2 . The expression, "everybody's doing it," is very much at the center of the concept of peer pressure. It is a social influence applied on an individual in order to get that person to act or believe in a(n) ___ way as a larger group. This influence can be negative or positive, and can exist in both large and small groups.

People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly ___that some part of their self-respect comes from the approval of others. This instinct explains why the approval of peers, and the fear of ____, is such a powerful force in many people's lives. This instinct drives people to dress one way at home and another way at work, or to answer a simple “fine" when a stranger asks "how are you?" even if it is not necessarily true. There is a(n) _____aspect to this: it helps society to function efficiently, and encourages a general level of self-discipline that ___day-to-day interaction between people.

For certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes a(n) ___: in order to satisfy the desire, they may go so far as to ___their sense of right and wrong. Teens and young adults may feel forced to use drugs, or join gangs that ____criminal behavior. Mature adults may sometimes feel ___ to cover up illegal activity at the company where they work, or end up in debt because they are unable to hold back the desire to buy a house or car that they can't afford in an effort to ___ the peers.

However, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends are good at ___may be urged to work harder and get good grades. Players on a sports team may feel driven to play harder in order to help the team win. This type of ___can also get a friend off drugs, or to help an adult take up a good habit or drop a bad one.

Although peer pressure is sometimes quite obvious, it can also be so ___that a person may not even notice that it is affecting his or her behavior. For this reason, when making important decisions, simply going with a(n) ___is risky. Instead, people should seriously consider why they feel drawn to taking a particular action, and whether the real ____ is simply that everyone else is doing the same thing.

1.

A．traditional

B．similar

C．peculiar

D．opposite

2.

A．understandable

B．believable

C．acceptable

D．surprising

3.

A．disapproval

B．failure

C．absence

D．independence

4.

A．uncertain

B．practical

C．impossible

D．vague

5.

A．promotes

B．prevents

C．simplifies

D．increases

6.

A．challenge

B．inspiration

C．promise

D．addiction

7.

A．recognize

B．abandon

C．decrease

D．define

8.

A．avoid

B．encourage

C．decline

D．punish

9.

A．pressured

B．respected

C．delighted

D．regretted

10.

A．catch sight of

B．stay away from

C．make fun of

D．keep up with

11.

A．competitions

B．interaction

C．academics

D．adaptation

12.

A．knowledge

B．interest

C．assistance

D．influence

13.

A．abstract

B．ridiculous

C．subtle

D．reasonable

14.

A．consciousness

B．motivation

C．instinct

D．encouragement

15.

A．motivation

B．danger

C．support

D．achievement

3 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

China has once again showed its ability to change the world with its “four great new     1    (invent)”—high-speed rail, electronic payment, shared bicycle, and online shopping.

China’s new-generation high-speed train, the Fuxing Hao, is now one of the     2    (fast) trains in the world, which can travel at a speed of 350 km/h. Besides high-speed rail, China     3     (improve) people’s lives in many other innovative ways over the last decade.

Bike sharing, for example, is not new itself. But China has made     4    much more convenient and popular both in China     5    overseas. The leading Chinese bike sharing companies Mobike and Ofo are now operating in foreign countries such as Singapore and Britain.

And back in China, when riding a shared bike, you can stop     6     (buy) and eat whatever you want     7     (simple) with a tap on your phone. You could easily pay with your smartphone by     8    (scan) the seller’s QR code. Cashless payment has grown into a     9    (choose) for Chinese people — even a pancake seller is using Alipay.

As for Alipay, it was designed to serve the online shopping at first,     10     is now the most ways to make purchases in China. You can buy anything you need without leaving your homes.

4 . We love letters. Just as John Donne, a poet, _________ it, “Letters, to me and my friends mean _________ greetings; they get souls together. Thanks to letters, friends who are _________ speak.” He wrote these words nearly 400 years ago. Today, in the age of instant text message, social media, and email, they _________ ring truer than ever, because writing or receiving a letter has become such a _________ event.

A UK-wide survey undertaken by Sunday Times suggests that one in four of us has not _________ a letter for at least 10 years. That’s ten years without the bitter-sweet _________ of pacing the floor waiting for the _________; ten years without recognizing the handwriting on the envelope and eagerly _________ the letter to read its content.

We ____________ not get them any more, but we still love handwritten letters. In the same survey, one third of ____________ people interviewed say that they ____________ the content of sentimental (充满情感的) letters. Shouldn’t we make ____________ to give our friends and families what they will treasure forever? Ann Bickley went online in 2013 and offered to handwrite a letter to anyone who ____________ her. Her website received 50,000 ____________ in its first three months. Five years later, she is still the main ____________ behind one-million-lovely-letter.com and has personally written 4,000 letters offering hope and ____________ to strangers.

