1 . According to the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being good political leaders as men. The same can be said of their ability to dominate the corporate boardroom. And according to a new Pew Research Center survey on women and leadership, most Americans find women indistinguishable from men on key leadership traits such as intelligence and capacity for innovation, with many saying they're stronger than men in terms of being passionate and organized leaders.

So why, then, are women in short supply at the top of government and business in the United States? According to the public, at least, it's not that they lack toughness, management talent or proper skill sets. It’s also not all about work-life balance. Although economic research and previous survey findings have shown that career interruptions related to motherhood may make it harder for women to advance in their careers and compete for top executive jobs, relatively few adults in the recent survey point to this as a key barrier for women seeking leadership roles. Only about one-in-five say women's family responsibilities are a major reason why there aren't more females in top leadership positions in business and politics.

Instead, topping the list of reasons, about four-in-ten Americans point to a double standard for women seeking to climb to the highest levels of either politics or business, where they have to do more than their male counterparts to prove themselves. Similar shares say the electorate and corporate America are just not ready to put more women in top leadership positions.

As a result, the public is divided about whether the imbalance in corporate America will change in the foreseeable future, even though women have made major advances in the workplace. While 53% believe men will continue to hold more top executive positions in business in the future, 44% say it's only a matter of time before as many women are in top executive positions as men. Americans are less doubtful when it comes to politics: 73% expect to see a female president in their lifetime.

1. What do most Americans think of women leaders according to a new Pew Research Center   survey?

A．They have to do more to distinguish themselves.

B．They have to strive harder to win their positions.

C．They are stronger than men in terms of willpower.

D．They are just as intelligent and innovative as men.

2. What do we learn from previous survey findings about women seeking leadership roles?

A．They have unconquerable difficulties on their way to success.

B．They are lacking in confidence when competing with men.

C．Their failures may have something to do with family duties.

D．Relatively few are affected in their career advancement.

3. What is the primary factor keeping women from taking top leadership positions according to the recent survey?

A．Personality traits.	B．Gender bias.
C．Family responsibilities.	D．Lack of vacancies.

4. What does the passage say about corporate America in the near future?

A．More and more women will sit in the boardroom.

B．Gender imbalance in leadership is likely to change.

C．The public is undecided about whether women will make good leaders.

D．People have opposing opinions as to whether it will have more women leaders.

2 . Next week, as millions of families gather for their Thanksgiving feasts (大餐), many other Americans will go without. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, more than 12 million households _________ enough food for everyone in their family at some time during the year — including _________.

Hunger is surprisingly widespread in our country — one of the world’s wealthiest — yet the government estimates that we waste almost 100 billion pounds of food each year, more than one-quarter of our total supply.

Reducing this improper distribution of _________ is a goal of America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Last year, it _________ nearly 2 billion pounds of food to more than 23 million people in need.

America’s Second Harvest is a network of 214 inter-connected food banks and other organizations that _________ food from growers, processors, grocery stores and restaurants. _________, the network distributes food to some 50,000 soup kitchens (施食处), homeless _________ and old people’s centers in every county of every state.

A great deal of work is involved in distributing tons of food from thousands of _________ to thousands of small, non-profit organizations. Until a few years ago, America’s Second Harvest lacked any _________ way to manage their inventory (存货). Without accurate and timely information, soup kitchens were sometimes empty while food was left to __________ in loading places.

In 2000, America’s Second Harvest began to use a new inventory and financial-management system — Ceres. It is a __________ designed specifically for hunger-relief operations. It is used by more than 100 America’s Second Harvest organizations to __________ food from donation to distribution.

Ceres has helped __________ the spoiling of food and improve distribution. An evaluation found that the software streamlined (精简) food banks’ operations by 23 percent in the first year alone.

With more accurate and timely reports, Ceres saves time, frees staff members to focus on finding new donors, and __________ more efficient use of donations.

Hunger in America remains a(n) __________ social problem. Technology alone cannot solve it. But in the hands of organizations such as America’s Second Harvest, it is a powerful tool that is helping to make a difference — and helping more Americans to join in the feast.

1.

A．serve

B．lack

C．reserve

D．order

2.

A．workdays

B．birthdays

C．holidays

D．paydays

3.

A．resources

B．incomes

C．missions

D．services

4.

A．exposed

B．introduced

C．distributed

D．addicted

5.

A．harvest

B．prepare

C．recommend

D．gather

6.

A．For example

B．In contrast

C．Above all

D．In turn

7.

