1 . We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.
What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.
Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t
even exist if it weren’t for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. ＂Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,＂ he explains. ＂The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.＂
In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. ＂It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,＂ says Dunn. ＂But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also.＂
Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. ＂Small talk is the basis of good manners,＂ he says.
1. What phenomenon is described in the first paragraph?| A．Addiction to smartphones. |
| B．Inappropriate behaviours in public places. |
| C．Absence of communication between strangers. |
| D．Impatience with slow service. |
| A．Showing good manners. | B．Relating to other people. |
| C．Focusing on a topic. | D．Making business deals. |
| A．It improves family relationships. | B．It raises people’s confidence. |
| C．It matters as much as a formal talk. | D．It makes people feel good. |
| A．Conversation Counts | B．Ways of Making Small Talk |
| C．Benefits of Small Talk | D．Uncomfortable Silence |
2 . Museums are centers filled with information designed to enlighten and educate the curious mind. Especially for children, museums introduce them to unknown worlds, inspire their imagination and provide them with valuable learning experiences. It's generally believed that museums only help fuel academic education.
Museums offer children bigger connections and references to history than a traditional class. They play a huge role in impacting their historical knowledge and the innovation taking place before their eyes.
Museums are well enough equipped to awaken curiosity in young minds, which in turn will lead to these children asking questions.
Museums have the ability to leave its visitors in awe of the huge amount of information it holds. They provide inspiration to young children via its resources that leave them fascinated about the night sky and the solar system, the skeletons that keep them thinking about life before them, the artworks that arouse the creative mind, etc.
| A．Parents themselves don't have to be history lovers. |
| B．Some of these questions may have immediate answers. |
| C．All in all, museums encourage children to dream and wonder. |
| D．But in fact, they provide knowledge regarding all walks of life. |
| E．Museums are a collection of resources that promote informal education. |
| F．Museums are packed with exhibits that aid developing critical thinking skills. |
| G．To connect with the innovations, it is important that they understand where it all began. |
3 . In recent years, a growing body of research has shown that our appetite and food intake are influenced by a large number of factors besides our biological need for energy, including our eating environment and our perception (感知) of the food in front of us.
Studies have shown, for instance, that eating in front of the TV or a similar distraction(分心) can increase both hunger and the amount of food consumed. Even simple visual cues, like plate size and lighting, have been shown to affect portion size and consumption.
A new study suggested that our short-term memory also may play a role in appetite. Several hours after a meal, people’s hunger levels were predicted not by how much they’d eaten but rather by how much food they’d seen in front of them—in other words, how much they remembered eating.
This difference suggests the memory of our previous meal may have a bigger influence on our appetite than the actual size of the meal, says Jeffrey M. Brunstrom, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Bristol.
“Hunger isn’t controlled solely by the physical characteristics of a recent meal. We have identified an independent role for memory for that meal,” Brunstrom says. “This shows that the relationship between hunger and food intake is more complex than we thought.”
These findings echo earlier research that suggests our perception of food can sometimes trick our body’s response to the food itself. In a 2011 study, for instance, people who drank the same 380-calorie milkshake on two separate occasions produced different levels of hunger-related hormones (荷尔蒙), depending on whether the shake’s label said it contained 620 or 140 calories. Moreover, the participants reported feeling more full when they thought they’d consumed a higher-calorie shake.
What does this mean for our eating habits? Although it hardly seems practical to trick ourselves into eating less, the new findings do highlight the benefits of focusing on our food and avoiding TV and multitasking while eating.
The so-called mindful-eating strategies can fight distractions and help us control our appetite, Brunstrom says.
1. What is said to be a factor affecting our appetite and food intake?| A．How we feel the food we eat. | B．What elements the food contains. |
| C．When we eat our meals. | D．How fast we eat our meals. |
| A．Food labels may mislead consumers in their purchases. |
| B．Food labels may influence our body’s response to food. |
| C．Hunger levels depend on one’s consumption of calories. |
| D．People tend to take in a lot more calories than necessary. |
| A．Trick ourselves into eating less. | B．Choose food with fewer calories. |
| C．Concentrate on food while eating. | D．Pick dishes of the right size. |
| A．Eating distractions often affect our food digestion. |
| B．Psychological factors influence our hunger levels. |
| C．Our food intake is determined by our biological needs. |
| D．Good eating habits will contribute to our health. |
Technology has started to take over the world. It may seem like a huge advancement to society, but large setbacks come equally.
We now live in an age of social media. We have never been as
While some may see social media’s positive effects
To understand technology, one must know
5 . For the past 3000 years, when people thought of money, they thought of cash. From buying food to paying bills, day-to-day dealings involved paper or metal money. Over the past decade, however, digital payments have taken off—tapping your credit card on a machine or having the QR Code (二维码) on your smart phone scanned has become normal. Now this revolution is about to turn cash into an endangered species in some rich countries. That will make the economy more efficient, but it also brings new problems.
