Anyone who wants to can call any timepiece a clock, but technically speaking, only _________ ones ring out the time actually deserve the name.

A.whatever B.whenever C.whichever D.wherever

_________ has recently been done to provide more buses, a shortage of public vehicles remains a serious problem.

A.That B.What C.In spite of what D.Though what

_________ in the northwest of China, Xi'an is seen as the birthplace of the country's civilization.

A.Locating B.Being located C.To locate D.Located

The Qingming Festival, now a national holiday, allows more people to pay their respects to dead relatives on         would otherwise be a workday like Friday.

A.where B.that

C.when D.what

— Did Bob take the job in the supermarket? — No, but I think he _________.

A.will have B.may have C.should have D.must have

______, his ideas was accepted by all the people at the meeting.

A.Strange as might it sound B.As it might sound strange

C.As strange it might sound D.Strange as it might sound

The purpose of the research project has a more different meaning for them than _________.

A.that for us B.it has for us C.it did for us D.it did for ours

They didn't discover until they happened to enter the back room _________ someone had stolen the priceless painting.

A.that B.what C.which D.when

Out of suffering _________.

A.have emerged the strongest souls B.emerged the strongest souls have

C.have the strongest souls emerged D.the strongest souls have emerged

Although there is more female participation in IT workforce,______ a significant imbalance of male and female senior positions.

A.it remains B.there remains

C.there remaining D.that remains

You should take control of your life _________ it is planning coursework or picking a major.

A.whenever B.whether C.whatever D.no matter

— David has made great progress recently.

— _________, and _________.

A.So he has ... so you have B.So he has ... so have you

C.So has he ... so do you D.So has he ... so you have

Directions: Write an English composition in 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.

假设你是明启中学的李华，你在美国的朋友 Chris 写信询问你和你的伙伴们是怎样度过今年特殊的春节的，请给Chris 写一封电子邮件，邮件必须包含以下内容

1.今年的春节和往年不同的地方

2.你和你的伙伴们选择的度过方式和活动

3.你的感受

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in  the  brackets.

1.这公司推广的新电子设备无法满足本地学生的需要。（meet）

2.我从未想到会有如此多的人在短时间内感染上这么严重的病毒。（Never）

3.无论采用何种销售策略，这个想要诓骗青少年的项目必然不攻自破。（intend）

4.尽管宅在家，只要营养膳食，规律作息，每日线上练习，高三学生一定能取得最终成功。（despite）

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.

Would a person born blind, who has learned to distinguish objects by touch, be able to recognize them purely by sight if he regained the ability to see? The question, known as Molyneux’s problem, is about whether the human mind has a built-in concept of shapes that is so innate(天生的) that such a blind person could immediately recognize an object with restored vision. The alternative is that the concepts of shapes are not innate but have to be learned by exploring an object through sight, touch and other senses.

After their attempt to test it in blind children failed, Lars Chittka of Queen Mary University of London and his colleagues have taken another attempt at finding an answer, this time using another species. To test whether bumblebees can form an internal representation of objects, they first trained the insects to distinguish globes from cubes using a sugar reward. The bees were trained in the light, where they could see but not touch the objects. Then they were tested in the dark, where they could touch but not see the globes or cubes. The researchers found that the bumblebees spent more time in contact with the shape they had been trained to associate with the sugar reward, even though they had to rely on touch rather than sight to distinguish the objects.

The researchers also did the reverse test with untrained bumblebees, first teaching them with rewards in the dark and then testing them in the light. Again, the bees were able to recognize the shape associated with the sugar reward, though they had to rely on sight rather than touch in the test. In short, bees have solved Molyneux's problem because the fact suggests that they can picture object features and access them through sight or touch.

However, some experts express their warnings. Jonathan Birch, a philosopher of science, cautions that the bees may have had prior experience associating visual and tactile(触觉的) information about straight edges and curved surfaces in the context of their nests, so it is not possible to eliminate the possibility that some of the cross-sensory concept is learned rather than innate.

Directions: Complete  the  following  passage  by  using  the  sentences  given  below. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.

Possible Limitations of Online Learning

If eLearning, however, is not based on solid instructional design theories and models it may lead to the following limitations:

1. It may be a "solo" act.

It is true that, although online learning might be convenient and flexible, it is also a solo act. It will not be easy for all of your learners to feel comfortable when participating in online discussions and engaging more actively with their online instructors or their virtual classmates. Some people absolutely need personal contact with their educators or trainers in order to learn successfully. Furthermore, some types of learning problems may be difficult to be addressed online, and some questions can be lost in a sea of requests and inquiries. 1.

