1 . Directions: Complete the following paragraphs by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. peaked          B. faintest          C. factor          D. accumulating        E. masked F. expands          G. lighten          H. tricky          I. phenomena            J. unimaginable K. emitted

Astronomers measure total starlight

All the light from all the stars that have ever existed. It is a quantity of     1     magnitude (数值), but now astronomers have put a number on it.

From the earliest,     2     stars, to the largest galaxies, an international team has managed to measure the total amount of starlight     3     over the entire 13.7bn-year history of the universe.

The astronomers based their calculation on measurements of the extragalactic background light (EBL), a cosmic fog of radiation that has been     4     since stars first illuminated (照亮) the dark, vast expanse of space. More than 90% of starlight ends up surviving in this dim backdrop of radiation. Since it was     5     by the light from nearby stars, though, the EBL has proved     6     to investigate.

The latest observations, collected over nine years by Nasa’s Fermi space telescope, use the light from blazars—super—massive black holes that emit powerful jets of gamma rays—as beacons (信号灯) to     7     the cosmic fog. They are so bright they can shine across almost the whole observable universe.

One added complication was that, while starlight is accumulating over time, the cosmic fog is simultaneously being diluted as the universe     8     and space itself is stretched out. Overall, the fog is still getting denser. This, and other complex     9     were factored in using a computer model.

The measurements suggest that star formation     10     about 11bn years ago and has been on the decline ever since. About seven new stars are created in our Milky Way galaxy every year.

2 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. admiration B. vital C. equipping D. involves E. opportunity F. controversial G. undergo H. qualities I. denying J. drawing K. distinctive

In life’s journey, maturity plays a significant role in guiding individuals towards success. It encompasses     1     like wisdom, responsibility, and the ability to adapt to change. Financial maturity is about making wise decisions regarding money. It     2     understanding the importance of saving, investing, and managing finances for long-term stability. Adaptability is another key aspect of maturity. It enables individuals to     3     life’s ups and downs with resilience and flexibility,

Mature individuals often exhibit     4     features such as confidence and firmness, which command respect and     5     from others. In society, mature individuals are often seen as leaders and mentors,     6     upon their experiences to guide and inspire others. Acknowledging tiny and learning from challenges is a typical mark of maturity. Instead of     7     difficulties, mature individuals face them head-on, using them as stepping stones towards personal growth.

The impact of maturity on personal and professional development is     8    . It requires self-reflection, discipline, and a willingness to learn from both successes and failures. As educators, it is our responsibility to ins till the value of maturity in our students     9     them with the skills needed to undergo the complexities of life and achieve their goals.

In conclusion, maturity is essential for success and fulfillment. Let us embrace change as a（n）     10     for growth and celebrate the growth of maturity in ourselves and others as we go through life.

3 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A．excelled                    B．typically                    C．burning             D．struggled             E．surely F．barriers                    G．winding                    H．convention       I．matter                    J．essentials K．obsession

The Art of Blooming Late

In his teens and early twenties, Mozart had to work as an organist and concertmaster in his native Salzburg to make ends meet. Though a celestial genius, he     1     like a mere mortal. Underpaid and unfulfilled, he felt a(n)     2     desire to devote more time and energy to his art. So after a period of doubt and deliberation, that’s exactly what he did. He quit his job and embarked on what turned out to be the most productive and creative period of his life.

Even if you never hope to reach Mozart’s level of mastery, you may relate to his need to break free from     3    . Maybe you’ve done everything right—     4     at school, worked hard, and landed a good, high-paying job—but you’re tired of being just like everyone else. Maybe you yearn to do more personally fulfilling work, like founding a start-up or turning a hobby into a full-fledged career.

