注意：词数不少于60。
提示词：自律 self-discipline
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2 . Video chat is now the go-to outlet for many social distancers longing for social interaction. But having a successful fete isn't only a question of hopping on camera with friends and kicking off. Social grace is a big part of a successful virtual party — and etiquette doesn't go out the door just because you're in your pajamas in front of a camera.
Introduce everyone to the group
Gone are the days during which you can introduce yourself to new people at your leisure. Instead, the second you click 'Join Meeting', you're pushed in front of potentially dozens of faces staring straight at you.
This is particularly problematic if not everyone on the call knows each other — Zoom itself recommends short ice-breaking sessions for everyone to introduce themselves on meetings.
"I like to use the wait room," says Tamiko Zablith, founder of Minding Manners International. "For security reasons, it means outsiders don't come crashing into your meeting. But also, you can let people come in one at a time, and then you can take that time to introduce them to the group as well."
Learn the art of the pause
Another wildly confusing thing about Zoom parties: everyone has to talk one at a time. There's no chance for small groups to organically form, for joking talk to fill a room, or for guests to talk at the same time. The whole group, no matter how large, can only listen to one person at a time.
That's why putting pauses in your speech is critical, especially since low internet speeds or weird audio may mean it's easy for someone to talk over someone else, drowning out what they have to say to the group.
"If the internet is a bit unreliable, you have those unstable signals. If I keep rambling, and the other person starts, there's that delay," says Zablith. "Work those pauses into your conversation."
Know when to change backgrounds
Using Zoom's backgrounds can actually be a courtesy to eliminate distractions behind you.
Hiding those dirty dishes or pizza boxes, or obscuring other members of the household coming and going, eliminates distractions and makes the other people feel like they're getting your full attention.
"Wouldn't it be better if that distraction just wasn't there?" Zablith says, pointing to the advantage of virtual backgrounds being able to hide anything unsightly behind you. For others, virtual backgrounds also provide a sense of comfort or normalcy to the audience.
1. According to the passage, which of the following is considered impolite?| A．To introduce everyone individually to the group. |
| B．To use virtual backgrounds to avoid distraction. |
| C．To put several pauses in your online speech. |
| D．To keep silent when joining in the meeting. |
| A．Internet speed matters little in Zoom parties |
| B．the wait room makes it easy to introduce everybody |
| C．for some, real room background has a comforting effect |
| D．pauses in speaker's conversation may delay the conference |
| A．To attract more people to use Zoom. |
| B．To explain how to maintain social manners. |
| C．To offer guidance on Zoom social etiquette. |
| D．To compare online meetings with offline ones. |
3 . What do we mean by responsibility? To put it simply, it is a duty to consider the consequences of our actions. In other words, we have a duty to control our behaviour.
When we are children, we have few responsibilities. Our parents look after us and we generally don’t have to worry about food or shelter. As we grow up, we gradually need to be responsible for more and more things. We learn how to run our own baths, make our own decisions, and realize that we have moral duties. As adults, we are responsible for all aspects of our lives. If there are any problems, we have to handle them ourselves.
We also have responsibilities that go beyond ourselves. Parents have the responsibility to look after their children, ensuring that they have a stable upbringing. Beyond the family, people have a responsibility towards the community as a whole. It is in fact up to us as a society to make this world a safe and pleasant place for everyone.
When we fail in our responsibilities, the consequences are most serious. Teenagers who abandon their studies might ruin their own lives. It is even more horrible to hear about parents who, by not caring for their own children properly, are putting them in danger. Likewise, by not following the traffic rules, careless drivers kill more than a million people around the world every year. Certain professions in our society, such as police officers, exist to protect the public, and the people who do these jobs often risk their own lives in order to do their duty. However, their efforts depend on the support of ordinary people. If we ignore our own responsibilities, society will become dangerous. On a global level, our entire human civilization may be heading towards disaster unless we work together to save our environment.
Furthermore, whether we are shouldering heavy responsibilities, like doctors or lots, or simply taking responsibility for our own learning as students, we will always be judged on how well we perform our duties. For this reason, the hardest part of acting responsibly is admitting that we failed or that we made a mistake. Let’s say you visit your friend’s house and accidentally damage an expensive teapot while your friend is in another room. The honest thing to do is of course to admit your fault and apologize. Because this requires courage, some people take another route: they pretend that nothing happened. Perhaps a broken teapot might not be such a big deal, but in any given situation, we can choose to act responsibly, and it is somewhat through this choice that we decide what our lives are going to be like.
