ of the cultural characteristics of different countries. By becoming aware of different cultural characteristics, they can avoid causing offence in those cultures.

______ , others argue that generalizing cultures will always lead to offensive stereotypes. They argue that the best thing we can do is to stop generalizing cultures and start treating people as ______ .

All this raises important questions: Can making generalizations about groups of people be a ______ thing? Or should we always avoid making broad assumptions about different groups?

1.

A．association

B．combination

C．connection

D．relation

2.

A．patterns

B．models

C．stereotypes

D．features

3.

A．understandably

B．extremely

C．deeply

D．enormously

4.

A．classified

B．specified

C．described

D．thought

5.

A．indirect

B．conservative

C．emotional

D．direct

6.

A．disapprove

B．assure

C．accuse

D．remind

7.

A．nose

B．mouth

C．eyelid

D．lip

8.

A．normal

B．typical

C．peculiar

D．critical

9.

A．ensured

B．guaranteed

C．announced

D．claimed

10.

A．overestimated

B．overstated

C．overused

D．overlooked

11.

A．characteristic

B．function

C．approach

D．essence

12.

A．alert

B．mindful

C．patient

D．concerned

13.

A．Therefore

B．Moreover

C．However

D．Otherwise

14.

A．humans

B．personalities

C．groups

D．individuals

15.

A．essential

B．social

C．positive

D．inevitable

10 . “Farm to table” is the name of a movement that encourages people to eat locally grown food. The farm­to­table idea has become more popular in recent years. But there is also a movement that brings “table to farm”. Its purpose is to connect people to the land and to honor local farmers by creating a sort of restaurant without walls.

Its founder, Jim Denevan, got the idea for this kind of “culinary adventure (美食探险)”, as he called it, ten years ago. He recently prepared tables for more than a hundred people at Briars Farm in Virginia. He and his eight­member team arrived the night before. Chefs (厨师) from a local restaurant prepared the dinner.

Jim Denevan’s brother is a farmer and he himself is a chef. He thought that the idea of a meal served right on the farm made sense, though not everyone agreed.

“But I wanted to make the idea work, so I decided to cross the country,” said Denevan. “I went all the way across the United States and set the table on farms, ranches (大牧场) and beaches, and all the places where food came from.”

“This kind of event connects us with a lot of enthusiastic people, people that we can form relationships with,” said Matt Szechenyi, who operates Briars Farm.

The tour of the farm ends at the dinner table. The meats in the meal come from Matt Szechenyi’s farm. The vegetables come from nearby farms. Guests and local farmers sit together.

Annoica Ingram came with a friend. “The food is wonderful. I appreciate their hard work. I see everything they have to do to take care of the animals and make sure they are well­cared­for. Without them, I think, we’ll have big problems,” she said.

1. What is the main purpose of the movement “table to farm”？

A．To provide people with healthy food.

B．To help farmers earn more money.

C．To honor farmers for their hard work.

D．To encourage people to work less and practice more.

2. Members of the movement “table to farm” will probably not ________.

A．make new friends	B．walk around the farms
C．communicate with farmers	D．build restaurants for farmers

3. What’s Annoica’s attitude towards farmers’ work?

A．worried

B．grateful

C．doubtful

D．supportive

4. What kind of writing is the passage likely to be?

A．A travel guide.

B．A news report.

C．A diary.

D．Popular science.