However, drafting a plan of action can be daunting. What, then, is holding you back? Rich Karlgaard, the publisher of Forbes magazine and author of Late Bloomers, argues that our culture’s     5     with early achievement discourages us from pursuing our passions. Instead of having varied interests, studying widely, and taking our time—     6     for self-discovery—we’re encouraged to ace tests, become specialists right away, and pursue safe, stable, and lucrative careers. As a result, most of us end up choosing professional excellence over personal fulfillment, and often we lose ourselves in the process.

To prompt a revolution in your own life, there are a few things to keep in mind. First and foremost, it’s never too late to “become” yourself. Aristotle, for example, didn’t fully devote himself to writing and philosophy until he was nearly 50. There are also benefits to taking a long,     7     path to self-fulfillment. Remember that age     8     brings wisdom ,resilience, self-knowledge, and creativity. Citing the work of developmental psychologist Erik Erikson, Karlgaard writes, those “ages 40 to 64 constitute a unique period where one’s creativity and experience combine with a universal human longing to make our lives     9    .”

That said, once you’ve decided to embark on the journey, it may take years, if not longer, to reach your destination. But as research has shown, small daily changes can have a compound effect and slowly but     10     lead you closer to the person you think you ought to be.

4 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Do note that there is one word more than you need in each passage.

A. advantageous       B. programming       C. fashion       D. fueled        AB. advanced AC. sacrifice       AD. capped       BC. habitually       BD. appetite       CD. likelihood ABC. unnecessarily

Eating a calorie-rich diet brought us humans a great advantage: time. We spent less of the day obtaining food. We saved countless hours of needless chewing. Instead, we invested time in doing the things that make us human: we started to     1     tools, erect structures, share stories, create myths and play games.

Calories made humanity possible. Calories are what     2     our big brains. Our calorie-rich diet didn’t reinforce the compulsion to eat, it released us from a food-gripped existence. Just because we require calories does not mean our basic     3     compels us to over-consume them, for the same reason that requiring oxygen does not compel us to perpetually hyperventilate. Yes, it may be     4     to carry extra calories in time of famine, but this assumes an overly simplistic view of our evolutionary past.

Out there in nature, carrying extra body weight brings serious, even deadly, disadvantages. To the evolving primate, greater body mass means slower acceleration and a(n)     5     in the ability to change speed and direction quickly. Back when we were prey—when our ancestors were     6     eaten by big cats, pythons and even eagles—our ability to nimbly start, stop and turn was crucial for survival. To a predator, a fat human was not only easier to spot and easier to catch, it made for a bigger, better meal. To the prey we hunted, a fat human was easier to evade and outrun. Carrying too much fat also increases the     7     of injury and death due to the forces and loads involved in maintaining a larger body. To put it in the simple arithmetic of evolutionary fitness, being     8     fat didn’t increases an individual’s chances of passing on their genes. It actually reduced them.

As we became more     9     there were even more reasons to refrain from overindulgence. Food had to be shared with other members of the tribe, then the village, then the town, especially with children, whose dependence on adults for resources lasts an eternity compared with other species. Otherwise, the human species would have died off long ago, if we really were slaves to a never-ceasing     10     for calories.

All of these have left us with the following paradox: Why were humans generally able to resist vastly over-consuming calories up until about fifty years ago?

Quoted from Mark Schatzker’s The End of Craving

5 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. targeted       B. tendencies       C. habitually       D. variables E. links       F. antibullying       G. barely       H. considerate I. elements       J. coded       K. backed

Military and sports opponents commonly consider a rival leader’s personality when weighing a competitive move, such as an attack. In business strategy, however, this element is     1     studied; firms assume that they should make strategic moves on the basis of competitive dynamics or microeconomic     2    .

