1 . Almost everyone gossips. And a new study finds that people spend about 52 minutes per day, on average, talking to someone about someone else who is not present.

But here’s the surprise: Despite the assumption that most gossip is trash talk, the study finds that the vast majority of gossip is non-judgmental chitchat.

“People love to talk about other people,” says Jeremy Cone, a psychologist at Williams College. “Think about your own conversations with a family member or friend: You talk about everyday things that keep you connected. You share that your daughter got her driver’s license or your uncle has a kidney stone. Much of it is just documenting facts.”

And, of course, the study also finds that some gossip is negative or mean-spirited. About 15% of the snippets of gossip that the researchers analyzed included some types of negative judgements.

But even negative gossip can serve a purpose, as more research has found.

“I think gossiping can be a smart thing to do,” says Elena Martinescu, a researcher at King’s College London who has studied gossip in the workplace. “It allows people to keep track of what’s going on and form social alliances with other people.”

Research has shown that gossip can help build group cohesion and cooperation. “When you gossip, you can keep track of who is contributing to the group and who’s being selfish,” Martinescu explains. “And by sharing this information, you can exclude those group members who are social loafers.”

“We also found that negative gossip makes people likely to repair the aspects of their behavior that they were criticized for,” Martinescu says.

So, say, for instance, you were criticized for always arriving at work late. Hearing that gossip about yourself may motivate you to want to be on time.

Of course, this isn’t a license to be a loose lips or to repeat baseless claims that can damage someone’s reputation unfairly. But confiding（吐露个人隐私）in your friends and colleagues and sharing impressions about another person—even when they’re negative—may be helpful.

1. According to Jeremy Cone, why do people often gossip?

A．To spread negative facts.

B．To satisfy others’ curiosity.

C．To injure others’ reputation.

D．To share social information.

2. In which way can gossip be helpful?

A．It can improve people’s social skill.

B．It can rid society of immoral behavior.

C．People may change their behavior for the better.

D．People may be kept informed of others’ privacy.

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards gossip?

A．Critical.	B．Objective.
C．Supportive.	D．Contradictory.

4. What can be concluded from the passage?

A．Gossip is the last thing we can do.

B．Gossip can do more good than harm.

C．Gossip may not be as harmful as it sounds.

D．Gossip is the best way to build social bonds.

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is probably the woman’s job?

A．A restaurant manager.

B．A waitress.

C．A chef.

2. What is the man asking for help with?

A．How to make different coffee drinks.

B．What to do while serving customers.

C．Where to find necessary items for work.

3. What do the speakers definitely have in common?

A．They’ve worked in restaurants for a long time.

B．They grew up in the same area.

C．They’re excited to work together.

4. How much money did the man expect to make per night?

A．$80.

B．$100.

C．$200.

4 . Improve Your Relationships

Having stable and positive relationships in your life can make you happier and more fulfilled. Whether it's your friends, family, or significant other, improving a relationship can sometimes be confusing.     1    

Express your appreciation for the person.

    2     Notice the positive things that the person is doing and go out of your way to show your appreciation for them. You can also show your appreciation by remembering important events like anniversaries or birthdays.

    3    

If you hardly see each other or talk to each other, it can be difficult to maintain a relationship. Take extra time out of your day and devote it to the person that you want to improve relations with. Try to work around the other person's schedule so that you can spend the time together. You can share a meal, watch a show, listen to music, or go shopping with them.

Turn off distractions.

Distractions like a cell phone, social media, or video games can create a division in between you and another person. If you notice that you are always distracted, you should turn off your cell phone or computer and talk to them.     4    

Seek therapy(心理治疗) if you can't get along.

To fix or improve family relationships or relationships with your significant other, you can turn to therapy. If you notice that you and the person are always arguing over the same kinds of things, and nothing has worked, you should consider seeking therapy with them.     5     And family therapy may be able to restore bonds between family members.

A．Spend more time with the person.

B．Maintain a relationship if possible.

C．People often like to be praised for achievements.

D．A specialist can help solve long­term issues in the relationship.

E．If they are the one always distracted, ask them if they can do the same.

F．Follow the tips and you can develop good relationships with your family.

G．Luckily, by adjusting your behaviour, you can improve any relationship in your life.

5 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

“Meet one more and I’ll definitely ask a favour.” Gina thought, looking up at the street lights, everything immersed (沉浸在) in the dark night. “Alas! This unlucky stuffi” She said to herself, helpless.

