1 . You may hear the awful saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, which speaks to a common belief about older adulthood that it’s a time when we’ve become so set in our ways that we’re not likely to change.
Psychologists used to follow the same line of thinking: After young adulthood, people tend to become stabler as people age. However, more recent studies suggest that something unexpected happens to many people as they reach and pass their 60s: Their personality starts changing again. People’s personality can change in response to their circumstances, adapting to a changing life. These developments clarify personality is not a permanent state but an adaptive way of being.
We can’t say with certainty what factors are driving these shifts, but a few theories exist. One possibility is that personality is shaped by specific life events that tend to happen in older age: retirement, empty nesting or widowhood (丧偶). But such milestones aren’t very reliable sources of change. They affect some people deeply, but have no impact on others. Any one event could mean many different things, depending on its context. Jenny Wagner, a psychologist at the University of Hamburg, in Germany, gave an example. Losing a partner could be a great loss, but for some it could be a bit of a relief at the same time-say, for someone who’s been caring for their ill partner for years.
Granted, old-age personality changes don’t always result from a sense of helplessness or an endlessly shrinking life. Research has shown that when people get older, they commonly recalibrate their goals; though they might be doing less, they tend to prioritize what they find meaningful and really appreciate it. That may involve adjusting to what they can’t control, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re reacting to a bad life—just a different one.
At the same time, not all of the changes coming with old age are unavoidable. And if old adults had more support from their communities and society, perhaps they’d be better able to command their circumstances—rather than having to make up for factors slipping out of their grasp.
1. Why is the saying in paragraph 1 mentioned?| A．To lead in the topic. | B．To explain a reason. |
| C．To show an attitude. | D．To offer a suggestion. |
| A．They can’t be avoided or prevented. | B．They will happen to most old people. |
| C．They may vary from person to person. | D．They put elders in a terrible situation. |
| A．establish | B．adjust | C．pursue | D．reach |
| A．Give old people help and care. | B．Help communities and society. |
| C．Teach old people to adapt to such changes. | D．Study more about the change of circumstances. |
2 . Delivery workers will finally be able to charge their electric bicycles — and themselves — at new stations created out of repurposed news stands in New York City, Senator (参议员) Chuck Schumer announced on Monday.
The repurposed news stands, the first of their kind in the nation, will feature charging stations safe for e-bike batteries, bike parking, and a place for delivery workers to rest or ride out bad weather.
“You’ve been riding this bike a long time. You need a break. Maybe you’ve got to make a phone call. Maybe you have to take care of your personal needs, any of these things,” Schumer said. “They’re constantly out on the street, no place to rest, no shelter to protect them — imagine it’s pouring rain, or even snow and you still got to do this,” he said. “And so we’re going to take underutilized (未利用的) public space on our streets like this news stand right behind us. Very simple.”
And the stations, which will be designed by Manuel Mansylla, will not contain bathrooms — which were once a flashpoint (焦点) for delivery workers who were banned from using the restrooms at some of the very restaurants from which they were delivering food.
But thanks to new city laws that went into effect at the start of this year, including requiring restaurants to allow delivery workers to use their restrooms, that’s thankfully not the main concern anymore, said Gustavo Ajche, a delivery worker. “The bathroom is different. There’s no problem with that any more what we need here is more parking spaces,” he said.
Not everyone loves the idea of news stands being repurposed for e-bike charging stations. “After car chargers on the sidewalk, this is another facility of the city taking pedestrian (行人) space to create charging stations,” said Christine Berthet of CHEKPEDS, the pedestrian advocacy group that has long called for the creation of more public space for pedestrians.
1. What service can delivery workers expect from the repurposed news stands?| A．Charging their phones. | B．Selling them e-bike batteries. |
| C．Repairing their bikes. | D．Offering them shelter. |
| A．They are underutilized. | B．They are necessary. |
| C．They are simple to construct. | D．They are gaining popularity. |
| A．They get more parking spaces. | B．They can use car chargers on the sidewalk. |
| C．They can use restaurant bathrooms. | D．They get extra pay for working in bad weather. |
| A．Critical. | B．Unclear. | C．Tolerant. | D．Favorable. |
3 . For night owls like Chen Danhong, 28, who works for a technology company in Beijing, the day really just begins after about 8 pm, a psychological hint that she can relax. “When I get home, I’m feeling worn out and tired, but that suddenly turns to excitement and I go on the Internet, read novels or watch movies. I’ll be playing video games and continually saying to myself, ‘OK, this is the last one’ before I eventually realize that it’s 2 o’clock,” says Chen.