New research looked for     3     between the personal manner of CEOs and the incidence of competitive attacks against their firms. Drawing on the theory that victims in general tend to be either submissive (屈从的) and unlikely to fight back or so provocative (挑衅的) that rivals strike preemptively(先发制人地) (think of schoolyard and barroom fights), the researchers     4     publicly available videos of 102 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies from 2010 to 2016, rating on a multi-dimension scale each leader on submissive and provocative     5    . Then using news articles, they identified which of the executives’ firms had come under pricing, product, marketing, or expansion attacks. They controlled for     6     including the CEOs’ media prominence and pay; their firms’ size and financial performance; industry complexity; and whether the CEO was also chairman. The analysis showed that firms with CEOs rated as highly submissive or provocative were indeed more likely to be     7     by their counterparts, with perceived submissiveness making them especially vulnerable (gender did not appear to make a significant difference).

Subsequent interviews with CEOs     8     those findings. For example, one leader described a rival CEO as so lazy and change-averse (逃避改变的) that his team focused on “picking off customers one by one.” Just as     9     initiatives take typical victim attributes into account training programs could use this work to help executives avoid drawing fire, the researchers say. “CEOs who are ‘too nice’ can be counseled to be     10     of this element,” they write, while “those with domineering styles... can be trained to manage this quality.”

6 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. ranging          B. appropriately     C. association     D. facilitating E. evidence                 F. modest             G. obtaining     H. offered I. rose       J. steer        K. treatment

That throbbing headache just won’t go away and your mind is racing about what might be wrong. It turns out googling your symptoms may not be as ill-advised as once thought.

Although some doctors advise against turning to the internet before going to the clinic, a new study suggests that researching symptoms online may not be harmful after all, and could lead to     1     improvements in diagnosis (诊断).

Using “Dr. Google” is controversial, with fears that it can lead to inaccurate diagnoses, bad advice on where to seek     2    , and increased anxiety.

Previous research into the subject has been limited to observational studies of internet search behavior, so researchers from Harvard sought to empirically (以经验为主地) measure the    3     of an internet search with diagnosis, triage (分诊，即按患者伤势决定治疗次序), and anxiety by presenting 5,000 people in the US with a series of symptoms and asking them to imagine someone close to them was experiencing the symptoms

The participants were made up of roughly equal numbers of men and women with an average age of 45. They were asked to provide a diagnosis based on the given information，which ranged from mild to severe, and described common illnesses such as viruses, heart attacks and stroke.Then, they looked up their case symptoms on the internet and again     4     a diagnosis. Participants were also asked to select a triage level,     5     from “let the health issue get better on its own” to calling emergency services, and to record their anxiety levels.

The result showed a sharp increase in diagnosis accuracy, which was 49.8% before the search and     6     to 54% after the search. However, there was no difference in triage accuracy, or anxiety, the authors wrote in the journal JAMA Network Open.

About three-quarters of the study participants were able to identify the severity of a situation, and     7     choose when to seek care.

The lead author, Dr. David Levine, said the findings suggested that medical experts and policymakers probably did not need to     8     patients away from the internet when it came to seeking health information and self-diagnosis or triage. Instead, using the internet was likely to help patients figure out what was wrong.

“Many physicians believe that using the internet to search for one’s symptoms is a bad idea and this provides some     9     that is unlikely the case,” he said. “Searchers for the most part did not use poor sources of information such as chat forums or social media. This similarly refutes the idea that folks who search the internet are     10     ‘bad advice’ from poor data sources.”

7 . Directions: Fill in each blanks with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need. (E=AB, F=AC, G=AD, H=BC, I=BD)

A. assessed       B. aware        C. emerged       D. identified     E. ordinary F. replicated       G. reward       H. responsibility       I. survivors

We Could Be Heroes

Altruism has long been an evolutionary mystery. Why would anyone choose to help somebody not related to them, with no promise of     1    ? The usual answer is that such behaviour is an adaptation: for example, groups in which it     2     would have been more united, and hence more successful. But what about acts of extreme altruism? Can we ever understand why some people risk — and sometimes lose — their lives for a stranger?