2. 2.

However hard we try to fully transfer human communication to online platforms, however natural it seems to form relationships behind computer screens, a virtual environment is just not human. Nothing can replace human contact. Besides, using a computer or a tablet all the time can cause poor vision, strain injuries, and other physical problems. Consider sending guidelines about right sitting posture, desk height, etc. along with your eLearning course; it might be very useful to your audience.

3. It requires self-discipline.

If your eLearning audience lacks self-discipline, it is unlikely that they will be motivated to self study. Traditional learning and training have the benefit of easily tracking both progress and falling behind. 3.

4. Possible lack of control.

However carefully you design your eLearning course, there is no guarantee that your messages will get across. You offer your learners control over their eLearning experience, but are they going to use it effectively? There is always the risk of your learners just going through the material without paying any attention. 4. Unless you know exactly what you’re doing with new technologies, it is very likely that you overwhelm or distract your audience.

Creating effective online learning courses requires knowledge, time, experience, commitment, great communication skills, and a true passion for learning. If you’ve got all that, then be sure that the advantages of your online training outweigh its limitations.

A.It may be impersonal.

B.If your eLearning content is not built to make the most of the medium it will easily become disengaging.

C.This sometimes makes learners feel they lack support and reassurance.

D.It may harm your mental health.

E.Online learning requires some IT literacy, yet not every one of your learners has much experience of computers.

F.This works for many learners as well, as some people prefer their progress to be closely monitored in order to perform.

    Financial regulations in Britain have imposed a rather unusual rule on the bosses of big banks. Starting next year, any guaranteed bonus of top executives could be delayed 10 years if their banks are under investigation for wrongdoing. The main purpose of this “clawback” rule is to hold bankers responsible for harmful risk-taking and to restore public trust in financial institution. Yet officials also hope for a much larger benefit: more long-term decision-making not only by banks but also by all corporations, to build a stronger economy for future generations.

“Short-termism” or the desire for quick profits, has worsened in publicly traded companies, says the Bank of England’s top economist, Andrew Haldane. He quotes a giant of classical economies, Alfred Marshall, in describing this financial impatience as acting like “Children who pick the strawberries out of their pudding to eat them at once” rather than putting them aside to be eaten last.

The average time for holding a stock in both the United States and Britain, he notes, has dropped from seven years to seven months in recent decades. Transient(短期的) investors, who demand high quarterly profits from companies, can hold back a firm’s efforts to invest in long-term research or to build up customer loyalty. This has been called “quarterly capitalism”.

In addition, new digital technologies have allowed more rapid trading of equities( 股 票 ), quicker use of information, and thus shortens attention spans in financial markets. “There seems to be an advantage of short-term thinking at the expense of long-term investing,” said Commissioner Daniel Gallagher of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in speech this week.

In the US, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has pushed most public companies to delay performance bonuses for senior executives by about a year, slightly helping reduce “short-termism.” In its latest survey of CEO pay, The Wall Street Journal finds that “a substantial part” of executive pay is now tied to performance.

Much more could be done to encourage “long-termism,” such as changes in the tax code and quicker disclosure(披露) of stock acquisitions. In France, shareholders who hold onto a company investment for at least two years can sometimes earn more voting rights in a company.

Within companies, the right compensation design can provide motivation for executives to think beyond their own time at the company and on behalf of all shareholders. Britain’s new rule is a reminder to bankers that society has an interest in their performance, not just for the short term but for the long term.

1.According to Paragraph 1, one reason for imposing the new rule is the _______.

A.enhance banker’s sense of responsibility

B.help corporations achieve larger profits

C.build a new system of financial regulation

D.guarantee the bonuses of top executives

2.It is argued that the influence of transient investment on public companies can be _______.

A.indirect B.negative

C.favorable D.temporary

3.The US and France examples in paragraphs 5 and 6 are used to illustrate_______.

A.the obstacles to preventing “short-termism”.

B.the significance of long-term thinking.

C.the approaches to promoting “long-termism”

D.the popularity of short-term thinking.

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A.Failure of Quarterly Capitalism

B.Patience as a Corporate Virtue

C.Decisiveness Required of Top Executives

D.Frustration of Risk-taking Bankers

Guaranteed! The fastest way to learn a language.