To summarize, responsibilities are an essential part of life since our actions have consequences. Responsibilities aren’t fun, but we can make the burden lighter by sharing them. If everyone considered how their actions would affect themselves and other people, the world would be a better place.
1. The passage tells us that .| A．children have no responsibilities |
| B．adults often risk their own lives in order to do their duty |
| C．our responsible actions would make the world a better place |
| D．responsibilities aren’t fun unless we can make the burden lighter by sharing them |
| A．to control our behaviour | B．to handle problems ourselves |
| C．to affect ourselves and other people | D．to admit our fault and apologize |
| A．Consequence of Responsibility | B．Significance of Responsibility |
| C．Essential Part of Responsibility | D．Development of Responsibility |
I: Introduction P: Point Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
4 . The old romantic saying is a cute one, but according to recent studies, opposites don't necessarily attract.
Research shows that people tend to seek out relationships with—and eventually marry — partners who have similar defining characteristics, such as age, political orientation, religion, education, and income.
“ Generally speaking, when we think about opposites attracting or not, we're thinking in terms of personality rather than these big key factors," says Vinita Mehta, a clinical psychologist and writer based in Washington, D. C.
One big factor as to why this may be is simply your stage of life: where you live, what lifestyle you have, and what kind of people you're exposed to.
“ If you’re on a college campus, by and large，you’re going to find people who are in your age group,'' Mehta says. "You're going to find people who at least eventually become part of the same general income strata. ”
Researchers from the University of Kansas made a courageous claim. A study released earlier this year analyzed real-world relationships and asked couples (romantic partners, friends, and acquaintances) about attitudes, behaviors, values, prejudices, and personality characteristics that were important to them. The pairs that had closer and more intimate relationships were not necessarily more similar than newly formed pairs, and people shared similarities on almost every personal issue that was measured.
The lead psychologists on this study believe this doesn't happen by chance ； it's so common and widespread that seeking out like-minded people may be our psychological default when we make new friends or romantic partners. We certainly get the most out of these relationships. They make us more comfortable and trusting of the other person, and that makes it easier to cooperate and achieve goals.
As far personalities go, connecting on major characteristics, like levels of neuroticism (神经质)and conscientiousness, generally lead to happier couples. But that doesn't mean you and your significant other need to agree on everything. Having different habits——fewer defining parts of your personality, like your favorite sport or foods---can introduce you to new activities and ways of thinking, which can make you a more well-rounded person.
1. What does the underlined word " strata" in Paragraph 5 probably mean?| A．Factors. | B．Levels. | C．Resources. | D．Taxes. |
| A．the phenomenon takes place accidentally |
| B．the subjects have almost everything in common |
| C．the participants were asked questions about their partners |
| D．the similarity between partners may not change with closer relationship |
| A．have some differences |
| B．have everything in common |
| C．share the same personalities |
| D．result from the conflict in thinking |
| A．To find out what stage of life we are in. |
| B．To prove we are attracted to what is familiar. |
| C．To show what kind of people we should make friends with. |
| D．To introduce the advantages like-minded people can bring to us. |
5 . When I was small, my mother and I would walk to our local library in Franklin Square. As we didn’t always have access to a reliable car, walking hand in hand was the most convenient way to get anywhere. It was at story time for children that both my mother and I made lasting friendships.
Today, I am fortunate to live around the corner from the Cold Coast Public Library in Glen Head and a short walk to the Sea Cliff Children’s Library. My 8-month-old son, Colin, and I find ourselves in Sea Cliff several times a week, meeting and making friends. Well, that is what many people don’t understand—a library is more than books; it’s a community.
Sure, the library in Franklin Square was the place where I was introduced to Judy Blume novels. But it was also the place where I got my first email address in 1997. At the library, friends and I learned how to research colleges and search for scholarships on the Internet. The library was the place where we sometimes giggled (咯咯笑) too loudly, and where the librarians knew us by name. Their knowing our names wasn’t a bad thing. When I came home from my first term at Binghamton University, Mary LaRosa, the librarian at the Franklin Square library, offered me my first teaching job.
I now teach reading at Nassau Community College. My students are often amazed that they can check out books via their smartphones and virtually (虚拟地) visit a variety of Long Island libraries. The app used by Nassau and Suffolk county public libraries, as well as the college library, makes their homework easier by helping them find resources. Even though they can’t always easily visit their local libraries, the library is always with them.
