1 . Recently, I accidentally found a set of Hanfu l only wore once from the bottom of the cupboard. I remember buying them simply to match the ancient-style hair accessories (配饰) a friend gave me. It occurred to me that 1 had been trapped in the “birdcage effect”.
“Birdcage effect” means that when you get an item one day, you will prepare more things to match it. Weeks ago, I was in the company of friends engaged in shopping. One said that she wanted to buy a good writing pen to match the delicate notebook that her sister gave her, so that she would fall in love with taking notes on reading, and thus love reading, not just reading. I joked that she must have fallen for the “birdcage effect”. But the friend said with a smile: “Why not use the ‘birdcage effect’ instead?”
For the first time, I heard that the “birdcage effect” can be used in reverse (逆向). However, this can’t help but remind me of middle school, and I seem to have used the “birdcage effect”. Passing by a bookstore one day, I purchased a magazine and saw the call for contributions published in the magazine, so I started writing with eager hands, and then I fell in love with writing.
After shopping with my friends that time, I began to proceed to use the “birdcage effect”. I bought a small fresh tablecloth to decorate my desk, and a beautiful notebook to record my inspiration. When everything was ready, I started writing again.
But how can we get rid of the “birdcage effect” in many things, and even use the “birdcage effect” in the opposite way? Various “birdcages” unavoidably appear in life, but we can distinguish them. If it is not in line with the actual situation, it is a “negative birdcage”, then we must learn to stop losses in time and maintain a heart of abandonment and separation. If it is a “positive birdcage” that motivates us to develop upward, we can clarify our goals, shop or decorate appropriately, and motivate ourselves to move towards our goals. At this time, you will find that the “birdcage effect” is actually not so terrible!
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The application of the “birdcage effect” in life. |
| B．The necessity of using the “birdcage effect” in life. |
| C．The turning point of the author’s idea on the “birdcage effect”. |
| D．The author’s conflict with her friend over the “birdcage effect”. |
| A．To recall her delightful days at school. |
| B．To explain the reason for her love with writing. |
| C．To confirm the positive of the “birdcage effect”. |
| D．To prove her knowledge of the “birdcage effect”. |
| A．By realizing this effect has two sides. |
| B．By promoting our personal consumption. |
| C．By recognizing this effect is not so terrible. |
| D．By guiding our acts to go with reasonable goals. |
| A．Getting Rid of the Birdcage Effect Confidently |
| B．Motivating Ourselves to Move Towards Our Goals |
| C．The Birdcage Effect: Influence on Consumer Behavior |
| D．The Birdcage Effect: How to Use It to Your Advantage |
2 . Denmark retired after practicing medicine for 73 years and then volunteered her services until she couldn’t anymore. She died at the age of 114.
I met her by phone when the pediatrician (儿科医生) couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my baby. On the phone, she talked with me for more than 30 minutes. I took her advice, and my baby was better about 10 days later. She never charged me.
“You keep on doing what you do best as long as you can,” she was famous for the words. And it turned out her advice about actively helping others was as good as her medical advice.
Obviously, we can’t all live as long as Dr. Denmark. But recent research has shown that volunteering provides a longevity boost similar to the effects of adding multiple servings of fruits and vegetables to your daily diet. Specifically, older adults who volunteer are at 24 percent less risk of early death. The positive impact of giving and volunteering on older people goes beyond that. According to the research, adults over 55 who give their time for others have an easier time with everyday tasks. Besides, volunteers experience 250 percent less cognitive decline leading to dementia (痴呆).
According to a new study in the Journal of Happiness Studies, people who volunteer report higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction. The study took it a second step and followed people who began volunteering—monitoring their responses from the time they started volunteering. The longer they volunteered and the more they volunteered, the greater level of happiness they reported.
You may already be volunteering your time. But if you’re not, consider the charities you support. Think about the skills you might be able to offer them. You are likely to be glad about what you do.
1. What can we infer about Denmark?| A．She retired at the age of 73. | B．She volunteered for 73 years. |
| C．She was patient and professional. | D．She once forget to charge the author. |
| A．1. | B．2. | C．3. | D．4. |
| A．Seek support. | B．Advise about sharpening skills. |
| C．Offer solutions. | D．Encourage people to volunteer. |
| A．The kindness of a doctor. | B．The benefits of volunteering. |
| C．The process of being a volunteer. | D．The struggle of child-raising. |
3 . If you think that this is about a ten-year-old boy adopting a blind deer, you are wrong. If you think this is about a deer giving her love for her savior then you’re wrong again.