The thought behind a letter ____________ as much as its contents. “I never tell anyone that ____________ is going to be OK,” Ann Bickley says, “I am letting someone know that there is someone in the world who ____________ them.”

Who wouldn’t love to receive a letter like that? Let’s get writing!

1.

A．made

B．put

C．helped

D．managed

2.

A．rather than

B．less than

C．more than

D．other than

3.

A．absent

B．active

C．amused

D．admirable

4.

A．also

B．yet

C．already

D．still

5.

A．popular

B．common

C．rare

D．simple

6.

A．received

B．sent

C．written

D．rejected

7.

A．success

B．pleasure

C．concern

D．calmness

8.

A．engineer

B．doctor

C．police

D．postman

9.

A．seizing

B．tearing

C．hiding

D．carrying

10.

A．can

B．must

C．may

D．shall

11.

A．American

B．Chinese

C．Australian

D．British

12.

A．forget

B．change

C．remember

D．notice

13.

A．money

B．room

C．history

D．time

14.

A．contacted

B．interviewed

C．consulted

D．admired

15.

A．guests

B．visitors

C．friends

D．partners

16.

A．force

B．strength

C．source

D．energy

17.

A．effort

B．comfort

C．surprise

D．experience

18.

A．educates

B．guides

C．matters

D．rewards

19.

A．nothing

B．anything

C．something

D．everything

20.

A．looks after

B．cares about

C．struggles for

D．agrees with

5 . In our modern world, when something wears out, we throw it away and buy a new one. The _______ is that countries around the world have growing mountains of _______ because people are throwing out more rubbish than ever before.

How did we _______ a throwaway society? First of all, it is now easier to _______ an object than to spend time and money to repair it. _______ modern manufacturing (制造业)and technology, companies are able to produce products quickly and inexpensively. Products are plentiful and _______.

Another cause is our _______of disposable (一次性的) products. As _______ people, we are always looking for _______ to save time and make our lives easier. Companies ________ thousands of different kinds of disposable products: paper plates, plastic cups, and cameras, to name a few.

Our appetite for new products also ________ to the problem. We are ________ buying new things. Advertisements persuade us that ________ is better and that we will be happier with the latest products. The result is that we ________ useful possessions to make room for new ones.

All around the world, we can see the ________ of this throwaway lifestyle. Mountains of rubbish just keep getting bigger. To ________ the amount of rubbish and to protect the ________, more governments are requiring people to recycle materials. ________, this is not enough to solve (解决) our problem.

Maybe there is another way out. We need to repair our possessions ________ throwing them away. We also need to rethink our attitudes about ________. Repairing our possessions and changing our spending habits may be the best way to reduce the amount of rubbish and take care of our environment.

1.

A．key

B．reason

C．project

D．problem

2.

A．gifts

B．rubbish

C．debt

D．products

3.

A．face

B．become

C．observe

D．change

4.

A．hide

B．control

C．replace

D．withdraw

5.

A．Thanks to

B．As to

C．Except for

D．Regardless of

6.

A．safe

B．funny

C．cheap

D．powerful

7.

A．love

B．lack

C．prevention

D．division

8.

A．sensitive

B．kind

C．brave

D．busy

9.

A．ways

B．places

C．jobs

D．friends

10.

A．donate

B．receive

C．produce

D．preserve

11.

A．adapts

B．returns

C．responds

D．contributes

12.

A．tired of

B．addicted to

C．worried about

D．ashamed for

13.

A．newer

B．stronger

C．higher

D．larger

14.

A．pick up

B．pay for

C．hold onto

D．throw away

15.

A．advantages

B．purposes

C．functions

D．consequences

16.

A．show

B．record

C．decrease

D．measure

17.

A．technology

B．environment

C．consumers

D．brands

18.

A．However

B．Otherwise

C．Therefore

D．Meanwhile

19.

A．by

B．in favour of

C．after

D．instead of

20.

A．spending

B．collecting

C．repairing

D．advertising

6 . For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?

Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.

In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.

1. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?

A．Both are about where to draw the line.

B．Both can continue for generations.

C．Neither has any clear winner.

D．Neither can be put to an end.

2. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents.

B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict.

C．The teens cause their parents of misleading them.

D．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.

3. Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ______.

A．give orders to the other

B．know more than the other

C．gain respect from the other

D．get the other to behave properly

4. What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?

A．Solutions for the parent-teen problems.

B．Examples of the parent-teen war.

C．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts.

D．Future of the parent-teen relationship.

9 . You can tell a lot about people’s general state of mind based on their social media feeds. Are they always tweeting（发微博）about their biggest annoyances or posting pictures of particularly cute kitties? In a similar fashion, researchers are turning to Twitter for clues about the overall happiness of entire geographic communities.