A．backyards

B．shelters

C．garages

D．cabins

8.

A．donors

B．survivors

C．farmers

D．victims

9.

A．innovative

B．impressive

C．effective

D．productive

10.

A．grow

B．recycle

C．spoil

D．stir

11.

A．theory

B．action

C．remedy

D．software

12.

A．advertise

B．relieve

C．track

D．migrate

13.

A．produce

B．reduce

C．shift

D．simplify

14.

A．promises

B．ceases

C．admits

D．locates

15.

A．troubling

B．demanding

C．touching

D．imposing

3 . Speed-reading is a crucial skill in the Internet age. We skim over articles, e-mails and tweets to try to _________ key words and the essential meaning of a certain text. _________ with information from our electronic devices, it would be impossible to cope if we read word by word, line by line.

But a new trend calls on people to _________ and enjoy reading slowly, using the linear (线性的) pattern, left-to-right sequence.

A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a cafe and turn off their smartphones. They _________ comfortable chairs and read in silence for an hour.

Unlike traditional book clubs, the _________ of the Slow Reading Club isn’t exchanging ideas about a certain book, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, _________ environment. According to the Journal, the Wellington Book Club is just one example of a movement _________ by book lovers who miss the old-fashioned way of reading before the Internet and smartphones.

Slow readers, such as The Atlantic’s Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, _________ stress levels and deepens the ability to empathize (有同感).

Some of these benefits have been backed up by science. _________, a study of 300 elderly people published by the journal Neurology last year showed that regular engagement in __________ activities like reading slowed the rate of memory loss later in life.

Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand others’ mental states and beliefs, a crucial skill in building __________.

Slow reading means a(n) __________ to an uninterrupted, linear pattern, in a quiet environment free of __________. Aim for 30 minutes a day, advises Kelly from The Atlantic. “You can squeeze in that half hour pretty easily if only during your free moments — whenever you find yourself __________ firing up your laptop to check your favorite site, or scanning Twitter for something to pass the time — you pick up a meaningful work of literature,” Kelly said. “__________ your e-reader, if you like. Kindles make books like War and Peace less heavy, and also ensure you’ll never lose your place in the book.”

1.

A．highlight

B．grasp

C．determine

D．underline

2.

A．Flooded

B．Armed

C．Obsessed

D．Impressed

3.

A．unlock

B．uncover

C．unplug

D．unpack

4.

A．straighten in

B．rise from

C．shift in

D．sink into

5.

A．point

B．cause

C．impact

D．duty

6.

A．protected

B．interactive

C．relaxed

D．addictive

7.

A．defined

B．urged

C．initiated

D．performed

8.

A．increases

B．maintains

C．evaluates

D．reduces

9.

A．In brief

B．For example

C．Above all

D．By contrast

10.

A．recreational

B．professional

C．intellectual

D．educational

11.

A．confidence

B．endurance

C．awareness

D．relationship

12.

A．return

B．answer

C．end

D．barrier

13.

A．misunderstandings

B．sufferings

C．obstacles

D．distractions

14.

A．purposely

B．automatically

C．occasionally

D．leisurely

15.

A．Cope with

B．Reach for

C．Believe in

D．Stick to

4 . How Facebook Programmed Our Relatives

Three years ago, on his birthday, a law professor watched his e-mail inbox as usual. But it was filled with Facebook notifications (通告) ________ that friends had posted messages on his wall. The messages made him sad. The blocked inbox was ________, but what really upset him was having disclosed his birth date to Facebook in the first place. It’s not necessary for social networking to comply with (遵守) privacy laws, as some people ________ believe. He hadn’t paid much attention when he signed up—as with most electronic contracts, there was no room for negotiation about terms. He ________ Facebook’s instructions, entered the data and clicked a button.

A few days later, the law professor decided to change the birth date on his Facebook profile to ________ the same situation next year. But when the fake date rolled around, his inbox again was flooded with Facebook notifications. Two of the messages were from close relatives, one of whom he had spoken with on the phone on his actual birthday! How could she not realize that the date was ________?

Our hypothesis (假设): she’d been programmed!

That law professor was one of us, and it confirmed his ________ that most people respond ________ to Facebook’s prompts (提示) to provide information or contact a friend without really thinking much about it. That’s because digital networked technologies are engineering humans to behave like simple stimulus-response machines.