A ten-year-old boy in Chicago, Illinois spotted a blind deer that had wandered into his neighborhood, and he decided to help it find a safe place and give it some food. He made a regular morning habit of doing this before going to school. The roads are a dangerous place for blind animals.
When the Illinois Department of Natural Resources got to know about this, they immediately adopted the deer. They provided her with a proper, legal shelter.
The blind deer and the boy spent very little time as friends. The boy did not let his feelings for her overpower himself.
| A．What can we draw from the story? |
| B．But it doesn’t mean that we cannot see his humanity and love. |
| C．It was a generous use of his early morning time before school. |
| D．How would you reward a kid who helped a blind deer in need? |
| E．That was when people knew that the boy hadn’t named the deer. |
| F．So he carefully guided the creature across the streets and sidewalks. |
| G．Rather, this is about a boy who was kind enough to help a blind deer. |
4 . Jerry was always in a good mood and had something positive to say. If someone was having a bad day, Jerry would tell them how to look on the positive side of the situation.
One day, I asked him, “I don’t get it! How can you be positive all the time?”
Jerry replied, “Each morning, I say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.” Several years later, I heard that Jerry was shot by three robbers (抢劫者). Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the local hospital.
I asked him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”
“Weren’t you scared?” I asked. “Yes, I got really scared when I saw the expressions on the face of the doctors.” “What did you do?” I asked.
“Well, when a nurse asked if I was allergic (过敏的) to anything, I shouted, bullets! (子弹)”
“Then they laughed, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me if I am alive, not dead’”
Thanks to the skill of his doctors, Jerry was saved, but also because of his amazing attitude. Attitude after all, is everything.
1. Jerry did everything in a ________ attitude.| A．opposite | B．positive | C．bad | D．terrible |
| A．three robbers shot Jerry | B．Jerry was in the hospital |
| C．Jerry fought against the robbers | D．Jerry caught the three robbers |
| A．the doctors were sure to cure Jerry | B．Jerry was not hurt badly |
| C．the doctors were Jerry’s relatives | D．Jerry was hurt too badly |
| A．was always in a bad mood, too | B．didn’t agree with what Jerry said and did |
| C．thought Jerry was brave and great | D．thought Jerry was funny, but foolish |
| A．attitude is important for us | B．good mood may be dangerous sometimes |
| C．the doctor may be important for patient | D．allergic person can’t see bullets |
5 . The stands were always filled with family members to support their favorite players. I attended each of my son’s games. His father worked nights for years, and missed out on most of his games. My son Jorden knew if his dad could, he would be there sitting right beside me.
When Jorden was younger, some family members would occasionally come to watch. But gradually they stopped showing up. Never once did Jorden lead me to believe that this bothered him, but apparently it did. It wasn’t until when he was asked to give a speech at his baseball event that he made it very clear not only to me but a room filled with over 150 people just how important it is to have extra fans in the stands.
His speech was anything but like I thought it would be. It wasn’t short and bittersweet. It wasn’t his quick thank you to his coaches and teammates. He poured his heart out, saying he seldom had grandparents, aunts or uncles coming to support him. He was grateful that his teammates’ family members showed up to support not just their own loved ones but the entire team of boys. Clearly Jorden desired more than just me. Never did I ever think my son would be hurting inside as he looked out to the bleachers to see only me at each and every game.
As he struggled to get each word out through tears, I promised I would attend as many events of the children around as I possibly could. There was no way I could allow another child to feel what my son was feeling. This small simple gesture would mean so much to any child. Neither Jorden nor I was upset with those who never attended his games. Jorden just wanted someone else besides me to witness his craft in action. I understand all of our lives become complicated and that everyone is busy with their own children and jobs that may not allow them as much free time as they’d like.
1. What do we know about Jorden’s father?| A．He had long been misunderstood by Jorden. |
| B．He had few chances to attend Jorden’s games. |
| C．He managed to be with Jorden in every game. |
| D．He had made excuses to miss Jorden’s games. |
| A．His ambition to win the championship. |
| B．His gratitude to his mother and coaches. |
| C．His complaint about his family members. |
| D．His desire for support from more people. |
| A．Depressing. | B．Complicated. | C．Astonishing. | D．Absurd. |
| A．She tried to be actively involved in children’s games. |
| B．She promised not to miss out on games of every child. |
| C．She offered to invite many relatives to Jorden’s games. |
| D．She decided to lead Jorden to trust his family members. |
6 . If someone asked whether you like the arts, you’d probably say you do—at least in theory. According to a survey, more than two-thirds of U.S. adults say the arts “lift me up beyond everyday experiences.” However, only 30 percent attended a concert of any type in 2017; 23 percent went to an art museum. Fewer than half actively created art of any kind.