Common symptoms (症状) include falling asleep later than 2 am, with the average time taken to fall asleep being more than one hour. Young people in cities are most vulnerable to such symptoms, according to the 2020 Chinese National Healthy Sleep White Paper. Common causes are loneliness, overtime sequelae (后遗症), excessive stress and emotional disorders. On March 21, World Sleep Day, a newspaper, Nanguo Morning News, conducted a survey that attracted 2,000 interviewees.
According to the survey, the reasons for going to bed late vary widely, with overtime work or taking care of a baby accounting for just five percent of the interviewees’ answers on this question. Sixty-four percent said they sleep late because they watch dramas, various shows, read books or play with their mobile phones. Fourteen percent said they do not want to go to bed too early even if they have nothing to do.
Many interviewees said they have had experience of the dangers of going to be late. Twenty-three percent said they have no serious physiological problems, but they can feel weak, are easily fatigued and have a poor complexion. Twenty-one percent said they are forgetful and find it hard to concentrate on work. More worrying is that an unwillingness to sleep can lead to a vicious circle (恶性循环), and15 percent of the respondents said they cannot fall asleep even if they want to.
1. Why does the author mention Chen Danhong’s situation in the first paragraph?| A．To lead in the topic. | B．To present an argument. |
| C．To shock the reader. | D．To raise a question. |
| A．Unwillingness to sleep. | B．The various entertainments. |
| C．Caring for their family. | D．The frequent overtime. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Exhausted. | C．Focused. | D．Sleepy. |
| A．Young people are more strong enough to sleep late. |
| B．Young people can fall asleep anytime they want to. |
| C．Going to bed late affects many people’s health or work. |
| D．Sleeping late occasionally isn’t harmful to our health. |
4 . About 50 years ago, the famous British band The Beatles sang that “money can’t buy me love”. Today, British economists are saying that it perhaps can’t buy you happiness either. This is showed by the happy planet index (HPI, 快乐指数) published recently by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in London.
The index is about how well countries are using their resources. It shows how well they provide people with better health and longer and happier lives, and at what cost to their environment.
It would seem to be common sense that people in richer countries live happier lives, while those in developing countries are having a harder time of it. But the results are surprising, even shocking. The numbers show that some of the so-called developed countries are performing very badly. The United States, for example, comes in at an unbelievable 150th. On the other hand, some little-known developing countries are doing a much better job. A tiny island in the Pacific, Vanuatu, comes in first. There are 178 countries and areas in the index. China ranks 31.
Countries are graded on the basis of information supplied in response to the following questions. How do people feel about their lives? How long does the average person live? How greatly does a country need to use its natural resources—such as oil, land and water—to maintain standards? This is what the index calls the “ecological footprint”.
The NEF found that the people of island nations enjoy the highest HPI rankings. Their populations live happier and longer lives, and use fewer resources.
The results also seem to show that it is possible to live longer, happier lives with a much smaller environmental impact. The index points out that people in the US and Germany enjoy similar lives.
“However, Germany’s ecological footprint is only about half that of the US. This means that Germany is around twice as efficient as the US at producing happy lives,” says Nic Marks, head of NEF’s Center for well-being.
So the happy planet index (HPl) tells us a brand-new concept of understanding “being happy”. HPI figures out different countries or individuals’ HPI through their “Ecological Footprint” and “Life Satisfaction Level” or “Life Expectancy”. Clearly, people’s HPI is related to their consumption of the resources on the earth.
You can find out your own HPI by visiting http://www.happyplanetindex.org
1. The passage is mainly about ______________.| A．why money can’t buy you happiness |
| B．in which country people feel the happiest |
| C．the happy planet index published recently |
| D．what index can influence people's happiness |
| A．wealth, education, resources and health |
| B．lives, health, resources and the environment |
| C．pressure, accommodation, resources and health |
| D．education, money, the environment and resources |
| A．have far fewer happy people | B．are only developing countries |
| C．do not enjoy plenty of resources | D．have a greater impact on the environment |
| A．history and culture play an important role in people’s lives |
| B．not all the people in developed countries enjoy happy lives |
| C．it is possible to live happier and longer lives with fewer resources |
| D．some of the so-called developed countries are performing very badly |
5 . Journal editors decide what gets published and what doesn’t, affecting the careers of other academics and influencing the direction that a field takes. You’d hope, then, that journals would do everything they can to establish a diverse editorial board, reflecting a variety of voices, experiences, and identities.
Unfortunately a new study in Nature Neuroscience makes for disheartening reading. The team finds that the majority of editors in top psychology and neuroscience journals are male and based in the United States: a situation that may be amplifying existing gender inequalities in the field and influencing the kind of research that gets published.
Men were found to account for 60% of the editors of psychology journals. There were significantly more male than female editors at each level of seniority, and men made up the majority of editors in over three quarters of the journals. Crucially, the proportion of female editors was significantly lower than the overall proportion of women psychology researchers.