Finally, we have a different approach that has millions of people impressed. Using the award-winning Dynamic Immersion method, our interactive software teaches without translation, memorization or grammar drills. Combining thousands of real-life images and the voices of native speakers in a step-by-step immersion process, our programs successfully copy the experience of learning your first language. Guaranteed to teach faster and easier than any other language product or your money back. No questions asked.

1.Which of the following is the advantage of the Dynamic Immersion method?

A.It encourages active memorization of words.

B.It provides extensive drills on grammar items.

C.It allows the user to acquire a language in a shorter time.

D.It teaches by translating the foreign language into your native language.

2.In order to know one’s progress, one has to _______.

A.call 1800-6310-1389 to consult the teacher

B.get feedback from the automated tutorials

C.complete all the 20 activities in each lesson

D.compare one’s voice with the native speaker’s

3.Which of the following skills in the program has more to do with the learner’s life experience?

A.Listening B.Reading

C.Speaking D.Writing

    Last July, Angela Peters, 36, rolled her wheelchair into a nail salon located at the Walmart shopping center in Burton, Michigan, with the idea of painting her nails. But Peters, who has cerebral palsy（脑瘫）, was turned away. The salon (which is not owned by Walmart), she says, told her that they were afraid it would be too difficult to properly do the job given that her hands shook. What was meant to be a day of beauty bliss for Peters was now a disappointment.

Watching the interaction from a few feet away was a Walmart cashier about to go on her break. Ebony Harris, 40, recognized Peters as a Walmart regular. Now what she recognized in Peters was a kindred spirit. “She’s just like you, me, my daughter, anybody,” Harris told ABC News, “She wants to look pretty. So why can’t she?”

Harris approached Peters. “Do you want me to do your nails?” she asked. A smile spread across Peters’ face. “Yeah!” Having found a table for two, Harris gently took Peter’s hand into hers and carefully began painting her nails.

“I was a little nervous and was shaking because I didn’t want to mess her nails up,” Harris admitted. “I told her she’s a blessing to anybody, not just me. She makes me look at life and appreciate it much more than I have.”

Watching it all with amazement and admiration was Subway employee Tasia Smith. What struck her most was the ease and gentleness displayed by Harris as she painted Peters’ nails, all the while chatting as if they were old friends. Smith was so taken by the scene that she wrote about it on Facebook. “They were so patient with her,” she wrote. “Thanks to the Walmart worker for making this beautiful girl’s day!”

Peters, who runs a poetry website, harbors no bitterness toward the nail salon that turned her away. “When people do us wrong, we must forgive,” Peters wrote on Facebook. “I just want to educate people that those with different challenges, like being in a wheelchair, can have our own business and get our nails done like anyone else.”

1.Why was Peters declined when she wanted to have her nails painted?

A.She insisted on sitting in a wheelchair.

B.She was not a regular customer of the salon.

C.Her hands shook involuntarily due to disability.

D.There was no need for her to have nails painted.

2.It can be inferred from “a kindred spirit” in Paragraph 2 that _______.

A.Peters was in high spirits just like others around her.

B.Peters was approached with special attention and care.

C.Peters was more tolerant of the denial than normal people.

D.Peters was no different from the people around her.

3.In Paragraph 4, Harris referred to Angela Peters as “a blessing” because _______.

A.Peters deserved to be happy and be treated kindly.

B.Harris was reminded why she should be grateful.

C.Harris felt obliged to offer her a hand on a voluntary basis

D.Peters got her nails done despite the previous rejection.

4.What may well be Angela Peters’ guiding principle in life?

A.Beauty is about having a pretty mind, a pretty soul, as well as pretty poetry.

B.Forgive others who have wronged us, and we are likely to enjoy our life more.

C.Being grateful is a way to sing for our life which comes just from our love and hope.

D.Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.

    If you examine the birth certificate of every soccer player in the last Word Cup tournament, you will most likely find the excellent players were born in the earlier months of the year. If you then examine the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup, you will find this phenomenon even more _______ .

