1 . Early Childhood Education

Early childhood education is the formal teaching and care of young children. It primarily focuses on learning through playing to encourage children’s different kinds of development.     1    

Studies with Head Start programs throughout the United States have shown some evidence that there are quite a few advantages to early childhood education, which can produce significant gains in children’s learning and development. Compared with a child who does not attend pre-school, children completing their early education programs are found to be better at math and reading skills. They are excited to learn and have the tools to do so.     2     These children are more competent in their pre-school, kindergarten and school-age years, and they are usually reported as “friendlier” by parents and the children’s peers.

    3     In studies with matched control groups, more students who had early schooling experiences were employed at the age of 19, fewer were on welfare, and fewer were involved with the criminal activity. What’s more, some studies show that children attending pre-school are more likely to graduate and have higher education, and be well integrated as an adult.

Early childhood education gives most children a jump-start on education for their kindergarten and primary school years. It is clear that early childhood education do a lot of good to children.     4     If early childhood education is less effective, perhaps the best model is finding strategies for allowing a parent to stay home with his or her child for at least the first two to three years. Also important is considering a child’s own personality. Individual differences in children mean that not all children will get equal benefits from early childhood education.

A．The long-term influence of early education is significant as well.

B．They can benefit greatly from encouragement in their early childhood.

C．Yet its quality must be assessed to see what kind of benefits it actually provides.

D．They are also able to relate to others in a superior way and that improves their social skills.

E．Many experts of education, however, are concerned about what early childhood education means today.

F．It consists of activities that serve children in the pre-school years and is designed to improve later school performance.

2 . Directions: After reading the passage below. fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Notable Chinese beauty influencer Li Jiaqi was found in the vortex (漩涡) of severe online controversy after his livestreaming on Saturday evening where he made “inappropriate remarks” against a netizen     1     post pointed out the steep price of a home-made eyebrow pencil. He seemed to be upset about the comment and said the price of the product remain unchanged over the years. “The product is expensive? Sometimes people need to find the reasons why they     2     (not receive) a pay rise after working so many years. Have they worked hard enough?” he said.

This has spurred heated engagement online,     3     (set) 13 trending topics on a prominent Chinese social media platform, Weibo. Some netizens felt Li has no right to judge the consumers and slash out on people’s spending power, saying “commenting on the financial abilities of consumers crosses a line”,     4     others identified with him, assuming that he was merely countering the comments that looked down on the value of domestic goods.

In a subsequent livestream, Li made a heartfelt apology, attributing his success to his female fans and acknowledged his comments let     5     down. Moreover, he stated everyone has the right to voice their perspectives about products during live-streaming and     6     he must always provide his audience with positive energy and control his emotions.

In the aftermath of this controversy, Li lost more than 848,000 fans on Weibo. Additionally, there may be impending implications for his collaboration with Huaxizi, the makeup brand     7     (involve) in the dispute.     8     media reports, the continuation of the partnership between the brand and Li depends on the event’s influence, the market’s reaction, and sales data.

This incident underscores the pitfalls (隐患) within the rapidly growing field of live-stream commerce, including issues of price, quality control, and the interchange between influencers and consumers.     9     this digital commercial arena continues to expand, regulators and brands are increasingly addressing such transgressions and seeking ways     10     (better) the intersection of online product promotion and consumer interaction.

7 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Technology has made paying all sorts of bills incredibly easy. The real-time budget apps, which capture our spending and pay our bills automatically, should theoretically give us more control over our money. But why, in real life, do they do the opposite?

It helps to think about how we used to pay. My parents describe a process that would involve three separate points of contact whenever they paid for something with a credit card: first, at the cash register, then when a bill came in the mail and finally when they wrote a check to cover it. While each of the checkpoints is technically still there, automation has given us a chance to skip the second and the third. For bills paid automatically through a banking app, even the first checkpoint can be gone. We know that it is happening in the background, but it’s so far out of view that it might as well not be there. How do we get that connection back, without giving up the convenience that technology has brought us?

The good news is that though technology has taken away something, it can also give. Much of the battle is simply recognizing what we’ve lost. If we want to be smart about our money and have thorough control over it, we need to bridge that gap between what we spend on and how much we pay. We can start using personal-finance apps to do more than make our lives easier. These apps can send us notifications when each automatic payment is being made and categorize purchases, sending us instant spending reports. Admittedly, those tools require the user to sign up for these services and make conscious efforts to take full advantage of them. In this way, they are arguably better practice than balancing a checkbook on a Saturday morning.