The differences were even starker in the neuroscience journals: 70% of editors were male, and men held the majority of editorial positions in 88% of journals. In this case, the proportion of female editors was not significantly lower than the proportion of female researchers working in neuroscience—a finding that reveals enduring gender disparities in the field more broadly.
Based on their results, the team concludes that “the ideas, values and decision-making biases of men are overrepresented in the editorial positions of the most recognized academic journals in psychology and neuroscience.”
Gender inequality in science is often attributed to the fact that senior academics are more likely to be male, because historically science was male-dominated: it’s argued that as time goes on and more women rise to senior roles, the field will become more equal. Yet this study showed that even the junior roles in psychology journals tended to be held disproportionately by men, despite the fact that there are actually more female than male junior psychology faculty.
This implies that a lack of female academics is not the problem. Instead, there are structural reasons that women are disadvantaged in science. Women receive lower salaries and face greater childcare demands, for instance, which can result in fewer publications and grants—the kinds of things that journals look for when deciding who to appoint. Rather than simply blaming the inequality of editorial boards on tradition, we should be actively breaking down these existing barriers.
A lack of diversity among journal editors also likely contributes to psychology’s WEIRD problem. If journal editors are largely men from the United States, then they will probably place higher value on papers that are relevant to Western, male populations, whether consciously or not.
1. What would we expect an editorial board of an academic journal to exhibit in view of its important responsibilities?| A．Insight | B．Diversity |
| C．Expertise | D．Integrity |
| A．The majority of top psychology and neuroscience journals reflect a variety of voices, experiences and identities. |
| B．The editorial boards of most psychology and neuroscience journals do influence the direction their field takes. |
| C．The majority of editors in top psychology and neuroscience journals have relevant backgrounds. |
| D．The editorial boards of the most important journals in psychology and neuroscience are male-dominated. |
| A．Male researchers have enough representation in the editorial boards to ensure their publications. |
| B．Male editors of top psychology and neuroscience journals tend to be biased against their female colleagues. |
| C．Women’s views are underrepresented in the editorial boards of top psychology and neuroscience journals. |
| D．Female editors have to struggle to get women’s research articles published in academic journals. |
| A．Strike a balance between male and female editors | B．Implement overall structural reforms |
| C．Increase women’s employment in senior positions | D．Enlarge the body of female academics |
6 . For those of us who grew up watching Star Trek, exploring space has been about discovering strange new worlds. And there are plenty of worlds to explore in time, but we still need major technological advancements to reach planets that are light years away.
What we are doing in space today is providing unbelievable benefits right now, right here on Earth. From space, we can monitor, manage and care for our planet. Satellite-based sensors show us the short- and long-term effects of human activity on our environment. Many companies are using their interest in space to help solve problems here, from using hyperspectral imaging(高光谱成像), which enable us to map vegetation(植被) and rain forests, to microsatellites that provide global connectivity for the network of things.
My company, OneWeb, is focusing on what I believe is one of the world’s most important issues: the need for equal access to the Internet. The Internet has become our economic lifeblood. And yet, nearly half of the world’s population doesn’t have Internet access. Space is playing a key role in bridging this digital divide. OneWeb is launching 1,980 satellites to help bring Internet access to people everywhere, and our first production satellites are already flying in space and have shown very high download speeds.
Fiber and cable Internet access technologies already cover most financially viable(可行的) major cities. Similarly, these regions will also be the first to be served with 5G. Poor communities are the last to get connected, and without connectivity, those communities have no chance to lift themselves from poverty. OneWeb’s satellites will reach every community in the world and enable equal access to the Internet for the world’s less developed places.
Fifty years from the day when man first walked on the moon, we are still only approaching the possible. There will be tens of thousands of new satellites, space stations and factories in the coming years to bring advancements in communications, scientific research, monitoring the earth, exploring space and more. This is exciting, but we must take action carefully.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．Benefits space exploration can bring to us. |
| B．Problems space exploration leads to. |
| C．Steps of space exploration requires. |
| D．Equipment space exploration needs. |
| A．Increase download speeds. |
| B．Narrow the gap in Internet learning. |
| C．Help people set up and maintain a website. |
| D．Enable people to make use of the Internet equally. |
| A．More than six decades ago, man first walked on the moon. |
| B．More than half of the world’s people have no access to the Internet. |
| C．OneWeb’s satellites will make it possible for most people to be served with 5G. |
| D．Without the Internet, poor communities can hardly help themselves out of poverty. |
| A．The risks of furthering space exploration. |
| B．The value of setting up space stations. |
| C．The way we could monitor our earth. |
| D．The features of microsatellites. |
7 . In recent years American society has become increasingly dependent on its universities to find solutions to its major problems. It is the universities that have been to blame for developing the expertise to place men on the moon; for dealing with our urban problems and with our worsening environment; for developing the means to feed the world’s rapidly increasing population. The effort involved in meeting these demands presents its own problems. In addition, however, this concentration on the creation of new knowledge significantly impinges on the universities’ efforts to perform their other principal functions, the transmission and interpretation of knowledge-the imparting of the heritage of the past and the preparing of the next generation to carry it forward.
