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    Last summer, Steller pulled off the freeway on her way to work. She ______ at a traffic light, where a man was sitting with a ______ asking for help. She rolled down her ______. “Hey!” she shouted. “I’m driving around giving ______ haircuts. Do you want one right now?”

The man looked to be in his 60s. He was strongly built, and missing a few ______. “Actually,” he said, “I have a funeral to go to this week. I was really hoping to get a ______.”

Steller unloaded a red chair from her car. The man took the ______, and she ______ his curly graying hair. He ______ her about growing up in Mississippi about moving to Minnesota to be closer to his adult children, and how he still talks to his mom every day.

After Steller was ______, Edward looked in a ______. “ I look good!” he said. “I’ll have to remember to put my teeth in next time.”

Steller knows that a haircut can ______ a life. One changed hers: As a teen, she suffered from a severe ______, and her hair thinned too much. Seeing this, her mother arranged for Steller’s first professional haircut.

“To sit down and have somebody ______ me and talk to me like a ______ and not just an illness, it helped me feel ______ about.” She says. After that, Steller knew she wanted to have her own salon (美发厅) so she could help people ______ the way she’d felt that day.

“It’s more than a free haircut.” Steller says. “I listen to people’s stories of loss, addiction, and ______ to get back on their feet. I can’t ______ their problems, but maybe I can help them feel less ______ for a moment.”

1.A.settled B.stood C.stopped D.met

2.A.sign B.video C.book D.friend

3.A.door B.window C.chair D.lamp

4.A.regular B.fancy C.latest D.free

5.A.years B.teeth C.things D.meals

6.A.pound B.job C.haircut D.response

7.A.seat B.risk C.advice D.chance

8.A.brushed B.colored C.pulled D.cut

9.A.asked B.told C.informed D.consulted

10.A.done B.paid C.left D.gone

11.A.box B.direction C.spot D.mirror

12.A.start B.save C.change D.escape

13.A.condition B.loss C.failure D.disease

14.A.look at B.believe C.call on D.judge

15.A.servant B.person C.poet D.fool

16.A.sorry B.proud C.bitter D.cared

17.A.clear B.lead C.feel D.smooth

18.A.ability B.struggle C.permission D.decision

19.A.fix B.cause C.ignore D.recognize

20.A.guilty B.ashamed C.alone D.connected

    Asking for feedback (反馈)is an essential step in your design process regardless of whether your work is finished or not. 1. You may do this in team meetings. You may do this after a person stares at your works for two hours, or after you post what you’ve just created. But in your effort to improve, it’s vital to understand the characteristics that separate three types of feedback.

Reaction-based feedback tends to be casual and emotional. For example, “That’s wonderful!” Feedback of this type is driven by what a person thinks he is expected to say or what the designer wants to hear. 2. This kind of reaction has little to do with what is being presented.

3. For example, “You should include a wider range of colors and make them match.” That’s also where such feedback ends. In this form of feedback, the individual providing it is often looking for ways to bring the creation more in line with his own expectations for designs.

When you are designing something, you need to have a specific purpose. When looking for feedback, you are working to understand whether your creation appropriately meets the purpose.

4. And that’s exactly what is offered by a critique （批判性反馈）,the third kind of feedback. For example, “If the purpose is to attract kids, it is fantastic to have a colorful castle-like building. Don’t use dark cloth, and avoid large furniture.” Comment of this type helps you tell if your work has achieved the desired outcome. 5.

A.But feedback differs greatly in its usefulness.

B.Direction-based feedback begins with a suggestion.

C.Sometime you need to turn to others for their comments.

D.It’s this form of feedback that is most helpful to your design.

E.You are looking for critical analysis for strengths or weaknesses.

F.Like emotional feedback, this next kind of feedback offers no explanation.

G.It is a response to the social demands of the situation rather than the needs of the designer.

    Cars produced today are essentially smartphones with wheels. For drivers, this has meant many new features: automatic braking (刹车), turn-by-turn directions, infotainment systems. But carmakers are getting much, much more; They’re constantly collecting data from our vehicles, like how much we weigh, how fast we drive, how many children we have-even financial information.

Debates around privacy often focus on companies like Facebook. But today’s connected cars-and tomorrow’s autonomous vehicles show how the commercial opportunities in collecting personal data are limitless. Your location data will allow companies to advertise to you based on where you live, work or frequently travel. Data gathered from voice-command technology could also be useful to advertisers. Data on your driving habits could be valuable to insurance companies. You may or may not choose to share your data with these services. But while you can turn off location data on your cellphone, there’s no such feature for your car.

Because of the increasing complexity of cars and the Internet of Things, data is critical to repair and service. When carmakers control the data, they can choose which service centers receive our information. They’re more likely to share our data only with their branded dealerships than with independent repair shops, which could have the edge in price and convenience.