Behind her came the jingling of bicycle bells. Hardly had Gina let out “ah” when a cycling young man swept past.

“Why, the cyclist was back?” Gina whispered to herself. The young man suddenly returned and was already in front of Gina before she knew it.   Gina’s heart was pounding under high tension. “What will he do on such a dark night?” “Called me just now?” The young man got off his bike. Gina shook her head repeatedly but gently. A strong sense of self-defense overcame her and she refused to say yes.

“Something wrong with your bike?”A pair of smiling eyes met hers. Gina became somewhat calm. “The front tire has gone flat.” she responded, head down, a ray of hope arising. “Well, I can’t help it with no tools.” The young man managed a smile. Gina’s heart sank again. “Do you live far?” the young man searched her face for an answer. “Me?” she asked, keeping pushing her bike forward. “Well, on the left side of the street end is a repair shop. Wish you luck!” With these words, the young man rode away. Gina almost burst into tears. “It’s almost midnight. Where can I find a repair shop? A liar.” She started to hate the young man.

Almost at the end ofthe street, Gina couldn’t help but look up. Near the sidewalk, there was really a shop with the light still on.

1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

She paused hesitantly, and out of the shop came a girl in her twenties.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With the help of the young man and the girl, the tire was soon repaired.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . An urgent call came into Jim's bar. A newly married woman, having spent the afternoon at the bar, couldn't find her _______ She didn't care about her cash _______ her wedding ring inside.

With the _______ to find the wallet, Jim spent hours _______ the security-camera videos, watching the woman's every step in the bar until she left. Several minutes later, a teenager approached the bench, and   _______ something into his pocket.

Jim _______ the clip on Facebook. “I didn't want to _______ him,” he said, “but to know who the guy was. " Within hours, Jim got a text from a 17-year-old Peter. Peter _______ having taken the wallet and said he'd done it because he hadn't _______ for two days. He thought the ring was __________ , so he took the cash to purchase a sandwich and threw the wallet off the public docks (码头） into the ocean.

Jim called Peter to meet him at the docks. Deep in conversation, he __________ that Peter wasn't getting along with his family. Jim, a father of two kids, saw him for what he was: more of a kid than a __________ However, because of the missing ring, the police were already on the spot. Peter could be facing __________ and sent to prison. “I had to help him somehow. ” a voice __________ in Jim's mind.

He sought the ring in the strong current, but over 2 hours passed with no __________ of it. He hired local divers to   __________ the waters where the wallet had been thrown.   __________ a diver emerged. In his hand was the wallet with the ring inside. Cheers __________ from the bystanders. The __________ wallet owner dropped the charges against Peter for stealing the ring.

“Most people would have given the video to the police, and he chose to __________ me. ” Peter told CBS News. “ I say thank you to him every day. ”

1.

A．wallet

B．ring

C．video

D．cash

2.

A．or

B．and

C．besides

D．but

3.

A．imagination

B．determination

C．assumption

D．appreciation

4.

A．going through

B．searching for

C．sorting out

D．cutting out

5.

A．swept

B．stole

C．slipped

D．sank

6.

A．published

B．posted

C．advertised

D．stuck

7.

A．praise

B．punish

C．annoy

D．assess

8.

A．resisted

B．rejected

C．admitted

D．promised

9.

A．relaxed

B．drunk

C．slept

D．eaten

10.

A．common

B．genuine

C．fake

D．precious

11.

A．informed

B．imagined

C．guessed

D．learnt

12.

A．criminal

B．victim

C．beggar

D．customer

13.

A．charges

B．challenges

C．debts

D．appeals

14.

A．reflected

B．echoed

C．faded

D．struck

15.

A．scene

B．symbol

C．signal

D．sign

16.

A．explore

B．seek

C．search

D．paddle

17.

A．Fortunately

B．Gradually

C．Eagerly

D．Obviously

18.

A．spread

B．erupted

C．applauded

D．raised

19.

A．reliable

B．annoyed

C．grateful

D．depressed

20.

A．educate

B．inspire

C．shape

D．help

8 . A young woman was walking in Santa Ana, California, when she came upon an elderly street vendor (小贩) selling tamales (玉米粉蒸肉). Seeing how tired he looked in his wheelchair, she decided to give him a few bucks and a sandwich—and she also gave him a sympathetic ear to listen to his story.