Social media plays a tremendous role in modern life. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have become the primary ways of keeping in touch with friends, family, classmates and colleagues. To date, ________, researchers have not fully explored the degree to which these platforms are literally programming human responses. Social media platforms encode a range of social ________: Facebook notifies us when it is time to wish our friends a happy birthday; LinkedIn prompts us to congratulate contacts on their work anniversaries. As a result, social interactions are often ________ to the click of a button.

Facebook may increase the number of people to whom we wish a happy birthday with a few clicks of a button; it’s not as if we remember the birth dates of that high school classmate or distant cousin. But if it becomes ________ behavior, is it even meaningful? As for people who aren’t on Facebook or don’t post their birth dates publicly, the ________ they exact over their data comes at a cost: they don’t receive scores of well-wishes from far-flung contacts. ________, it’s still nice to be thought of, even if just once a year.

Digital platforms are ________ what it means to be human, and we can’t rely on the platforms to police or research ourselves. In the meantime, when your birthday rolls around, enjoy the warm feelings from friends sending their regards—but remember that they don’t know when your birthday really is any more than you do theirs.

1.

A．requiring

B．recognizing

C．indicating

D．summarizing

2.

A．annoying

B．embarrassing

C．frustrating

D．exciting

3.

A．hardly

B．passionately

C．mistakenly

D．slowly

4.

A．lacked

B．suspended

C．obeyed

D．offered

5.

A．accept

B．avoid

C．analyze

D．arrange

6.

A．significant

B．definite

C．correct

D．fake

7.

A．doubt

B．appointment

C．statement

D．plan

8.

A．cautiously

B．positively

C．automatically

D．aggressively

9.

A．thus

B．however

C．moreover

D．otherwise

10.

A．reforms

B．problems

C．issues

D．behaviors

11.

A．adapted

B．reduced

C．committed

D．admitted

12.

A．suspected

B．accepted

C．programmed

D．benefited

13.

A．control

B．judgments

C．influence

D．skills

14.

A．In return

B．In addition

C．For example

D．After all

15.

A．enriching

B．examining

C．shaping

D．retaining

5 . 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.

Are you a textaholic?

Do you spend over an hour each day texting your friends? Do you frequently neglect work, study and leisure activities to check your phone for text message? Are you moody and emotional if you are separated from your mobile phone? Do you hardly ever use your phone to talk any more, and do your thumbs from texting too much?

If you answered 'Yes' to any of the above questions, then the chances are that you are a textaholic.A textaholic can be defined as someone who is addicted to sending and receiving text messages.The main symptoms are strong will to text which takes precedence over (优先于) everything else, and withdrawal symptoms (戒断症状)if messages fail to come in, leading to anger, depression and a lack of self-respect.Other problems include sleeplessness, eye strain, and repetitive strain injury due to constant messaging, not to mention expensive phone bills.The root of the problem, as with many addictions, is the desire to escape from emotional difficulties such as stress, anxiety and relationship problems.Experts warn that text addiction is likely to become the most common form of addiction in the future, especially among the young.

So what can you do if you think you may be textaholic? The key is to get your life back in balance.Make sure you resist the urge to answer every message you receive, and consider leaving your mobile phone behind occasionally when you go out.Most importantly, make a point of spending quality time with friends and family, and make time to re — learn the art of face-to-face conversation instead of conducting your relationships by means of text messages.Not only will you save time and money, but you may also rediscover the pleasure of true communication.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . The closer one studies the gig economy (灰色经济), the less fun it sounds. Those who make their living this way, generally___________ app-based platforms that match consumer needs with workers who can fulfil them are ___________ being in uncertain employment.

Bodies such as the International Labor Organization characterize this kind of employment as mostly low-paid and ___________, in which workers enjoy very few social, organizational and___________ rights and protections.

Attention is turning to the health and well-being of this fast-growing workforce, which ___________ about 1.3m in the U.K.One academic is even calling for a “Gig-hall” study — similar to the landmark Whitehall ___________ into the health of civil servants.

Those studies, conducted over three decades by Sir Michael Marmot, demonstrated the ___________ between socio-economic status and health, a correlation that became known as “status syndrome”. Senior civil servants enjoyed lower _____________ of death and heart disease than lowlier employees, a difference partly ascribed to (把……归功于……) autonomy (自主权) at work.

The_____________ of powerlessness that afflicts (折磨，使痛苦) many in the gig economy — according to one survey, only four out of 10 gig workers (零工) feel like they are their own__________________ — suggests that health problems may be brewing in this sizeable slice of workforce.