It’s clear, because of its value-as high as $ 750 billion by 2030-carmakers are unlikely to release control of the data collected from our vehicles. Policymakers, however, have the opportunity to give drivers control-not just so that they can keep their data private but also so that they can share it with the people they want to see it. This will let car owners maintain what they’ve had for a century: the right to decide who fixes their car.

1.What can we learn about the vehicle data?

A.It is available and free to all.

B.It tends to put drivers at risk.

C.It brings drivers limitless profits.

D.It offers whatever the carmakers want.

2.What does the underlined phrase “have the edge” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A.Be weaker. B.Be worse.

C.Be better. D.Be safer.

3.What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A.Car owners already have direct access to their vehicle data.

B.Drivers trade personal information for convenience.

C.Carmakers will share the vehicle data with drivers soon.

D.Laws are expected to bring the data back to drivers.

4.In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A.Entertainment. B.Health.

C.Education. D.Science.

    We pick the upbeat tunes for parties and workouts, and save the low-key songs for romantic or sad moments. It’s hardly a new idea that music is mixed with our emotions. But how have our favorites changed over the decades, and what do these changes say about America’s shifting emotional landscape (景象)?

Researcher E. Glenn Schellenberg set out to examine songs popular in America during the last five decades, using a selection from Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 charts, hoping to learn how emotional cues (提示) in music, such as tempo (slow to fast) and mode (major or minor key), have changed since 1960.

The most striking finding is the change in key. Songs written in a major key tend to sound warm and high-spirited, while songs in a minor key can sound darker and more melancholic (忧郁的). Over the last few decades, popular songs have switched from major to minor keys. Broadly speaking, the sound has shifted from bright and happy to something more complex. The study also finds America’s popular songs have become slower and longer. Even more interesting, is that our current favorites are more likely to be emotionally ambiguous, such as sad-sounding songs being fast or happy-sounding songs being slow.

A possible explanation for the changes is that the more contemporary music reflects the hardships that our society has gone through. However, Schellenberg believes that the steady increase in length and decrease in tempo doesn’t support the idea of growing difficulties fully because it would mean our problems have increased steadily over the last fifty years. He suggests that popular songs have become more complex over time because Americans are becoming more diverse and individualized in their musical tastes.

Though we can only guess about the specific causes of this evolution in music, Schellenberg’s initial observations have helped to open the door to research on the link between emotion and music consumption. Perhaps someday we’ll learn more of the secrets behind the music we love and the times we live in.

1.Why did Schellenberg start the study?

A.To change music styles. B.To explore changes in music.

C.To select America’s favorite music. D.To examine the creation of music.

2.What can we learn from the findings?

A.Older songs were often more sad-sounding.

B.Popular songs have become warmer and shorter.

C.Recent hits are likely to be longer and more complex.

D.Current favorites tend to be composed in a major key.

3.What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?

A.The influences of the study. B.The diversity of musical tastes.

C.The causes of the music changes. D.The features of America’s society.

4.What is the author’s attitude to the study?

A.Positive. B.Doubtful.

C.Disapproving. D.Ambiguous.

    Robert Vallieres hikes for miles, often three times a week, climbing the high mountains, just to get a glimpse of his beloved birds.

Many years ago, as a young engineer in the army, Vallieres was struck in the head in a task in Gulf War, which ended his military career and left him fighting for his life. He was 28 years old and battled stress, survivor’s guilt and PTSD (创伤后应激障碍). “When you’re disabled and you really can’t move too much, you’re wondering if death is nearby.” he said.

Despite his condition, Vallieres still had to be a father to his little boy-a curious child who helped jump start his love for birds.

One day, his three-year-old son noticed a bird and asked his father what kind it was. Vallieres bought a bird identification book and started learning along with his son. He bought some small telescopes and the two began observing birds together near their home in New Hampshire.

Then came another turning point. Vallieres saw an ad in the newspaper for a birding trip in New Hampshire’s White Mountains and signed up.

Now it’s his joy and renewed purpose to track and save the peregrine falcon and the bald eagle-two species nearly wiped out by the chemicals used for killing pests. It’s hard physical work for anyone, which needs patience, keen observation skills and time. But Vallieres is a natural at it, because his military training made him a perfect match, especially in reading maps and navigating.

Vallieres says not only does his volunteering help with physical fitness, but also his mental state. “To find rhythm or purpose in life besides myself,” says Vallieres, “I shouldn’t get stuck on myself but have a way out.”

1.What led to Vallieres leaving the army?

A.Life failure. B.Severe injury.

C.His son. D.Love for birds.

2.How did Vallieres start his new rhythm in life?

A.By climbing mountains often.

B.By buying some small telescopes.

C.By strengthening the military training.

D.By signing up for protecting birds.

3.Why is Vallieres suitable for the volunteer work?

A.For his habit of reading. B.For his experience in army.

C.For his devotion to career. D.For his talent in drawing maps.

4.What can be a suitable title for the text?

A.A Volunteer’s Story of Saving Birds

B.An Inspiring Story of Self-motivation

C.A Soldier’s Story of Healing through Birds

D.A Moving Story Between a Father and His Son