When Kenia Barragan first saw Jose Villa Ochoa, she thought of her own parents. “I felt for him,” she told KTTV News, “My parents are both older, and I would hate to see my dad out selling tamales for somebody and barely making ends meet.”

Known as “Don Joel”, he explained that although he wanted a job, no company would hire him because of his age. In order to keep himself out of debt, he started to sell tamales cooked by a local woman. At the end of each hard day, she would give him a cut of the earnings. This allowed him to buy food, but was not enough for him to afford his medical treatment or a phone.

The 28-year-old woman was happy to listen to Don Joel’s story, but she wanted to do more. She made an appeal to her followers on Instagram for some assistance. Within a week, friends and strangers flooded her with more than $84 000 in donations.

In addition to the money raised for Don Joel’s retirement, Kenia purchased him a new wheelchair and a shiny new pair of shoes. Even though he’s 94, he says he feels like he’s 40 now, because the kindness has made him feel so alive. He describes the generosity as “life-changing”.

Kenia feels exactly the same way. She says she’s always looking for a purpose that helps people and that she’s been living in line with those values in her current job, working with people who have disabilities to get them transportation. Her goal in life is to establish a homeless shelter.

1. Why did Don Joel sell tamales?

A．To buy a new wheelchair.	B．To struggle for a living.
C．To pay off his medical debt.	D．To help a local woman.

2. How did Kenia change Don Joel’s life?

A．By establishing a homeless shelter.	B．By giving him money and sandwiches.
C．By collecting donations on Instagram.	D．By listening to his story attentively.

3. What can we infer about Kenia in the text?

A．She disliked her father because of his job.

B．She is a wealthy woman ready to help others.

C．She helped Don Joel when she was 40 years old.

D．She is a kind woman aiming to do more charity.

4. What does the author want to tell us?

A．Rose given, fragrant in hand.	B．The best hearts are always the bravest.
C．No pain, no gain.	D．Sharp tools make good work.

10 . Years of exposure to Americans has, at last, convinced me of something about their food culture. I now think they’re correct in one of life’s great dilemmas: when eating at a restaurant, it is really fine to politely send your food back if it is not what you ordered, or covered in cheese when you asked for no cheese, etc.

Of course, the idea makes me feel anxious; the British fear of making a scene is planted in my soul. But what persuaded me, in the end, was realizing how self-centered that fear actually is. Are you really such a big deal that your no-cheese request will embarrass your fellow diners, ruin the waiter's day, and send waves of shock through the kitchen? Face it: you're not. Instead, you're in the situation of what might be termed “egocentric reticence (以自我为中心的沉默).”

Egocentric reticence raised its head again the other day in a study about gratitude, which found that people underestimate how much delight a thank-you note can bring. The psychologists Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley had people send grateful messages to someone who'd made a difference to their lives. Again and again, they found, senders assumed their words would lead to less happiness and more awkwardness than they really did, and that recipients would judge their letter-writing competence cruelly, too. Even in the seemingly selfless context of expressing gratitude, senders couldn’t help giving too much weight to their own perspective. So if you stop yourself from sending someone a thank-you note because you're worried you'll make them feel awkward or annoyed, you are letting egocentrism prevent an action that would have made both of you happier.

The most acute form of egocentric reticence, surely, is extreme shyness. “Shyness is just egotism out of its depth,” famous actress Penelope Keith once told an interviewer. The quote was later regarded as a line the writer Sadie Stein credits with curing her own shyness. “For some reason, the clear cruelty of that quote was what I needed, ” Stein wrote. “OK, I thought... No one is looking at you.”

1. Before contacting Americans, the author thought sending restaurant food back was ________.

A．certainly a customer's right

B．fine to do just in some cultures

C．acceptable but not worthy sometimes

D．embarrassing and would cause trouble

2. If someone is in a situation of egocentric reticence, he might ________.

A．hesitate to do something due to self-centered reasons

B．keep sending waves of shock to others

C．be ignorant of other people's feelings

D．do something extremely embarrassing

3. What did the study about gratitude find?

A．People may regard sending grateful messages unimportant.

B．It's common for Americans to send a thank-you letter.

C．It's important to thank others after being helped.

D．People often take a thank-you note for granted.

4. What does Sadie Stein's story tell us?

A．We sometimes need shyness to behave well.

B．We should pay no attention to other people's thoughts.

C．We can overcome our shyness by removing our egotism.

D．We should avoid being exposed to other people's focus.