One study on the Italian workforce, published last year in Social Science and Medicine, suggests that those on __________________ contracts are more likely to use prescription medication for mental health conditions such as __________________ (although the reverse is also likely to be true, that pre-existing ill health leads to more irregular employment).

__________________ not specifically about the gig economy, the authors, from the universities of Brunel and Milan, conclude that the __________________ to make labour markets more flexible might prove ill for the psychological well-being of workers.

Gig work is often conducted privately, in cars and homes, from bicycles and motorbikes, instead of from a __________________workplace, so basic hazards, such as fatigue associated with long hours, can go unnoticed.

1.

A．reflecting on

B．working for

C．getting along

D．serving with

2.

A．regarded as

B．defined as

C．related to

D．involved in

3.

A．insane

B．innocent

C．insecure

D．inventive

4.

A．legal

B．progressive

C．ambitious

D．miserable

5.

A．counts

B．numbers

C．predicts

D．forecasts

6.

A．problems

B．workers

C．studies

D．needs

7.

A．thread

B．clue

C．role

D．link

8.

A．situation

B．rates

C．case

D．position

9.

A．display

B．sense

C．awareness

D．expression

10.

A．mate

B．boss

C．worker

D．supervisor

11.

A．permanent

B．momentary

C．casual

D．temporary

12.

A．flu

B．diabete

C．stroke

D．depression

13.

A．As

B．Because

C．Therefore

D．While

14.

A．initiative

B．drive

C．inspiration

D．ambition

15.

A．tricky

B．enjoyable

C．shared

D．lovable

7 . You can actually catch a good mood or a bad mood from your friends, according to a recent study in the journal Royal Society Open Science.But that shouldn't stop you from____with pals who are down in the dumps,say the study authors:____,the effect isn't large enough to push you into depression.

The new study adds to a growing body of research suggesting that happiness and sadness-as well as lifestyle and behavioral factors like smoking,drinking,obesity,fitness habits and even the ability to concentrate-can____across social networks, both online and in real life.But while many____studies have only looked at friendship data at one point in time, this is one of the few that measured social and mood changes over time.

The new research involved groups of junior-high and high-school students who took part in___ screenings(筛查） and answered questions about their best friends, many of whom were also enrolled in the study. In total,2,194 students were included in the____,which used a mathematical model to look for connections among friend networks.

Overall,kids whose friends suffered from bad moods were more____to report bad moods themselves- and they were less likely to have improved when they were screened again six months to a year later. When people had more happy friends,____,their moods were more likely to improve over time.

Some symptoms related to depression-like helplessness,tiredness and loss of interest-also seemed to follow this____,which scientists call “social contagion.”But this isn't something that people need to ___,says lead author Robert Eyre,a doctoral student at the University of Warwick. Rather, it's likely just a “____empathetic response that we're all familiar with, and something we recognize by common sense,"he says. In other words,when a friend is going through a rough patch, it makes sense that you'll feel some of their ___,and it's certainly not a reason to stay away.

The study also found that having friends who were clinically depressed did not __     participants' risk of becoming depressed themselves. “Your friends do not put you at risk of illness," says Eyre,"so a good course of action is simply to____them."To boost both of your moods, he suggests doing things together that you both ___-and taking other friends along to further spread those good feelings,too.”

1.

A．keeping up

B．making off

C．hanging out

D．getting away

2.

A．Thankfully

B．Particularly

C．Hopefully

D．Totally

3.

A．increase

B．generate

C．delay

D．spread

4.

A．growing

B．previous

C．real

D．large-scale

5.

A．depression

B．anxiety

C．anger

D．friendship

6.

A．assessment

B．examination

C．analysis

D．exercise

7.

A．willing

B．reluctant

C．able

D．likely

8.

A．what's worse

B．as a result

C．on the other hand

D．in one word

9.

A．prediction

B．pattern

C．report

D．improvement

10.

A．worry about

B．look for

C．rely on

D．put forward

11.

A．social

B．normal

C．rough

D．certain

12.

A．symptoms

B．responses

C．recognition

D．pain

13.

A．eliminate

B．conceal

C．increase

D．sugarcoat

14.

A．enlighten

B．entertain

C．empower

D．support

15.

A．enjoy

B．understand

C．advise

D．permit

8 . 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. available   B. caregivers   C. explain   D. generations   E. healthy F. investigators   G. limit   H. push   I. requested   J. shared   K. worldwide

Researchers say American children now eat an average of three snacks a day between meals. A study found that those snacks add up to almost one third of all the daily calories eaten by children. And those extra calories could help     1     the rise in overweight children in the United States.