What they’re finding is that regional variation in the use of common phrases produces predictions that don’t always reflect the local state of well being. But removing from their analyses just three specific terms -- good, love and LOL - greatly improves the accuracy of the methods.

“We’re living in a crazy COVID-19 era. And now more than ever, we’re using social media to adapt to a new normal and reach out to the friends and family that we can’t meet face-to-face.” Kokil Jaidka studies computational linguistics at the National University of Singapore. “But our words aren’t useful just to understand what we, as individuals, think and feel. They’re also useful clues about the community we live in.”

One of the simpler methods that many scientists use to analyze the data involves correlating words with positive or negative emotions. But when those records are compared with phone surveys that assess regional well-being, Jaidka says, they don’t paint an accurate picture of the local zeitgeist（时代精神）.

Being able to get an accurate read on the mood of the population is no laughing matter. “That’s particularly important now, in the time of COVID, where we’re expecting a mental health crisis and we’re already seeing in survey data the largest decrease in subjective well-being in 10 years at least, if not ever.”

To find out why , Jaidka and her team analyzed billions of tweets from around the United States. And they found that among the most frequently used terms on Twitter are LOL, love and good. And they actually throw the analysis off. Why the disconnect?

“Internet language is really a different beast than regular spoken language. We’ve adapted words from the English vocabulary to mean different things in different situations.” says Jaidka. “Take, for example, LOL. I’ve tweeted the word LOL to express irony, annoyance and sometimes just pure surprise. When the methods for measuring LOL as a marker of happiness were created in the 1990s, it still meant laughing out loud.”

“There are plenty of terms that are less misleading,” says Jaidka. “Our models tell us that words like excited, fun, great, opportunity, interesting, fantastic and those are better words for measuring subjective well-being.”

1. The researchers turn to social media feeds to ________.

A．help with the analysis of people’s subjective well-being

B．integrate into a mainstreamed lifestyle more quickly

C．prove the disconnect between language and emotions

D．collect specific terms associated with specific zeitgeist.

2. How did Jaidka know the analysis wasn’t accurate?

A．It didn’t reflect the mood of the entire geographic community

B．It didn’t match the assessment result of the phone surveys.

C．It didn’t consider the features of Internet language.

D．It didn’t take the regional variations into account.

3. Which of the following statements will Jaidka most probably agree with?

A．Face-to-face communication is never replaced to ensure happiness.

B．Internet use is to blame for the decrease in subjective well-being.

C．Internet language should be originally used as a source of scientific analysis.

D．Less misleading words should be used in assessing subjective well-being.

4. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A．Internet Shock Need A Break	B．Underlying LOL Never Fade Away
C．Virtual Mirror Of Era Being	D．Gulf Between Old And New

10 . At the foot of the Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang, a homestay (民宿) is attracting travelers from far and wide, which has won architectural medal at the 2021 German iF Design Awards.

The owners of the homestay are a couple in their late 30s who decided to return to their hometown three years ago. Li Xiumei used to be in charge of a division at a company in Hangzhou, and her husband was a sales director. It was an ordinary situation where Li’s husband was on business trips a lot and Li still worked on weekends. City life sometimes is not easy.

In 2018, they quit jobs and went back to Dongtianmu village, which lies in a forest of bamboo. The first time they drove into the village was one late afternoon. The cooking smoke was rising from the foot of the mountain, which gave them a very different feeling from the city.

The homestay was built beside her husband’s old countryside house. The old house is preserved (保留), while a brand-new building was built on its side and the whole site is made up of four courtyards. It has been updated to have a hall, a tea room, a kitchen, a dining room. Japanese cherry trees are planted in the east courtyard. A swimming pool is placed in the west courtyard, with a bar located on one side.

Li and her husband love gardening and music, and their new home gives them enough space to continue their interests and relax in the heart of nature. Li wants to share the quiet country life, so she makes her new home a homestay. In 2019, the homestay became an online hit after guests shared their experiences on social media. “The longer I stay here, the more I feel it was the right choice to come back, and this is more meaningful than making money,” Li says.

1. How did Li feel about city life?

A．Satisfied.

B．Noisy.

C．Attractive.

D．Tired

2. What impressed the couple when first driving to the village?

A．The forest of bamboo.	B．The smoke of cooking.
C．The fresh air in the village.	D．The feeling of loneliness.

3. What can we infer about the homestay from paragraph 4?

A．It is ancient and broken.	B．It can hold many guests.
C．It must have been carefully designed.	D．It has been rebuilt by the couple.

4. What’s more meaningful than earning money according to Li?

A．Continuing their music dream.	B．Living in the countryside.
C．Staying at the old house.	D．Developing a city.