What might account for this strange phenomenon? Some guess a certain astrological sign(星座) _________superior soccer skills; others maintain that winter-born babies have higher oxygen capacity which increases soccer stamina(it t ).But Anderson Ericsson, a 58-year-old professor who is called the expert on experts, believes in neither. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved _______ training a person to hear and repeat a random series of numbers. "With the first subject after 20 hours of training, his digital span rose to 20, Ericsson recalls, "and after about 200 hours of training he could repeat up to 80 numbers

This success, coupled with later research showing memory itself is not _______ determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is a cognitive( i in a) exercise, which means whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are _________ by how well each person encodes the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as _________ practice. It involves more than simply repeating a task _______ playing a C-minor scale 100 times hitting tennis serves until your shoulder pops out of its socket. _______ it involves stepping outside your comfort zone, setting specific and well-defined goals, focusing on _______ areas of expertise, obtaining immediate feedback from professionals and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.

Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken to studying high achievers in a wide range of ________ including soccer, golf, chess, piano playing and darts. They gather all the data they can and make a rather shocking statement: the trait we commonly call talent is highly ________, And yes, expert performers are nearly always made.

Ericsson’s formula seems appealing to many tiger parents: "practice makes perfect" is naturally ________ to genetic determinism. By________ innate ability as insignificant, many are confident they can make a concert-level pianist or an Olympic figure skater of their kids as long as they push them hard enough. Ericsson, ________ believes what parents should learn from the science of expertise is not the effect of logging thousands of hours, but how to get kids to. ________ the importance and challenge of effective practice

1.A.understandable B.misleading C.appealing D.noticeable

2.A.promises B.improves C.compromises D.masters

3.A.numbers B.subjects C.memory D.practice

4.A.physically B.genetically C.fundamentally D.psychologically

5.A.overshadow B.demonstrated C.strengthened D.produced

6.A.enormous B.deliberate C.desperate D.persistent

7.A.on average B.more importantly C.for instance D.in particular

8.A.Besides B.Nevertheless C.Therefore D.Rather

9.A.various B.comprehensive C.targeted D.minor

10.A.pursuits B.occupations C.performances D.assumptions

11.A.underestimate B.overrated C.flexible D.demanding

12.A.equal B.inferior C.preferable D.beneficial

13.A.dismissing B.lacking C.recognizing D.highlighting

14.A.likewise B.therefore C.besides D.however

15.A.study B.practice C.reflect D.embrace

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.

Joaquin Phoenix took home the best-actor Oscar on Sunday night for his role in “Joker.” In the following lengthy and wide-ranging speech, the actor, 45, tackled issues of equality and nature preservation.

I’m full of so much gratitude right now. And I do not feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees (被提名者) or anyone in this room 1. we share the same love, the love of film.

But I think the greatest gift it’s given me, and many of us in this room, 2. (be) the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless. And this form of expression has given me the most extraordinary life. I don’t know what I’d be 3. it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about some of  the 4. (distress) issues that we are facing collectively. I think at times we’re made 5. (feel), that we champion different causes. But for me, I see commonality. I think, 6.we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice. We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one race, or one gender or one species has the right to dominate, control and exploit 7. without punishment.

I think that we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world, and 8. we’re guilty of is a self-centered world view that we're the center of the universe.

And I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think that we have to sacrifice something, but human beings, at our best, are so inventive and creative and original. And I think that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, and implement systems of change 9. are beneficial to all emotional beings and to the environment.

Now, I have been, I have been a villain in my life. I’ve been selfish. I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and I’m grateful that I 10. (give) a second chance because of the many of you in this room.

Directions: Write an English composition in 120 -150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.

最近新冠病毒肆虐的特殊时期，全国各地大中小学都在组织学生在家上网课，学生利用电脑、手机以及各种 App 学习。 经历了两个多月的网上学习体验，请把居家上网课和在学 校课堂学习做一个比较，并说明你更喜欢哪一种方式及理由。

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.

1.有些家长从来没有意识到，替孩子们做所有事情其实对孩子们的成长弊大于利。（It）

2.专家认为 2019 冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的疫苗可能需要 12 至 18 个月才能成功研发出来。（take）

3.各种在线学习课程会把你的时间表排满，所以你得抽出充足的时间去放松或运动，正如你在校园学习时一样。（set aside）

4.当被要求居家隔离并保持社交距离时，很多人用各种活动自娱自乐，以乐观心态应对这 场危机。（entertain）

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.

Standing desks have been praised for their positive effects on physical health, reducing sitting time and lowering certain health risks linked to a sedentary( 久坐的) lifestyle. But could standing desks have positive mental effects?

New research suggests that students may think best when they are on their feet. It offers some of the first evidence of mental benefits of standing desks in classrooms.

