2 . Even when communing with nature we depend on technology for help-but then, so did Thoreau at Walden Pond.

Walking in the same woods yesterday, I let myself wander at random, communing with nature.

I took in beautiful scenery near and far thanks to my progressive-lens eyeglasses. Occasionally I’d pull out my smartphone to take pictures on anything interesting. I recorded an inner monologue (独白) with a background of all sounds of the forest. At times, I consulted my smart watch to check on my heartbeat, mileage and calorie burn. Eventually I realized I was quite lost. Not a problem of course. Online maps came to my rescue.

But something bothered me. In what I’d intended as a nature experience, here I was using very high technology to help myself out. This insight set off a reconsideration of everything that happened during my “nature walk”, which had been technologically enhanced every step of the way. I’d been functioning as a man-machine combination: a cyborg.

What would the true naturalist Thoreau think of that? My first thought was that he’d be shocked. But later I did some research. Thoreau enjoyed what his spyglass discovered, like this eagle from his journal:

Lying on the ground with my glass, I could watch him very easily…till I almost lost him in the clouds… I think I have got the worth of my glass now that it has revealed to me the white- headed eagle.

Famously, Thoreau always set out equipped with a walking stick, which he used not only for support but also to take measurements of water and snow levels. His hat was also a tool, which he called his “botany-box”. And he was prepared even with needles and thread, so when coming out of the woods, he was “the best dressed”. Clearly, Thoreau was a bit of a cyborg himself.

Thinking more deeply, I realized we’ve come a long way from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who walked from necessity and relied on nature’s gift. Cyborgs are us.

1. What does the underlined part “communing with nature” probably mean in paragraph 1?

A．Enjoying the nature in a quiet peaceful way.

B．Searching for wild animals and birds.

C．Wandering in nature with high-tech equipment.

D．Singing and dancing happily in nature.

2. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To recommend Thoreau’s book Walden Pond.

B．To argue that humans have developed into cyborgs.

C．To share the reflections on man’s reliance on nature.

D．To question whether people are technology-dependent.

3. Which picture best illustrates a cyborg in the author’s eye?

A．	B．
C．	D．

4. Why does the author quote Thoreau’s journal?

A．To prove that even naturalists use technology.

B．To introduce a literary work on nature.

C．To describe the natural beauty Thoreau enjoyed.

D．To explain how to prepare for a nature walk.

4 . When given the choice, about 85% of people say they would not want to know about some negative event far in the future. Yet recently millions around the globe have downloaded FaceApp, which allows users to see how they might age in real life.

Many had fun with joking that they love the FaceApp old filter (滤镜). Beneath the humor is a serious subject: How do we learn to relate to our future selves? It’s important that we try to because it could help strengthen the long-term decisions that we make. However, we often fail to make sacrifices for the older versions of ourselves.

More than half of the respondents in a recent survey of 2, 800 Americans said they rarely or never thought about what their lives might be like 30 years from now. This isn’t surprising, since most of us are firmly rooted in the present and thinking about the distant future can seem like a distant priority. My ongoing research might also offer an explanation: We tend to think about our future selves as if they are someone different from who we are today. In an effort to narrow these empathy (共情) gaps, my research workmates and I have tried to humanize (使人性化) people’s future selves in the same way others have tried to humanize charity receivers. Given that a photograph of one hungry child can spark emotional reactions, and cause viewers to donate, we have provided participants with vivid images of their distant selves.

That seems helpful. In a recently completed project in Mexico, we found that exposure to future-self images led more people to add to their pensions (养老金). Despite this research, I’m not sure that the app users will suddenly increase their pension and care about their health. The silly app isn’t paired with an immediate opportunity to change any of these things.

The lesson from FaceApp shouldn’t be that we need to combine hi-tech visuals with savings for retirement. The lesson, then, leads to a question: What more can be done to urge us to think about, care for who we will one day become?

1. What can we learn about FaceApp?

A．It provides future-self images.	B．It is the most downloaded app.
C．It helps people make decisions.	D．It makes people age in real life.

2. Why do most respondents rarely think of their future life?

A．They have known future life from FaceApp.

B．They fail to make sacrifices for their future.

C．They pay more attention to the present.

D．They consider future selves the same as today’s.

3. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Completing a project in Mexico.

B．Offering aging images of participants.

C．Raising reflections among viewers.

D．Giving a photograph of a hungry child.