1. Why does the author consider herself lucky today?| A．She can walk with her mother hand in hand. |
| B．She has access to a reliable car now. |
| C．She can giggle loudly at the library. |
| D．She lives close to libraries. |
| A．socializing in a library |
| B．reading books in a library |
| C．visiting a library with family members |
| D．building parent-child friendship in a library |
| A．Sympathetic. | B．Favorable. |
| C．Sceptical. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．recall the days of childhood in the libraries |
| B．discuss the differences of the libraries |
| C．explain the changes of the libraries |
| D．express her love for libraries |
6 . There is certainly evidence that actors experience a blending of their real self with their assumed characters. For instance, Benedict Cumberbatch said, “My mum says I'm much more impatient with her when I'm filming Sherlock.”
Mark Seton, a researcher at the University of Sydney, has even coined the term “post-dramatic stress disorder” to describe the lasting effects experienced by actors who lose themselves in a role. “Actors may often prolong habits of the characters they have embodied,” he writes.
A recent finding doesn't involve acting, and it indicates that merely spending some time thinking about another person seemed to rub off on the volunteers’ sense of self led by Meghan Meyer at Princeton University. Across several studies, these researchers asked volunteers to first rate their own personalities, memories or physical attributes, and then to perform the same task from the perspective of another person. For instance, they might score the emotionality of various personal memories, and then rate how a friend or relative would have experienced those same events.
After taking the perspective of another, the volunteers scored themselves once again: the consistent finding was that their self-knowledge was now changed—their self-scores had shifted to become more similar to those they'd given for someone else. For instance, if they had initially said the trait term “confident” was only moderately related to themselves and then rated the term as being strongly related to a friend's personality, when they came to rescore themselves, they now tended to see themselves as more confident. Remarkably, this morphing of the self with another was still apparent even if a 24-hour gap was left between taking someone else's perspective and re-rating oneself.
“By simply thinking about another person, we may adapt our self to take the shape of that person” said Meyer and her colleagues. That our sense of self should have this quality might be a little discouraging, especially for anyone who has struggled to establish a firm sense of identity. Yet there is an optimistic message here, too. The challenge of improving ourselves—or at least seeing ourselves in a more positive light—might be a little easier than we thought. By roleplaying or acting out the kind of person we would like to become, or merely by thinking about and spending time with people who embody the kind of attributes we would like to see in ourselves, we can find that our sense of self changes in desirable ways.
“As each of us chooses who to befriend, who to model, and who to ignore” write Meyer and her colleagues, “we must make these decisions aware of how they shape not only the fabric of our social networks, but even our sense of who we are.”
1. The first two paragraphs mainly ______.| A．state that acting requires skills |
| B．explain the stress that an actor faces |
| C．show that a role leaves a mark on the actor |
| D．stress the importance of devoting oneself to a role |
| A．Influence. | B．Strengthen. |
| C．Confuse. | D．Determine. |
| A．brings changes to one's self-knowledge |
| B．motivates one to better understand himself |
| C．helps people deal with their identity problems |
| D．produces temporary effects on one's character |
| A．It offers instructions on making friends. |
| B．It proposes a means to improve ourselves. |
| C．It gives advice on adjusting one's emotions. |
| D．It presents a way to deal with stress disorder. |
7 . An interview is a discussion with someone in which you try to get information from them.
A great deal is provided by this personal contact: you are another human being, and interviewees will respond to you, in bodily presence, in an entirely different way from the way that they would have reacted to questionnaires that came through their letterboxes or to emails.
If you take the trouble to schedule a visit, you can be more or less guaranteed of a response. Most importantly, though, you will be able to relate to interviewees while you are talking to them.
| A．This is a ready-made support for you. |
| B．Its nature varies with the nature of the interviews. |
| C．You will be able to hear and understand what they are saying. |
| D．Your decision should influence the way that you look, sound and behave. |
| E．The information may be facts or opinions or attitudes or any combination of these. |
| F．Each involves the interviewer in fact-to-face contact or telephone contact with another person. |
| G．You will be using these clues to make informed guesses about what the interviewees might really mean. |
8 . Preschool girl lifts old man’s spirits
When Tara Wood brought her daughter to a grocery store to buy the four-year-old some cupcakes, she had no idea that would be a life-changing experience.
As Tara pushed her daughter Norah around the store last month, she passed an old man who was by himself. The old man looked cold, until Norah shouted to him, “Hi! It’s my birthday today!” The man stopped and his demeanor changed from distant and serious to warm and friendly. “How old are you today?” the man asked. After some time talking together, Norah asked her mom to take a picture of her with her new friend “Mr Dan”, Dan Peterson, 82. They hugged and after ten minutes went their separate ways. That could have been the end of the story. But it is actually the beginning of a special relationship.