Testing was done on high school freshmen who used standing desks, evaluating them at the beginning and end of the school year. Dr. Ranjana Mehta, an assistant professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, led the experiments aiming to assess standing desks’ mental benefits.

Through computerized tests, students’ executive functions were evaluated. Executive functions are the cognitive skills used to analyze tasks and break them into steps, and are directly related  to  academic  needs  like  time  management,  memorizing  facts  and  solving multi-step problems. These functions are largely controlled by frontal(前额的) brain regions, so researchers used a portable brain-imaging device to examine any related changes.

“Test results indicated that continued use of standing desks was associated with significant improvements in executive functions and working memory abilities,” Mehta said. “Changes in corresponding brain activation patterns were also observed.”

“Interestingly, our research showed the use of standing desks improved mental function, which is consistent with results from previous studies on school-based exercise  programs,” Mehta noted.

Policymakers, public health professionals and school administrators should consider the positive effects of standing desks and make some simple changes in classrooms that will have the potential to increase energy expenditure and develop cognitive skills. That would be a valuable contribution to the educational world.

Directions: Complete the following passage by using the sentences in the box. Each sentence can only be used once. Note that there are two sentences more than you need.

Think of Spider-Man, Iron Man and Ant-Man. Think of Black Panther, the Mighty Thor and the X-Men. Think of the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and all the other superheroes that have stimulated the popular imagination. 1.. From a small office in Manhattan in the 1960s, he helped create a lineup of fictional heroes that have crossed from page to screen in a series of TV and movie adaptations and changed the face of popular culture.

For many, he was the face of Marvel, if not comic books in general, witnessing the company's rise to become an international media giant. As a writer, editor, publisher and Hollywood executive, he played a critical role in what comic fans call one of the medium's golden ages.

2.. Lee gave the heroes flaws and insecurities, as well as an awareness of trends, social causes and a sense of humor, trying to ''make them real flesh-and-blood characters with personality, '' he told The Washington Post in 1992. ''That's what any story should have, but comics didn't have it until that point. They were all cardboard figures. ''

3.. Iron Man, for example, could join forces with the Fantastic Four, and Captain America could find himself a wedding guest alongside Doctor Strange. Lee created a fictional universe for readers to explore — one that made readers buy multiple series to get the whole story.

''I used to think what I did was not very important, '' Lee told the Chicago Tribune in 2014. ''People are building bridges and participating in medical research, and here I was working on stories about fictional people who do crazy things and wear costumes. But I suppose I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed. ''

Stan Lee was as extraordinary as the characters he created, said Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger. Indeed, Lee worked tirelessly his whole life creating great characters for the world to enjoy. 4.. His legacy will outlive us all.

A.He inspired our imagination and hoped we could use it to make the world a better place.

B.If all these entertainment products can be traced to one person, it would be Stan Lee, who died last November at the age of 95.

C.Lee also appeared in a number of Marvel movies, watering his lawn, delivering the mail, and so on.

D.In order to keep multiple stories going at the same time, Lee wove them together into a seamless(无缝的) fictional world.

E.Under Lee, Marvel transformed the comic book world by humanizing its characters.

F.Through the honesty of guys like Spider-Man, we learn about different aspects of human nature.

    On Wednesday, two things happened. In Syria, 80 people were killed by government airstrikes. Meanwhile, in Florida, Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched and fired a sports car into space. Guess which story has dominated mainstream news sites?

The launch of Musk’s Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful ever launched by a private company, went off successfully. Musk sent his cherry-red Tesla roadster running toward Mars, launching “a new space age”. The event attracted phenomenal publicity and made the rocket launch a masterstroke of advertising for Tesla.

Meanwhile, in Syria, where hundreds of thousands of refugees may be forced to return to unsafe homes, a UN human rights coordinator for Syria said despondently(沮丧地) that he was no longer sure why he bothers to videotape the effects of bombing, since nobody ever pays attention. He wondered what level of violence it would take to make the world care.

There is, perhaps, no better way to appreciate the tragedy of 21st-century global inequality than by watching a billionaire spend $90m launching a $100,000 car into space.

Musk said he wanted to participate in a space race because “races are exciting” and that while strapping his car to a rocket may be “silly and fun … silly and fun things are important”. Thus, anyone who mentions the huge waste the project involves, or the various social uses to which these resources could be put, can be dismissed as a killjoy.

But one doesn’t have to hate fun to question the justification for pursuing a costly new space race at exactly this moment. If we examine the situation honestly, it becomes hard to defend a project like this.