4. What’s the author’s attitude to FaceApp?

A．Positive.	B．Objective.
C．indifferent.	D．Unfavorable.

5 . Like most of us, I try to be mindful of food that goes to waste. The arugula (芝麻菜)was to make a nice green salad, rounding out a roast chicken dinner. But I ended up working late. Then friends called with a dinner invitation. I stuck the chicken in the freezer. But as days passed, the arugula went bad. Even worse, I had unthinkingly bought way too much; I could have made six salads with what I threw out.

In a world where nearly 800 million people a year go hungry, “food waste goes against the moral grain,” as Elizabeth Royte writes in this month’s cover story. It’s jaw-dropping how much perfectly good food is thrown away — from “ugly” (but quite eatable) vegetables rejected by grocers to large amounts of uneaten dishes thrown into restaurant garbage cans.

Producing food that no one eats wastes the water, fuel, and other resources used to grow it. That makes food waste an environmental problem. In fact, Royte writes, “if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world.”

If that’s hard to understand, let’s keep it as simple as the arugula at the back of my refrigerator. Mike Curtin sees my arugula story all the time — but for him, it's more like 12 bones of donated strawberries nearing their last days. Curtin is CEO of DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C., which recovers food and turns it into healthy meals. Last year it recovered more than 807,500 pounds of food by taking donations and collecting blemished (有瑕疵的) produce that otherwise would have rotted in fields. And the strawberries? Volunteers will wash, cut, and freeze or dry them for use in meals down the road.

Such methods seem obvious, yet so often we just don’t think. “Everyone can play a part in reducing waste, whether by not purchasing more food than necessary in your weekly shopping or by asking restaurants to not include the side dish you won’t eat,” Curtin says.

1. What does the author want to show by telling the arugula story?

A．We pay little attention to food waste.	B．We waste food unintentionally at times.
C．We waste more vegetables than meat.	D．We have good reasons for wasting food.

2. What is a consequence of food waste according to the test?

A．Moral decline.	B．Environmental harm.
C．Energy shortage.	D．Worldwide starvation.

3. What does Curtin’s company do?

A．It produces kitchen equipment.	B．It turns rotten arugula into clean fuel.
C．It helps local farmers grow fruits.	D．It makes meals out of unwanted food.

4. What does Curtin suggest people do?

A．Buy only what is needed.	B．Reduce food consumption.
C．Go shopping once a week.	D．Eat in restaurants less often.

6 . There is a popular saying in the English language: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Well, that is not true. Unkind words, name-calling or even the so-called “the silent treatment” can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so. A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal (言语的) abuse by other children can harm, the development in the brain. The study was a project of researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. Researcher Martin Teicher and his team studied young adults, aged 18 to 25. These young men and women had not ever been treated in a cruel or violent way by their parents. The researchers asked the young people to rate their childhood exposure to verbal abuse from both parents and other children. Then the researchers performed imaging tests on the brains of the subjects.

The images showed that the people who reported suffering verbal abuse from peers in middle school had underdeveloped connections between the left and right side of the brain. The two sides of the brain are connected by a large bundle of connecting fibers called the corpus callosum. This was the area that was underdeveloped.

The middle school years are a time when these brain connections are developing. So, unkind, hurtful comments from children or adults during this period have the greatest effect. The researchers tested the mental and emotional condition of all the young people in the study. The tests showed that this same group of people had higher levels of fear, depression, anger and drug abuse than others in the study.

The researchers published their findings online on the American Journal of Psychiatry's website.

Parents cannot control what other people say to their children, but they can prepare their children.

1. Why does the author use the popular saying at the beginning?

A．To show the power of words.

B．To introduce an opposite view.

C．To prove the author's argument.

D．To show ancient people's wisdom.

2. What did the people studied in the research have in common?

A．They were hurt by unkind words.

B．They performed poorly in imaging tests.

C．They had their brain slightly damaged.

D．They experienced no physical abuse at home.

3. What will be discussed in the next paragraph?

A．Comments on the findings.

B．Approaches to further studies.

C．Suggestions to parents.

D．Different opinions on the matter.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Unkind words hurt the brain.

B．Verbal violence should be stopped.

C．The way we speak matters.

D．Words are worse than sticks and stones.

7 . 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。

In many countries,     1     is not unusual for families of different backgrounds to live together in the shared space.     2    , in the United States, this idea may still be considered strange.