Tara posted the picture of her daughter and Mr. Dan on Facebook and someone who recognized him reached out to her with his contact information. It turned out that Mr. Dan’s wife died in March and he had been suffering from depression and anxiety ever since. The person on Facebook told Tara that it was the first time they had seen Mr. Dan smile since the death of his wife. Knowing that, Tara contacted Mr. Dan, and ever since Norah and the 82-year-old have developed a friendship unlike any other. “She has shown me a depth of love, a depth that I didn’t know existed,” Mr. Dan told the reporter.
Mr. Dan told Tara that before meeting Norah, he hadn’t had one night of uninterrupted sleep. Anxiety kept him up at all hours and made him restless. After meeting Norah, he said he now sleeps soundly. For Mr. Dan’s 82nd birthday on October 20, the mother and the daughter brought balloons and presents—and, of course, cupcakes. Mr. Dan will also spend a day around Thanksgiving with Norah and her family. “If you don’t take the time to notice people, you will never know how you can positively impact a life,” Tara Wood said.
1. Mr. Dan looked cold because ________.| A．he felt lonely | B．he disliked little kids |
| C．nobody had hugged him | D．he knew little about Norah |
| A．words | B．body |
| C．thoughts | D．attitude |
| A．From a news reporter. | B．From a stranger. |
| C．From a shop assistant. | D．From his neighbor. |
| A．Giving makes a real difference. |
| B．It is important to respect each other. |
| C．We should not judge a person at first sight. |
| D．Good things will happen if one keeps trying. |
9 . I don’t remember the exact date I met Marty for the first time. Like a lot of people who want to get through a checkout line, I found my thoughts on speed, nothing more. The line I was standing in wasn’t moving as quickly as I wanted, and I glanced toward the cashier, who was receiving money from customers.
He was an old man in his sixties. I thought, well, it probably took him a little longer to get the jobs done. For the next few minutes I watched him. He greeted every customer before he began scanning the goods they were purchasing. Sure, his words were the usual, “How’s it going?” But he did something different—he actually listened to people. Then he would respond to what they had said and talk with them briefly.
I thought it was strange, but I guessed I had grown accustomed to people asking me how I was doing simply out of a conversation without thinking. Usually, after a while, you don’t give any thought to the question and just say something back quietly.
This old cashier seemed sincere about wanting to know how people were feeling. Meanwhile, the high-tech cash register rang up their purchases and he announced what they owed. When customers handed money to him, he pushed the appropriate keys, the cash drawer popped open, and he counted out their change.
Then magic happened.
He placed the change in his left hand, walked around the counter to the customers, and extended his right hand in an act of friendship. As their hands met, the old cashier looked the customers in the eyes. “I want to thank you for shopping here today,” he told them. “You have a great day. Bye-bye.” The looks on the faces of the customers were priceless.
Now it was my turn. I glanced down at the name tag on his red waistcoat, the kind experienced Wal-Mart cashier wore. It read, “Marty.”
Marty told me how much I owed and I handed him some money. The next thing I knew he was standing beside me, offering his right hand and holding my change in his left hand. His kind eyes locked onto mine. Smiling, and with a firm handshake…
1. While the author stood in the checkout line, she felt ______.| A．impatient | B．enthusiastic |
| C．comfortable | D．embarrassed |
| A．talk about unimportant topics | B．face communication problems |
| C．remain calm while having a talk | D．develop a mindless conversation |
| A．he expressed his sincerity while giving back the change |
| B．he spent as much time as possible serving customers |
| C．he was patient with all the questions from customers |
| D．he showed particular interest in customers’ personal life |
| A．Marty was a talkative man. |
| B．Marty cared a lot about what he did. |
| C．The author failed to get along well with others. |
| D．The author was dissatisfied with such a waste of time. |
10 . Are You a Prisoner of Perfection?
Do you struggle for a goal that is beyond your reach?
Shame and fear are often the hidden drivers of perfectionism. We believe that if we can fashion a perfectly polished personality, flash our intelligence, and perfect our humour, then no one can hurt us with criticism and we’ll win respect and approval.
Perfectionism keeps us leaning toward the future. We’re constantly evaluating ourselves in order to do better.
Being human, perfection is impossible.
| A．Do you hold an idealized vision that is impossible to realize? |
| B．A cure to perfectionism is to make room for our human shortcomings. |
| C．Do you fear that others will be horrified by what you judge about yourself? |
| D．The addiction to staying perfect protects us from any sign of being imperfect. |
| E．There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do our best and self-correcting along the way. |
| F．People who are addicted to perfection are often isolated, even if they seem outgoing and popular. |
| G．By accepting ourselves as we are and doing our best, we begin to rid the shame that drives perfectionism. |