To try to answer this question, Samuel Oliner, a sociologist, and his wife Pearl set up the Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute at Humboldt State University in 1982. In one of their first studies, still the largest of its kind, they interviewed and psychologically     3     406 people who had risked their lives to rescue Jew in Nazi-occupied Europe, along with 72 people who had lived in occupied areas but had done nothing out of the     4    . A number of things became clear. The rescuers were much more sympathetic than the non-rescuers, and they also supported values of fairness, compassion and personal     5     towards strangers that they said they had learned from their parents.

What’s more, they were unusually tolerant: the people they     6     as their “in group” consisted of the whole of humanity, not just their own kind. As Kristen Monroe at the University of California, Irvine, who has studied the psychology of Holocaust rescuers, puts it: “Where the rest of us see a stranger, an altruist sees a fellow human being.”

Samuel Oliner says his finding has held up in all their follow-up studies. It has also been     7    by psychologists Eva Fogelman, whose father, too, owed his wartime survival to the generosity of Polish farmers. Fogelman has spent much of her career studying the psychological effects of the Holocaust on     8     and their families. In her book Conscience and Courage, she recalls her conversations with about 300 rescuers of Jews: I began after a while to wait for the recital of one or more of those well-known passages: a loving home; an altruistic parent or beloved caretaker who served as a role model for altruistic behavior, a tolerance for people who were different.”

8 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. conflicts             B. tackle             C. encounter             D. instinctive             E. senses F. regulate             G. sparks             H. originates             I. immediate             J. disagreeable K. interfere

When you are frightened or feel endangered, your breathing and your pulse quicken in order to give you a better chance of either running away from the threat or defending yourself against it. When the danger is eliminated, your body returns to its pre-stress state.

Psychological stress can also be triggered in response to an external-factor, as with a fear of heights or public speaking. However, since it     1     inside our own minds and is strongly tied to out past experiences, psychological stress can also be caused simply by our thoughts about a(n)     2    event is enough to make some people anxious, even when the event is days away.

Experience plays a large role in determining what you consider as stressful. Many reactions to stress are subconscious or     3    and therefore, difficult to prevent. However, while the body’s initial reaction is hard to     4    , the choices you make can play a large role in helping keep psychological stress from going out of control.

So, what are some major types of stress?

The first type of stress is survival stress. When in fear for your safety, your body prepares to     5    the problem either by facing it or fleeing from it. Your body reacts to this type of stress by sharpening your     6    of sight and hearing and increasing your breathing and heart rate.

Another type is environmental stress, which is caused by unpleasant things you     7    in daily life. Workplace stress, which is often caused by overwork or     8    with coworkers, is one common environmental stressor.

The third type of stress is internal stress. This type of stress is caused by thinking about stressful situations that occurred in the past or will take place in the future. Being stressed is an appropriate reaction to a(n)     9    threat, but the same reactions that are helpful in the short term can prove harmful over time. Long-term-stress, known as chronic stress, can cause both mental and physical health problems. For example, many people find preparing for a job interview or to give a speech to be a stressful activity become overwhelming and can     10    with daily life if they last for days or weeks. With chronic stress, severe health consequences can be caused, including heart disease, depression, excessive weight gain, sleeplessness, and digestive problems. Long-term stress tends to weaken your immune system, makıng you more likely to contract flu or other illnesses. Furthermore, it slows down your recovery from these illnesses.

9 . 选词填空

A. convinced     B. probably       C. generalize     D. distinguish       E. attached       F. prominent     G. notorious       H. narrowed       I. readily        J. households       K. displays

Cats are     1     for their indifference to humans: Almost any owner will testify to how     2     these animals ignore us when we call them. But according to a study published Thursday in Scientific Reports, domestic cats do recognize their own names - even if they walk away when they hear them.

Atsuko Saito, a behavioral scientist at the University of Tokyo, previously showed that cats can recognize their owners’ voices. In her latest study she     3     this down, investigating whether they respond to hearing their names. The study included 78 cats from Japanese     4     and a ”cat cafe.“ (Such cafes, where patrons can interact with felines, are popular in Tokyo and have started to catch on in London and New York.)