A mission to Mars does indeed sound exciting, but it’s important to have our priorities straight. First, perhaps we could make it so that a child no longer dies of malaria every two minutes. Or we could try to address the level of poverty in Alabama which has become so extreme that the UN investigator did not believe it could occur in a first-world country. Perhaps when violence, poverty and disease are solved, then we can head for the stars.

Many might think that what Elon Musk chooses to do with his billions is Elon  Musk’s business alone. If he wanted to spend all his money on medicine for children, that would be nice, but if he’d like to spend it making big explosions and sending his convertible on a million-mile space voyage, that’s his right.

But Musk is only rich enough to afford these money-consuming projects because we have allowed social inequalities to arise in the first place. If wealth were actually distributed fairly in this country, nobody would be in a position to fund his own private space program.

Elon Musk is right: silly and fun things are important. But some of them are an indefensible waste of resources. While there are still humanitarian crises such as that in Syria, nobody can justify vast spending on rocketry experiments.

1.Why does the writer mention the two pieces of news at the beginning of the passage?

A.To highlight the significance of SpaceX’s successful launch of a rocket and a car into space.

B.To illustrate the inequality of wealth distribution and the consequent inequality of attention distribution.

C.To appeal to the government for more attention to the air strikes and refugee crisis in Syria.

D.To find out which news dominated the mainstream news sites.

2.Why did the UN human rights coordinator for Syria feel disappointed?

A.Because nobody appreciated his work and all the efforts he made.

B.Because the violence in Syria is not serious enough to make the world care.

C.Because however hard he tried, nobody seemed to care about the situation in Syria.

D.Because he had great difficulty videotaping the effects of bombing.

3.What is implied in paragraph in 6 and 7?

A.The space project of SpaceX cost the government too much money.

B.Addressing problems of violence, poverty and diseases should be our top priority.

C.Space programs are a waste of money that cannot be justified.

D.It kills the fun to question the justification of the pursuit of space programs.

4.What does the writer mainly want to tell us?

A.We should pay equal attention to space projects and solving social problems.

B.No private companies should be allowed to spend money in rocketry experiments.

C.The successful launch of SpaceX has distracted the world from more important things.

D.The money and resources used in space projects could have been used to deal with various social problems.

    This booklet, prepared by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), provides an overview on depression. It will help you learn the things that everyone should know about depression.

This booklet is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered a guide for making medical decisions. For more information on depression, please visit the NIMH website at www.nimh.nih.gov.

1. Depression is a real illness.

Sadness is something we all experience. It is a normal reaction to difficult times in life and usually passes with a little time. When a person has depression, however, it interferes with daily life and normal functioning. Doctors call this condition “depressive disorder.” It is a real illness. Many factors may play a role in depression.

Causes of Depression

(1) Genetics, brain biology and chemistry

(2) Life events such as trauma, loss of a loved one

(3) A difficult relationship

(4) Early childhood experience

(5) Chronic illness, drug and alcohol abuse

(6) Any stressful situation

2. Depression affects people in different ways.

Not everyone who is depressed experiences every symptom. Some people experience only a few symptoms; others have many. The seriousness and frequency of symptoms, and how long they last, vary depending on the individual and the stage of the illness.

Symptoms of Depression

(1) Feelings of guilt, sadness, worthlessness, helplessness or hopelessness

(2) Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities

(3) Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions

(4) Persistent aches or pains

(5) Insomnia

(6) Appetite and/ or weight changes

(7) Consistent fatigue and decreased energy

(8) Thoughts of death or suicide, suicide attempts

3. Depression is treatable.

Depression, even the most serious cases, can be treated. The earlier treatment begins, the more effective it will be.

Dealing With Depression

Reach out and stay connected: Make real-life communication a priority! Spend time with other people and confide in a trusted friend or relative. Let them help you.

Try to be active and exercise: Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. This does not have to be all at once. A ten-minute walk can improve your mood for two hours.

Eat a healthy and mood-boosting diet: Reduce foods that contain caffeine, alcohol, trans fats, and foods with high levels of chemical preservatives as well as sugars.

Get a daily dose of sunlight: Sunlight can help improve your mood. Whenever possible, get outside during daylight hours and expose yourself to the sun.

Challenge negative thinking: Nothing is as bad as it seems at first. Try to move your focus away from concentrating on what is bad in your life.