The mismatch can boil down to the fact that we are weighed down by our day-to-day responsibilities, leaving our schedule packed. Maybe you like to play a little background music while you work or do the chores, but even before the pandemic, most of us rarely, if ever, saw a live performance, let alone visited a gallery or watched a play.
Too often, we let the dull reality of life get in the way of the arts. But this is a mistake. The arts are the opposite of an escape from reality; they might just be the most realistic glimpse we ever get into the nature and meaning of life. If you make time for consuming and producing art—the same way you make time for work and exercise and family commitments—I assure you that you’ll find your life getting fuller and happier. Think of a time when you heard a piece of music and wanted to cry. Or maybe your dizziness as you emerged from a narrow side street in an unfamiliar city and found yourself in a beautiful town square as if in a fantasy. They probably stimulated a sudden awakening, much like the shock from a lungful of pure oxygen after breathing in smoggy air.
If you are among the people who feel that art is pure pleasure to experience and participate in, you might see it as a luxury item, while a preferable attitude is to treat art less like a distracting pleasure, and more like exercise or sleep, a necessity. Then draw up a schedule of your art exposure journey, and gradually weave art into your everyday life.
1. What prevents people from enjoying the arts?| A．Shortage of time. | B．Avoidance of duty. |
| C．Lack of interest. | D．Art space inaccessibility. |
| A．It explores mysteries of life. | B．It sparks emotional responses. |
| C．It enhances physical well-being. | D．It offers a getaway from daily life. |
| A．Ways to integrate art into routine. | B．Barriers to combine art and life. |
| C．Forms of distracting pleasures. | D．Benefits of engaging with art. |
| A．Art Journey: Refreshing Soul |
| B．Art Pursuit: Transforming Dull into Full |
| C．Embracing Art: From Luxury to Necessity |
| D．Connecting with Art: From Reality to Fantasy |
7 . Life is hard－even harder than anyone thought it would be. When you were younger, you dreamed of the world being your playground, and you were told that you could do anything and be anyone you wanted. Somehow, though, things haven’t been the smooth sailing that you wanted them to be. The world seems to go against you, and the last thing you want to hear is “Cheer up!”
Still, there’s a couple of things you might not notice about your situation. Next time you’re down, maybe the following will provide motivation.
Firstly, not everything is bad. It’s a well-accepted fact that bad news makes for sensational (极好的) television ratings. The fact is that something negative catches a lot more attention than something positive, and that’s because it’s easy to see things in a negative light. However, that shouldn’t distract you from the bigger picture.
Resist the tunnel vision that results from constant negativity. Remember that even though there’s lots of really nasty stuff going on, you’re surrounded by some pretty awesome stuff as well.
You should also remember other people aren’t you. No one likes being compared to another person. What makes it even worse, if that’s even possible, is when you do it to yourself.
Stop comparing yourself to another person and you’ll realize that you’re much more awesome than you give yourself credit for.
Lastly, failure isn’t where the game stops. So you tried something new, but you didn’t follow through. Frustrated at yourself, you stop trying. As a result, your quality of life goes down terribly. You’ve given up on it, though, because you don’t see the point (since you failed the first time).
Now, you’re an adult. The things you are trying are much more complicated than five-year-old you. However, your behaviour shouldn’t change in the slightest－when you fail in something, that’s just more information in your data bank. You know that method doesn’t work, so try another one! And another one after that! Do this until you figure it out. Giving up is for losers, and you sure aren’t one of those.
1. The author mentioned bad news in order to show that .| A．bad news makes people see things in a negative light |
| B．bad news is more likely to catch people’s eyes |
| C．bad news attracts people to see positive things |
| D．bad news has a negative effect on television ratings |
| A．Unstable emotions. | B．Important events. |
| C．Amazing incidents . | D．Something unpleasant. |
| A．We will change our behaviour. |
| B．We will keep trying the old method. |
| C．We should learn from failure. |
| D．We should think in a more complicated way. |
| A．It inspires us to learn from negative experiences. |
| B．It compares negative and positive experiences. |
| C．It criticizes those who are affected by bad experiences. |
| D．It discusses how negative experiences affect others. |
8 . When I first set foot in Western Australia’s Pilbara, a landscape holding 3.5-billion-year-old clues to the beginning of life, I was very disappointed. The year was 1994. I drove excitedly out of the west coast town of Port Hedland, but all I saw for the first 150 kilometers were a few dead trees and smoky dust across the burnt, flat plain. And the heat!! I’d never experienced anything this terrible before. Or breathed air so thick with biting flies.