The study was done at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers studied the diets of thirty-one thousand children ages two to eighteen over a thirty-year period. They found that snacking has increased since the nineteen seventies. And what kinds of snacks have increased the most? Salty, high-fat foods like chips. The study also found greater snacking on cake, cookies and other treats that past     2     might have saved for after dinner.

The study is in the journal Health Affairs. Nutrition professor Barry Popkin was one of the lead     3    . He says parents should     4     snacks to one a day for children age six and older. He also advises parents and     5     to provide healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables.

Professor Popkin says American schools also need to improve their nutrition. For example, schools may have vending machines (自动售贩机) that offer what many people would consider junk food. There has been a(n)     6     for schools to offer more healthful snacks and lunch choices and fewer sugary drinks.

Earlier this month Coca-cola said it would stop selling sugary drinks in American schools unless parents     7     them. Its competitors at Pepsi just announced that they will stop sales of sugared drinks to schools     8    .

America’s top public health officer wants to see more changes like this. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin recently spoke to lawmakers about making healthy foods more     9    . “There is a growing agreement that we as a nation need to recreate our communities and environments where     10     choices are easy choices and affordable choices.”

9 . Who cares if people think wrongly that the Internet has had more important influences than the washing machine? Why does it matter that people are more impressed by the most _______ changes? It would not matter if these misjudgments were just a matter of people’s opinions. However, they have real impacts, as they result in _______ use of scarce resources.

The eager embrace of the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) revolution, represented by the Internet, has made some rich countries wrongly conclude that making things is so “yesterday” that they should try to live on _______.This belief in “post-industrial society” has led those countries to _______ their manufacturing sector(制造业)with negative consequences for their economies.

Even more worryingly, the _______ with the Internet by people in rich countries has moved the international community to worry about the “digital _______” between the rich countries and the poor countries. This has led companies and individuals to donate money to developing countries to buy computer equipment and Internet facilities. The question,_______,is whether this is what the developing countries need the most.Perhaps giving money for those less _______ things such as digging wells,extending electricity networks and making more affordable washing machines would have improved people’s lives more than giving every child a laptop computer or setting up Internet centers in rural villages. I am not saying that those things are necessarily more important, but these generous donators don’t seem to give priority to people’s _______ needs. Rather, they have rushed into fancy programs without carefully assessing the relative long-term costs and benefits of ________ uses of their money.

In yet another example,an obsession with the new has led people to believe that the latest changes in the technologies of communications and transportation are so revolutionary that now we live in a “borderless world”. ________,in the last twenty years or so,many people have come to believe that whatever change is happening today is the result of great technological progress,going against which will be like trying to turn the clock back.Believing in such a world,many governments have ________ some of the very necessary regulations on cross-border flows of capital,labor and goods,with poor results.

Understanding technological trends is very important for ________ designing economic policies, both at the national and the international levels, and for making the right career choices at the ________ level. However, our blind faith in the latest, and our ________ of what has already become common, can, and has, led us in all sorts of wrong directions.

1.

A．realistic

B．modern

C．recent

D．advanced

2.

A．misguided

B．illegal

C．inefficient

D．dissatisfying

3.

A．practices

B．risks

C．reforms

D．ideas

4.

A．emphasize

B．neglect

C．eliminate

D．promote

5.

A．familiarity

B．involvement

C．fascination

D．identification

6.

A．conflict

B．divide

C．contact

D．balance

7.

A．therefore

B．otherwise

C．however

D．furthermore

8.

A．fashionable

B．expensive

C．recognizable

D．accessible

9.

A．common

B．basic

C．economic

D．technical

10.

A．creative

B．abnormal

C．alternative

D．practical

11.

A．For example

B．As a result

C．On the contrary

D．In the meantime

12.

A．put an end to

B．put up with

C．come up with

D．come down to

13.

A．constantly

B．accurately

C．correctly

D．adequately

14.

A．private

B．individual

C．financial

D．universal

15.

A．generalization

B．evaluation

C．overstatement

D．underestimation

10 . Directions: Write an English composition in 100-120 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
网络时代，人们越来越依赖手机，因为手机的功能应有尽有，使人们的生活十分便利。但是，有些学校规定学生到了教室就要上交手机，因为老师认为手机会让学生分心，不利于学生的学习，关于此项规定，请谈谈你的想法。
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