Countries are getting rid of cash at different speeds. In Sweden the number of retail cash transactions (交易) per person has fallen by 80% in the past ten years. Cash accounts for just 6% of purchases by value in Norway. Britain is probably four or six years behind it. America is perhaps a decade behind. Outside the rich world, cash is still king. However, in China, digital payments rose from 4% of all payments in 2012 to 34% in 2017.
Cash is dying out because of two forces. One is demand—younger consumers want to enjoy their digital lives with payment systems. But equally important, suppliers such as banks and tech firms are developing fast, easy-to-use payment technologies from which they can pull data and pocket fees.
In general, the future of a cashless economy is excellent news. When cash payments disappear, people and shops are less likely to be stolen. Besides, digitalisation greatly expands the playground of small businesses by enabling them to sell beyond their borders. It also creates a credit history, helping consumers borrow. Yet it is not without problems. Electronic payment systems may suffer technical failures, power blackouts and cyber-attacks. What’s more, in a cashless economy, the poor, the elderly and country folk may be left behind.
1. What do we know about digital payments in paragraph 1?| A．They've been used in daily dealings for 3000 years. |
| B．They have become popular in the past ten years. |
| C．They can only be made on the smart phones. |
| D．They are leading to cash's dying out worldwide. |
| A．America. | B．Britain. | C．Sweden | D．Norway. |
| A．Cash payments are less likely to disappear. |
| B．Digitalisation enables small businesses to sell nationally. |
| C．Customers can have their credit history built through digital payments. |
| D．Digital payments may benefit the poor, the elderly and country folks. |
| A．have fallen off | B．have become a trend |
| C．have been out of fashion | D．have been substituted |
6 . The world’s top automakers are increasingly offering more electric vehicle models. This growth is expected to continue， with more people choosing to hit the road with clean-running electric- powered cars.
Environmentalists have praised the automakers for taking major steps to limit harmful pollutants linked to worldwide climate change. But electric vehicles are also known for not producing another kind of pollution—noise. They run on batteries instead of fuel， and can operate in silence.
While many people might consider this a good thing， quiet cars can also cause problems. The main danger is that people walking in areas around electric vehicles face a greater risk of being hit if they cannot hear the cars coming.
Governments in the United States and Europe have recognized this problem. So， they have set requirements for manufacturers to add warning sounds to vehicles operating on electricity.
The U.S.Department of Transportation finalized its rules a year ago. The rules require electric and hybrid (混合能源) vehicles to be equipped with some kind of warning sound when moving at speeds up to 30 kilometers per hour. The rules are aimed at preventing injuries among people walking or riding bicycles and to protect the blind.
So what kinds of sounds can we expect to hear from the next generation of electric vehicles? One of the easiest solutions would be for carmakers to simply reproduce the sound a car would make if it actually did run on fuel. But many industry officials believe this would be a mistake.They say this would not support the electric vehicle’s true identity. It would also limit great possibilities to link the car’s sound to a whole new image, which could help increase sales.
Frank Welsch is head of technical development at Germany’s Volkswagen. He said that finding the perfect sound mix is not an easy process. “The electric vehicle sound is its identity,” he said. “It cannot be too annoying. It cannot sound like anything we had in the past.”
An official from Mercedes-Benz said the sound was designed to provide a safe warning without annoying passengers inside the vehicle. He said the goal was to create a car that remains completely quiet on the inside, but fills the sound requirements and supports the model’s image on the outside.
It might seem strange to think that part of our automotive future is currently being developed in the same kinds of recording studios used by musicians. But that is exactly what is happening.
1. The underlined words “hit the road” in Paragraph 1 probably mean_________.| A．clean a road | B．start a trip |
| C．avoid an accident | D．reduce noise pollution |
| A．introduce the topic of the passage |
| B．list the advantages of automobiles |
| C．provide some facts about electric cars |
| D．stress the importance of saving energy |
| A．limit pollutants | B．increase sales |
| C．prevent injuries | D．make cars smarter |
| A．Electric Car Sounds Promote Sales to a Large Degree |
| B．Recording Studios Will Create Sounds for All Electric Cars |
| C．Governments Call on People to Design Electric Car Sounds |
| D．Electric Cars Need Creative Sounds to Replace Engine Noise |
7 . Never Talk to Strangers?
“Never talk to strangers.” Many children are taught this simple rule as a precaution against abduction (诱拐). In June, 2005, an 11-year-old boy was lost in the Utah wilderness for four days. During that time, he stayed on the path. He saw people searching for him but deliberately hid from them, afraid someone might “steal” him. Eventually, the unfortunate game of hide-and-seek ended and he was found. According to the Canada Safety Council, this alarming incident shows how unwise it is to instill (灌输) a fear of strangers in children. The “stranger danger” message can prevent children from developing the social skills and judgment needed to deal effectively with real-life situations. In a difficult situation, a stranger could be their lifeline to safety.