But as we continued to head south on the highway to. Marble Bar—the hottest town in Australia—some low, broad hills started to rise from the horizon. As we continued down a dirt track into the hills, the burnt plains gave way to grass-covered hills. This grass is called spinifex, an amazing but cruel creation. It grows as bushes up to one meter in diameter (直径), with round, fine leaves with needle-sharp tips. The tips will go through just about any piece of cloth. My guide wore thick gaiters (护腿) to protect his legs. But he had failed to inform me of the risk. Without any gaiters, my skin was covered with needle tips that remained in my legs for months.
The land, ultimately, proved worth the discomfort. Here I was walking over some of Earth’s oldest, best-preserved rocks that contain evidence of life from almost the very beginnings of time on our planet.
This area had changed much from when it was first formed 3.5 billion years ago. Back then it would have been a black volcanic land, with no color from vegetation. Over the hills I might have seen a green, iron-rich sea under an orange sky heavy with carbon dioxide and without oxygen. Several billion years after that, the world would turn cold and become covered in a global ice sheet, destroying almost every living thing. When it melted away, oxygen levels rose again. Life really got going. Animals slowly occupied the land, so did new types of plants. The greening of our planet began, and a wide variety of organisms (有机体) appeared including. unfortunately for me, spinifex.
1. What was the author’s first reaction to the Pilbara landscape?| A．Dissatisfaction. | B．Excitement. | C．Amusement. | D．Confusion. |
| A．It was no easy task to set foot on the land. |
| B．He had never seen spinifex on any other land. |
| C．The trip was valuable despite all the suffering. |
| D．The tips remaining in his flesh were not that uncomfortable. |
| A．It is where life began. | B．It is still a black volcanic land. |
| C．It is home to many unique plants. | D．It contains almost no living things. |
| A．How Life Started on Earth | B．Pilbara: Rich in Organisms |
| C．An Abandoned but Lively Land | D．Journey to a Land across Time |
9 . Sadness and regret often go hand in hand, but we can’t let them hold us back. We must find peace and move forward.
Ever since I was young, it had been my greatest dream to attend Harvard, “the best” university in my eyes. I studied hard and maintained (保持) my good grades so that one day I could get into Harvard.
However, my whole world fell apart when I got my rejection (拒绝) letter from Harvard. Everyone, including me, had gotten their hopes up so high that it was a long way down.
I gave in to my disappointment. I couldn’t understand what went wrong.
Each time I tried to regain (重获) control, the feeling of rejection would come back and hit me hard. I knew that I couldn’t continue like this.
It doesn’t matter how many times or how hard you fall.
Even if it was painful at first, I went to Yale and attended my classes with a heavy heart. Over time the wound healed (愈合) itself up.
| A．I regretted that I hadn’t studied hard. |
| B．Everyone has different ideas about success. |
| C．It is how quickly you get back up that matters. |
| D．I knew that the news was hard to accept, but I had to face it. |
| E．Even if my future might be different from what I expected, I considered it a victory. |
| F．All my friends and families believed I would be able to get into my dream university. |
| G．Even greeting to Yale, which I considered a “second best” university, couldn’t revive me. |
10 . It was early winter several years ago. I had pulled out my old winter coat for another year’s use. It was still in pretty good shape although it was looking dirty from so many winters’ wear. I didn’t really need a new one but I wanted one and casually mentioned it to my daughter one day. She was such a sweet, loving girl that I should have guessed what would happen next. A few weeks later she gave me a new winter coat as a gift.
I put the old one in my closet and started to wear the new coat every day. Each day, though, when I opened my closet, something troubled me. It seemed a shame that my old but still good coat should just sit there keeping no one warm during the cold winter days. After a few weeks, I took it out and drove to a local charity shop. I knew that there was someone who couldn’t afford a coat but could get my old one.
My new coat is my old coat now. It is getting a little dirty and worn, too. It has black marks on the sleeves. It is in too bad shape to even donate to charity. I wonder if I should buy a new one soon, but I think I will wait for a while. I don’t really need a new one and maybe I can find something else to give to the charity shop instead.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover.” Perhaps the best way to deal with our wants then is to give instead. Love, after all, brings us the most joy. And the more of it you give away, the more of it you have.
1. Which word can best describe the author’s daughter?| A．Wealthy. | B．Thoughtful. | C．Easy-going. | D．Humorous. |
| A．It cost too much. | B．It was looking dirty. |
| C．There was not enough room for his new coat. | D．It was not sent to someone in need. |
| A．Telling his daughter. | B．Buying a new one soon. |
| C．Donating it to charity. | D．Sending something else to charity. |
| A．Giving fills our wants. | B．Love is the key to joy. |
| C．The more you give, the more you lose. | D．A coat is large enough to cover our wants. |