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8 . At the Noori Convenience Store LaShanda Calloway, a 27-year-old man, was lying unconscious on the floor, badly wounded and in desperate need of help, and yet the five people present in the store walked past him and carried on with their shopping. The truth of the matter was that this type of occurrence wasn’t________, and the shoppers’ motivations weren’t that difficult to understand.

We all like to think that we can________when the situation requires it, our moral codes prompting us to react in a proper and acceptable way. However, what really happens when we’re ________is something quite different. The vast majority of people do nothing: something is holding them back. The LaShanda Calloway case is a classic example of this: it’s what social psychologists call ‘the bystander effect’.

Studies have shown that the bystander effect is caused by several different________made by people at the scene of an emergency or other distressing event. Firstly, having other people around is one of the main causes of________. The reason for this is people tend to assume that someone else is either already helping or________to offer aid.

We also________situations through ‘social proof’ or the information we gather from others. If other people are not_________, perhaps there is no emergency or wrongdoing. We don’t want to make an embarrassing mistake, so we________and do nothing. This results in ‘pluralistic ignorance’(人众无知) where everyone assumes that others have more knowledge, and people yield to what they perceive as the majority opinion.

________of personal risk also plays a part. If someone is attacked or in deep trouble and you intervene, there is a risk of you becoming a new target for the aggressor or________the friction.

So how do people manage to reverse the trend and intervene? What stimulates them into action? And what causes other people to bury their heads in the sand?

Studies have shown that active bystanders have generally had a more tolerant and empathetic upbringing, which stimulates greater________for the welfare of others. For these people, turning a blind eye isn’t an option; they feel compelled to step in and get involved.

That said, the bystander effect tends to________every aspect of our lives, from everyday scenarios like seeing bullying to our attitude to bigger challenges such as global warming. Perhaps the first step is________that we are all bystanders. Being aware of the causes could help us overcome them. Ultimately, it’s in our power to make a difference, from changing people’s attitudes to saving someone’s dignity- or maybe, as in the case of LaShanda Calloway, even saving someone’s________.

1.

A．remarkable

B．chaotic

C．consistent

D．respective

2.

A．queue up

B．step in

C．stream by

D．take notice

3.

A．brought into effect

B．held accountable

C．shown pity on

D．put to the test

4.

A．causes

B．interventions

C．assumptions

D．motives

5.

A．integrity

B．inaction

C．persistence

D．resignation

6.

A．less eager

B．more suspicious

C．more qualified

D．less rigid

7.

A．breath life into

B．keep pace with

C．attach importance to

D．make sense of

8.

A．insisting

B．responding

C．evolving

D．submitting

9.

A．cling to traditions

B．bear fruit

C．go with the flow

D．reverse the trend

10.

A．Component

B．Restriction

C．Clarification

D．Fear

11.

A．escalating

B．eliminating

C．facilitating

D．tackling

12.

A．appeal

B．fascination

C．concern

D．perspective

13.

A．integrate

B．influence

C．orient

D．compensate

14.

A．imposing

B．dismissing

C．ignoring

D．recognizing

15.

A．trouble

B．face

C．life

D．money

9 . Why can’t we stop longing for the good old days

People in many countries are longing for the good old days. But when exactly were the good old days? Podcaster Jason Feifer devoted an episode of his program to this question. The most popular answer seemed to be the 1950s, so Mr. Feifer asked historians whether Americans in that decade thought it was particularly pleasant. Definitely not. In the 1950s, American sociologists worried that rampant individualism was tearing the family apart. There were serious racial and class tensions, and everyone lived under the nuclear threat.

In fact, many in the 1950s thought that the good old days were to be found a generation earlier, in the 1920s. But in the 1920s, child psychologist John Watson warned that because of increasing divorce races, the American family would soon cease to exist. Many people at the time idealized the Victor inn era, when families are strong and children respected their elders.

Why are human beings always so nostalgia for past eras that seemed difficult and dangerous to those who lived through them? One possibility is that we know we survived past dangers, so they seem smaller now. But we can never be certain we will solve the problems we are facing today. Radio didn't ruin the younger generation, but maybe the smart phone will.

Another reason is that historical nostalgia is often colored by personal nostalgia. When were the good old days? Was it, by chance, the incredibly short period when you happened to be young? A U.S. Poll found that people born in the 1930s and 1940s thought the 1950s was America’s best decade, while those born in the 1960s and 1970s preferred the 1980s.

This kind of nostalgia has neurological roots. Researchers have found that we encode more memories during adolescence and early adult hood than any other period of our lives, and when we think about the past, this is the period we most often return to. Moreover, as we grow more distant from past events, we tend to remember them more positively.