To have a child go missing is a parent’s worst nightmare. The threat of abduction by a stranger is minimal when compared with other possible reasons for a disappearance. In 2004, there were 67,266 missing-children cases in Canada. Only 31 involved abduction; in most of those cases the abductor was a relative, friend, or person known to the family. There were 671 cases of children wandering off, and 332 cases of abductions by a parent. Almost 80 percent of all cases were runaways. These statistics cast doubt on the idea that children should never talk to strangers. Wandering off is more common—but a lost child may have to call upon a stranger for help, and must develop the ability to judge what kind of people to approach. The “never talk to strangers” rule does not protect children in the situations they are most likely to face. On top of this, it can be confusing. Adults do not model the behavior; they often talk to strangers. A child may not know how to tell who is a stranger, and who is not.
For young children, nothing replaces close supervision (监管). Pre-schoolers do not understand risk and tend to act without thinking. Children need to develop habits and attitudes that will protect them from the real threats and dangers they may face. The Canada Safety Council encourages parents to give their children age-appropriate positive messages about safety, bearing in mind how youngsters may understand their world.
1. Which of the following statements is NOT true about the 11-year-old boy?| A．He practiced the “never talk to strangers” rule. |
| B．He hid from the rescuers to avoid possible abduction. |
| C．He eventually showed up when his hide-and seek game ended. |
| D．He stayed where he was, expecting the coming of familiar people. |
| A．Being abducted by a parent. | B．Running away. |
| C．Being abducted by strangers. | D．Wandering off. |
| A．a friendly and attractive person may be dangerous |
| B．adults do not act upon the rule and strangers are hard to tell |
| C．the rule does not protect children in the situation of abducting |
| D．a lost child may have difficulty in communicating with a stranger |
| A．It is not well recognized by parents. |
| B．It is practical as a safety tip in daily life. |
| C．It is easy enough for children to follow. |
| D．It is not effective in keeping kids safe. |
8 . Nowadays some companies are attempting to grow seafood from cells in a laboratory rather than harvesting it from the oceans.
With massive problems with overfishing worldwide and growing demand for shrinking supplies of seafood, the way fish currently makes its way to our plates isn't a long-term viable option. Between 1961 and 2016, the average annual increase in global food fish consumption outpaced population growth. Those are figures not sustainable for us, the fish or the environment as a whole.
Cellular seafood could be the answer. Just don't make the mistake of calling it lab-grown fish. ''None of us in the industry would call it lab-grown seafood, '' says Mike Selden, CEO of Finless Foods. ''Finless Foods isn’t lab-grown. We experiment and create our science in the lab, but don't produce there. Our products come from a production base much like a farm as a production base for animals.''
Finless Foods is a tech company in San Francisco. Beginning in 2017, it's been working to bring to market a species of cultured bluefin tuna (蓝鳍金枪鱼) created using cellular technology. Shortly after that, the company produced its first pound of bluefin tuna meat for a cost of about $19,000. Since then, however, it's been working to bring that price down.
Selden terms what Finless Foods is doing as ''cell-based seafood''. ''We're growing seafood from real seafood cells,'' Selden explained. ''We take cells from a fish once, and then grow them endlessly from that. We do the same process that happens inside of a fish and make it happen outside of a fish. ''
The goal of cellular seafood isn't to entirely destroy the current seafood industry. Instead, it's intended to augment it—and perhaps to help reduce some of the more harmful aspects of current fishing practices like overfishing and illegal fishing. And when it comes to certain sea species, this laboratory-based approach could help create a plentiful supply of certain fish without endangering the survival of certain overfished species as a whole.
1. What is the main function of the second paragraph?| A．Warning us of the shrinking seafood supplies. |
| B．Stressing the significance of cellular seafood. |
| C．Analyzing the reasons for global overfishing. |
| D．Showing the environmental effect of seafood. |
| A．The high cost of its production. | B．Its inadequate nutrient content. |
| C．Its potential harmful health effect. | D．The complex production process. |
| A．replace | B．strengthen | C．cancel | D．tolerate |
| A．Is Seafood Made Out of Cells? | B．Will Seafood Become Cheaper? |
| C．Have We Got Enough Seafood? | D．Is Cellular Seafood Sustainable? |
Li Ziqi, 29, from Sichuan province, started her video(视频) blogs on traditional food and crafts(手艺) three years ago after giving up city life
Li has a library of 100 videos that have been
“She displays a happy countryside life and sends out positive energy,” said one user. “
Another wrote that
Others disagreed. “Li Ziqi only shows the underdeveloped aspect(方面) of China
State broadcaster CCTV weighed into the debate on Tuesday. “Li promotes Chinese culture in a good way and
| 态度 | 所占比例 | 理由 | 结论 |
| 赞成 | 30％ | 1.可以了解外面的世界 2.有助于经济独立 | …… |
| 反对 | 70％ | 1. 学生的主要任务是学习 2. 兼职工作有不安全因素 |
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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