Find professional help: If none of the above tips help, do not wait for the symptoms to disappear. Seek professional help.

4. You are not alone.

In addition to your treatment, you could also join a support group. At the meetings, people share experiences, feelings, information, and coping strategies for living with depression.

Depression Around the World

Nearly seven percent of American teens and adults are currently living with depression.

About 300 million people around the world are suffering from depression.

1.According to the article, depression is NOT something that ______.

① makes a person feel a little bit sad

② always has a clear cause

③ a person can get rid of

④ happens to a small group of people

A.①②③ B.①②④

C.①③④ D.②③④

2.According to the article, who might be suffering from depression?

A.A teenager who frequently complained of stomachaches before going to school and preferred to stay in her room alone.

B.A firefighter who had a sleepless night after a tough task.

C.A mother who felt really exhausted after helping her child with her homework.

D.An old man who had no appetite for his favorite food and decided to try a new diet.

3.If you had a friend who was living with depression, you should probably suggest he ______.

A.make an overseas trip all by himself

B.stay at the gym and work out day and night

C.concentrate on the negative feelings and try to overcome them

D.take professional advice and accept medical intervention

    Learning how to cope with death has always been a central part of human existence. Even the Pixar movie Coco bases its story on the Mexican traditions of Dia de los Muertos. In this article, you will find out why and how Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead.

I once visited the Museum of Mummies in the Mexican city of Guanajuato with a Swedish friend. The mummies were displayed among fake cobwebs ( 蜘 蛛 网 ), and other cheap adornments (装饰物). Confronted with this seeming lack of respect for the dead, I explained to my shocked companion that Mexicans have a peculiarly different relationship with death to other cultures. As the Nobel Prize-winning Mexican writer Octavio Paz explained in his work:

“The Mexican ... is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, and celebrates it. True, there is as much fear in his attitude as in that of others, but at least death is not hidden away: he looks at it face to face, with impatience, disdain (鄙视) or irony.”

The celebration of the Day of the Dead — a week of festivities from 28 October to 2 November — is an essential part of this embracement of death that is particular to Mexican national identity. The popular belief is that the dead have divine permission to visit friends and relatives on earth and enjoy once again the pleasures of life. Therefore, Mexicans visit the graves of families and friends and adorn them with colorful flowers and offerings of food. The period is a joyous celebration of life, rather than a sober mourning of its passing.

The origins of the festival lie in the 16th-century fusion of the Aztecs’ belief in death as merely one part in the wider cycle of existence, their ritual venerations (仪式崇拜) and offerings to  the goddess Mictecacihuatl  (“Lady of the Dead”) for  the deceased, and the Spanish conquerors’ desire to accommodate these festivities within the Catholic celebrations of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

In a country as socially and geographically diverse as Mexico, there is significant regional variation in the nature of festivities: the southern state of Chiapas is far more likely to focus its efforts on processions ( 队 伍 ) and public commemorations( 纪 念 ) of death than the valley of

Mexico, where the decoration of altars ( 供 坛 ) in homes and tombs of the deceased is more popular. Urbanization, too, plays a large role in regional variations. For the south and rural areas the period holds far greater social and cultural significance than in the north and large cities; families and communities in rural areas will often spend large parts of the year preparing for the occasion.

1.Why does the author say “Mexicans have a peculiarly different relationship with death to other cultures?”

A.Because Mexicans always show their respect for death in the form of mummies.

B.Because Mexicans do not fear death or respect it.

C.Because adornments like flowers can be seen everywhere during the Day of the Dead.

D.Mexicans face death bravely rather than hide it away.

2.Which statement is NOT true according to the origins of the Day of the Dead?

A.It was the Aztecs who determined how to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

B.The Aztecs believed death was part of the wider cycle of existence.

C.The Aztecs would give offerings to the goddess of death for their lost loved ones.

D.The Spanish conquerors wanted to fit the festivities into some of their Catholic celebrations.

3.Why do Mexicans visit the graves of families and friends and offer colorful flowers and food?

A.Because they can ask God to permit the dead to visit them in this way.

B.To celebrate the joy of new life in spring.

C.Because the dead will be permitted to visit their families and enjoy the pleasure of life again.

D.Because this is an essential part of embracement of death.

4.Which of the following explains the role that urbanization plays in the regional variations of celebrating the Day of the Dead?

A.People in the south and rural areas put more emphasis on the occasion.

B.People in the valleys usually decorate the alters in homes and the tombs of the dead.