Obviously, some things readily were better in the past. But our instinctive nostalgia for the good old days can easily deceive us, with dangerous consequences. Longing for the past and fear of the future inhibit the experiments and innovations that drive progress.

Vaccination, steam engines, railroads and electricity all met with strong resistance when they were first introduced. The point isn’t to show how silly previous generations were. The same kinds of anxieties have been expressed in our own time about innovations like the internet, video games and stem-cell research.

And not all fears about the future are unbounded. New technologies do result in accidents, they disturb traditional cultures and habits, and they destroy old jobs while creating new ones. But the only way to learn how to make the best use of new technologies and reduce risks is by trial and error. The future won’t be perfect, but neither were the good old days.

1. The word “rampant” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ________

A．limited

B．reasonable

C．uncontrolled

D．traditional

2. According to the passage, the 1950s was a period of time ________.

A．when American families still remained strong and children respected their elders

B．that was believed by Americans born in the 1930s and the 1940s to be the best decade

C．that saw a sharp increase in individualism and divorce rate in American society

D．when radical and class tensions became more serious but people no longer lived under the nuclear threat

3. The good old days were usually the time when people were young because ________
① people have a better memory of adolescence and early adulthood.
② More dangerous things happen during their youth and they learned how to survive them.
③ The dangers in youth were smaller and easier for people to deal with.
④ people remember events in their youth more positively as time goes by.

A．①②

B．①③

C．①④

D．②④

4. What can be inferred from the last three paragraphs?

A．The current generation is not as silly As the previous generations.

B．It is unwise to be simply opposed to any new inventions and technologies.

C．People are constantly deceived by their instinctive nostalgia for the good old days.

D．The internet, video games and stem-cell research pose great threats to humanity.

10 . Yu Pengnian is an 88-year-old real estate Chinese businessman. He amassed a fortune of $1.3 billion dollars during his career but instead of keeping the money and living like an emperor, he decided to give it all away. All of his fortune will be spent on helping poor Chinese students get a better education.

And Yu isn’t the only super-rich person in China who has this spirit of giving. Chen Guangbiao, a Jiangsu recycling tycoon, has given millions of dollars to charity and promises to give all of his money to charity when he dies.

Yu and Chen are among the many businessmen who have become prosperous during China’s economic rise. An American business magazine, Forbes, estimates that there are 117 billionaires in China and hundreds of thousands of millionaires. What sets Yu and Chen apart from the rest, though, is their tremendous generosity when it comes to donating money to charity.

Last week Bill Gates and Warren Buffett came to Beijing. Gates and Buffett, two of the world’s richest men, are also the world’s biggest philanthropists. They invited fifty of China’s richest people to have dinner with them and talk about the spirit of giving. At first, only a few people accepted their invitation. It seemed some of the invited guests were afraid that Buffett and Gates were going to pressure them into giving their wealth to charity.

A lot of people are angry at the billionaires who are not willing to give away their fortunes. They criticize them for being miserly and not caring about the poor and the less fortunate. But I think this criticism is wrong. A gift, any gift, should come from the heart. Instead of criticism, these reluctant billionaires should be encouraged to follow the examples of Yu Pengnian and Chen Guangbiao. Encouragement is always a better strategy than criticism. As we say in English, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

1. He amassed a fortune of $1.3 billion dollars during his career… The word “amassed” means________.

A．stimulated

B．contemplated

C．immigrated

D．accumulated

2. Yu Pengnian will spend all of his fortune in ________

A．helping poor Chinese students get a better education

B．helping the students in earthquake-stricken area

C．helping his off-springs lead a rich life in the future

D．achieve his aim of living like an emperor

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Yu Pengnian is the only super-rich person in China who has the spirit of giving.

B．Chen Guangbiao is a real estate Chinese businessman.

C．Yu and Chen become wealthy during the rise of China’s economy.

D．When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett invited fifty of China’s richest people to have dinner with them, they all felt honored and accepted their invitation at once.

4. What sets Yu and Chen apart from other rich people in China?

A．When it comes to charity work, they are very generous.

B．They had dinner with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, talking about the spirit of giving.

C．They are pressured into giving their fortune to charity.

D．They are both businessmen.

5. According to passage, why does the author end the passage with the English saying “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”?

A．The author wants to tell us that flies prefer honey to vinegar.

B．The author wants to prove that encouragement is always a better strategy than criticism when it comes to charity.

C．The English saying expresses the main theme of the passage.

D．The author wants to criticize those billionaires who are not willing to give away their fortunes for being miserly and not caring about the poor and the less fortunate.