During their experiments Saito and her colleagues used what behavioral psychologists call the habituation-dishabituation method. This involves repeatedly exposing a subject to a stimulus (in this case a spoken word) until the subject no longer     5     any reaction. Then the subject is presented with a test stimulus ( in this case, its name), and researchers observe whether it reacts. This step helps rule out responses to random stimuli.

For the new study, the scientists first had cat owners repeatedly say four words that were similar to their cats’ names, until the cats habituated to those words. Next the owners said the actual names, and the researchers looked at whether individual cats (when living among other cats) appeared able to distinguish their monikers. The cats had more pronounced responses to their own names - moving their ears, heads or tails, or meowing - than to similar words or other cats’ names.

Then the researchers had people unfamiliar to the cats speak the names, to test whether the cats still recognized them. Although their responses were less     6     than when their owners called them, they still appeared to recognize their names after being habituated to other words.

”This new study clearly shows that many cats react to their own names when spoken by their owners,“ says biologist John Bradshaw, who studies human-animal interactions at the University of Bristol’s Anthrozoology Institute and was not involved in the new study. But Bradshaw says he is less     7     cats can recognize their names when spoken by someone unfamiliar. ” I think that it’s entirely possible that some cats are able to     8     between one human voice and another, but I’d like to see more trials before I’d say that the evidence is compelling,“ he says.

Saito says she thinks feline pets learn to recognize their names because of what is in it for them. ”I think cats associated their names with some rewards or punishments,“ she says - adding that she thinks it is unlikely the cats understand their names are     9     to them. ”There is no evidence that cats have the ability to recognize themselves, like us,“ she explains. ”So, the recognition about their name is different from ours.“ Still, she says, it may be possible to teach cats to recognize other words. Whether that could allow humans to train cats to respond to commands - as dogs readily do -- is another matter.

”Cats are just as good as dogs at learning,“ Bradshaw says. ”They’re just not as keen to show their owners what they’ve learned.“ Most cat owners would     10     agree.

10 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. content B. demands   C. guard     D. depressed   E. prioritized   F. fits G. failure   H. meant   I. competed     J. mere     K. independent

Happiness, as the Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moracs put it, is “like a feather flying in the air. It flies light, but not for very long.”

Humans are not designed to be happy or even     1    . Instead, we are designed primarily to survive and reproduce, like every other creature in the natural world. A state of contentment is discouraged by nature because it would lower your     2     against possible threats to your survival.

Evolution has     3     the development of a big frontal lobe(脑叶)in our brain (which gives us excellent executive and analytical abilities) over a natural ability to be happy. Different geographical locations and circuits in the brain are each associated with certain neurological(神经系统的)and intellectual functions, but happiness, being a(n)     4     idea with no neurological basis, cannot be found in the brain tissue.

In fact, experts in this field argue that nature’s     5     to eliminate depression in the evolutionary process is due precisely to the fact that depression as an adaption plays a useful role in times of difficulty, by helping the     6     individual get away from risky and hopeless situations in which he or she cannot win.

Our emotions are mixed and at times contradictory, like everything else in our lives. Research has shown that positive and negative emotions can coexist in the brain relatively     7     of each other. This models show that the right hemisphere processes negative emotions preferentially, whereas positive emotions are dealt with by the left-sided brain.

It’s worth remembering, then, that we are not designed to be consistently happy. Instead, we are designed to survive and reproduce. These are difficult tasks, so we are     8     to struggle, seek safety, fight off threats and avoid pain. The model of competing emotions offered by coexisting pleasure and pain     9     our reality much better than the unachievable bliss(极乐)that the happiness industry is trying to sell us. In fact, pretending that any degree of pain is abnormal will only develop feelings of inadequacy and frustration.

So, if you are unhappy at times, this is not a shortcoming that     10     urgent repair. Far from it. This fluctuation(波动)is, in fact, what makes you human.