But this type of housing,     3    (call) co-housing, is gaining     4     (popular) in the United States, too. Co-housing complexes are popping up across the country. For many people, this way of life is a relief to the busy modern lifestyle. A co-housing community has     5     (private) owned houses and shared land. There is often a “common house” with     6     kitchen and dining room, meeting room, and maybe a workshop of library or music room. About 25 co-housing communities     7     (build) in recent years, and 150 more are planned.

A co-housing complex is a place     8     residents shop, cook, and eat together. Residents of a co-housing complex like its sense of shared community. Children have other kids to play     9    , which many families like. Other residents like the feeling of living in a “village”. Residents also say that they can live in co-housing for     10    (little) money than they would pay for nearby apartments.

8 . In the 1994 film Forrest Gump, there’s a famous saying, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” The surprise is part of the fun. Now blind box toys are bringing the magic of surprise to online shopping.

A blind box toy is hidden inside uniform packaging but invisible from the outside. You don’t know what will be inside, although the toys typically come from pop culture, ranging from movies to comics and cartoons.

Blind boxes have caught on since they were first introduced from Japan to China in 2014. According to a 2019 Tmall report, the mini-series of Labubu blind box, designed by Kasing Lung, was named Champion of Unit Sales with 55, 000 sold in just 9 seconds during the Singles Day shopping event. Most customers for blind boxes are young people aged 18 to 35.

According to The Paper, blind box toys are popular in part because of their cute appearances. The typically cute cartoon characters come in small sizes, making them suitable for display almost anywhere.

Even if blind boxes are not their top choice for decorations, the mystery and uncertainty of the process also attracts people. It’s the dominant reason why people buy blind boxes one after another.

“Fear of the unknown is always a part of the box-opening process,” said Miss Cao, 24, who lives and works in Shenyang. Speaking to Sina News, she said, “Until you open all the boxes, you cannot know what it is inside.”

Opening a blind box is a delightful little surprise for our boring routine lives, something small but fun to wait for each day, week or month. When people open this simple little box, they may be disappointed, but the uncertainty is part of the fun. People will open more blind boxes and hope for a better outcome.

When someone remakes Forrest Gump, don’t be surprised if he says, “Life is like a blind box. . . ”

1. What is the purpose of the author’s mentioning the famous saying in the film Forres Gum?

A．To tell the story about Forrest Gump.

B．To introduce readers a new topic.

C．To give readers a surprise.

D．To show life is full of uncertainty.

2. How are the blind boxes received in China?

A．They are popular with young people.

B．They are rejected by the aged people.

C．55, 000 boxes’ are sold in a single day.

D．They are mainly used for display.

3. What can we infer from the last three paragraphs?

A．Blind boxes appeal to people of all ages.

B．Blind boxes add fun to people’s daily life.

C．Blind boxes bring uncertainty to our life.

D．Blind boxes offer us more surprise than fear.

4. What is the best title for the passage?.

A．Life is like a box of chocolates

B．The surprise to open a box

C．Forrest Gump, a remade film

D．Blind box toys, new favorites to people

10 . According to a new US study, couples who expect their children to look after them in old age should hope they have daughters because daughters are twice as loving as sons generally.

The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, from Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.

Her analysis of the family networks of 26, 000 old Americans concluded that gender （性别）is one of the most important things that decide whether or not people will actively care for their elderly parents.

In a paper presented at the annual conference of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco, she concludes that simply having a sister makes men likely provide less care. Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been recording those people over 50s for the last decade, she analyzed that women provide an average of 12. 3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5. 6 hours.

“Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother.”

“This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters.”

In the UK, the 2011 Census showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities, a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.

But many are doing so at the risk of their health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a fulltime job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts who are not carers.

1. According to the passage, what’s the key factor to decide if people will actively care for the old?

A．Education.

B．Gender.

C．Career.

D．Income.

2. The US study finds that ________.

A．having a sister makes men less likely to look after their parents

B．sons are twice as likely as daughters to care for parents in old age

C．sons are unwilling to leave caregiving responsibilities to their sisters

D．sons and daughters seem to give equal care to their parents

3. What does the author stress in the last paragraph?

A．People should give up their jobs to care for the elderly.

B．Many care providers work longer hours than others.

C．Many care providers have potential health problems.

D．People shouldn’t pass on caring responsibilities to others.

4. The author develops the text by ________.

A．explaining social networks of careers

B．describing people’s experiences

C．analyzing various researches and data

D．comparing different gender