With regard to this, perhaps their most traditionally acknowledged task, college and universities today find themselves in a serious situation. On one hand, there is the American commitment, especially since World War Ⅱ, to provide higher education for all young people who can profit from it. The result of the commitment has been a dramatic rise in enrollments(登记入学) in our universities, coupled with a striking shift from the private to the public sector of higher education.
On the other hand, there are serious and continuing limitations on the resources available for higher education. While higher education has become a great ”growth industry“, it is also at the same time a tremendous drain(耗竭) on the resources of the nation. With the vast increase in enrollment and the shift in priorities away from education in state and federal(联邦的) budgets, there is in most of our public institutions a significant decrease in expenses for their students. One crucial aspect of this drain on resources lies in the persistent shortage of trained faculty(全体教师), which has led, in turn, to a declining standard of competence in instruction.
Intensifying these difficulties is, as indicated above, the concern with research, with its increasing claims on resources and the attention of the faculty. In addition, there is a strong tendency for the institutions’ organization and functioning to fulfill the demands of research rather than those of teaching.
1. According to Paragraph 1, what should be the most important function of American universities?| A．Sparing no effort to create new knowledge for students. |
| B．Enhancing students’ competence of tackling social problems. |
| C．Making experts on advanced industries out of their students. |
| D．Preparing their students to transmit the knowledge of the past. |
| A．more students and less investment | B．education quality and economic profit |
| C．low enrollment rate and high education demand | D．private ownership and American commitment |
| A．many public institutions have to cut down enrollments of students |
| B．teachers are not competent enough to perform satisfactorily in class |
| C．some institutions are forced to reduce the total expenses on research |
| D．there is keen competition for resources between public and private institutions |
| A．The improper distribution of American universities’ resources. |
| B．The increasing argument over American universities’ primary task. |
| C．The inability of American universities’ organization and fulfillment. |
| D．The growing focus on American universities’ function of research. |
8 . It is challenging to teach children about seasonal foods in a modern-day grocery store (杂货店). Having lots of choices of fresh produce from all around the world means that a sense of the seasons is lost. That’s why I like being part of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Every week I receive a share of vegetables that comes from a nearby farm. I do not know ahead of time what I’m getting, nor do I have any say on what comes home; I take whatever was harvested earlier that same day, based on the week’s weather conditions, and use them to the best of my ability.
My kids have had a good knowledge of the supply of certain vegetables throughout the harvesting season. They know what it’s like to eat a lot of asparagus (芦笋) until they’re sick of it, only to move on to dark greens and leafy salads, then eggplants, and tomatoes, and finally the root vegetables that mark the arrival of cold weather.
The funny thing is, when you’ve eaten a ton of something for a few weeks, you’re ready to move on to the next crop (作物) and leave the other behind, but when its time comes the following year, the expectation will return. In this way, a CSA share creates excitement at vegetables that can’t be felt when everything can be bought all the time, as it is in a grocery store.
A farmers’ market can offer similar lessons in seasonality to a CSA, but it differs in that you have more choices about what you buy. A CSA share, however, only offers few kinds of vegetables and sometimes fruits, forcing you to work out ways of using them up. I enjoy this challenge because it tests my cooking skills and introduces my family to new and unusual vegetables. What’s more, it is glad to know I’m supporting local farmers by eating what they want to grow, not just what I’m used to eating.
1. What is special about the vegetables offered by the CSA program?| A．They are free. |
| B．They are cheap. |
| C．They can’t be found in local grocery stores. |
| D．They make the author full of expectations. |
| A．It provides enough supply of vegetables. |
| B．It makes people choose vegetables freely. |
| C．It keeps people’s excitement for vegetables. |
| D．It makes people become sick of eating vegetables. |
| A．It encourages him to support local farmers. |
| B．It helps him learn about the community. |
| C．It gives people more choices of foods. |
| D．It causes local farmers a lot of stress. |
| A．Local food is becoming more popular |
| B．The CSA program is making a difference |
| C．People are encouraged to experience farm life |
| D．Naturally grown food improves people’s health |
Stepping outside the railway station early
Yet, the breath-taking beauty
After 1966, the year of the worst flooding in Venice’s history, the Italian Government started a project to save the city.
But Venice still needs attentive care. The city remains threatened on several fronts— mass tourism, the possible damage of city development
| A．Statistics on labor market. |
| B．Requirements of most bosses. |
| C．Decreasing popularity of gap year. |