C.People in the north and big cities spend large part of the year preparing for the celebration.

D.The southern states do not care about the decoration of alters at home.

    A new phone app uses vibrations from smart phones to warn people about earthquakes.

The phone app _______ sudden shaking of the earth’s surface through sensors in  smart phones. It is called MyShake. It is the work of four researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. They said they created a worldwide warning system that would _______ people and give them time to prepare. The MyShake app is _______ only for Android phones.

Smart phones are _______ accelerometers (加速度感应器). These instruments measure movement, like that of a car or airplane. MyShake uses phone accelerometers to measure seismic (地震的) activity. It has been _______ to know the difference between normal activity and earthquake movement. The software developers say their app is right 93 percent of the time.

A smart phone sends seismic information to the app developers. If the developers receive several notifications _______, it recognizes that an earthquake might be taking place or will take place soon.

Using information sent from the app, the network then _______ the  location and strength of the quake in real time. MyShake can record magnitude 5.0 earthquakes at distances of 10 kilometers or less.

MyShake uses very _______ power, according to its developers. Only when  seismic activity is  _______ by the app does it become active and sends data to the network. The app works best when your phone is resting on a ________ surface, like a table.

The developers hope that MyShake can add to information collected by the U.S. Geological Survey. That U.S. agency has created the Earthquake Early Warning System, also ________ EEW. The EEW has deployed (部署) sensors for measuring quakes in many areas.

In places where no such equipment ________, MyShake may be the only method of  early quake ________.  The app also shows ways to stay safer during an earthquake. The developers say it will become more effective as more people use it.

“Our goal is to build a worldwide seismic network and use the data to________ the effects of earthquakes on us as individuals and on society as a whole,” say the researchers.

The developers say they hope to add a feature that would ________ people  about a possible tsunami: a huge wave after an earthquake.

1.A.reports B.recognizes C.reveals D.reviews

2.A.infer B.include C.influence D.inform

3.A.acquired B.available C.affordable D.approachable

4.A.equipped with B.made up of C.filled with D.in need of

5.A.programmed B.protected C.prohibited D.promised

6.A.from different places B.from one area C.from the same phone              D.from another developer

7.A.controls B.connects C.estimates D.receives

8.A.much B.little C.excessive D.green

9.A.activated B.sensed C.resisted D.issued

10.A.low B.wooden C.high D.flat

11.A.honored with B.called for C.known as D.defined as

12.A.exists B.forms C.counts D.exploits

13.A.protection B.diagnosis C.detection D.resistance

14.A.raise B.receive C.record D.reduce

15.A.confirm B.appoint C.alert D.acknowledge

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.

Science fiction often presents us with planets that speak a single language. However,1. humans can express themselves in several thousand languages is a delight. Few would welcome the loss of this variety, and, along with it, a multiplicity of nations and cultures.

Unfortunately, the days 2. English shares the planet with thousands of other languages are numbered. A traveler to the future is likely to notice two things about the language landscape of Earth. One, there will be vastly fewer languages. Two, languages will be 3. (complicated) than they are today.

By 2115, it’s possible that only about 600 languages will be left on the planet as opposed to today’s 6,000. Too often, colonization has led to the disappearance of languages: Native speakers are punished 4. using their own languages. Urbanization has only furthered the destruction by bringing people away from their homelands to cities where a single language dominates.

In addition, it is easy for speakers to associate larger languages with opportunities and smaller ones with backwardness. Consequently, people stop passing on smaller languages  to their children.

There are diligent efforts 5. (keep) endangered languages from dying. Sadly, few are likely to lead to communities’ 6. (raise) children in the languages, which is the only way the languages exist as their full selves.

Instead, many communities create new versions of the languages, with smaller vocabularies and simpler grammar. The Irish Gaelic (盖尔语) proudly spoken by today’s English-Gaelic bilinguals is an example, something that one might call a “New Gaelic.”

Linguists have no single term yet for these new speech varieties, 7. from Germany’s “Kiezdeutsch” to Singapore’s “Singlish,” the world is witnessing the birth of more optimized versions of old languages. This simplification should not be taken as a sign of decline. All of the “optimized” languages remain full languages in every sense of the term.

We 8. regret the eclipse of a world where 6,000 different languages 9. (speak), but fortunately, it seems a decent amount of linguistic diversity will be preserved.  Besides, 10. languages become easier to pick up, the future may promise even more mutual comprehension.