阅读理解Questions 21 to 30 are based on the following passage

阅读理解Task 1 Directions: After reading the following passage,you will find five questions or unfinished statements ( No. 46 to No.50) . For each question or statement there are four choices marked A,B,C and D、You are required to make the correct choice and write the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.Many post-80s couples are complaining that going to the movies,shopping or attending parties have become impossible since their kids were born. That' s the way most parents are living their lives,no weekends of their own,no time to visit friends,not even a chance of promotion in their jobs.Asking help from their parents might be a way out, but problems are that some aging parents are not strong enough to take care of the kids,and that the kids may also become too spoiled by their grandparents.Then,here comes a solution: families with kids can form a small group,and parents of each family can take turns to look after all the kids in this group on weekends.Thus,other parents can have some quiet time and feel free to do something they' ve been planning for a long time. At the same time,the kids can make new friends and won' t be hanging around their parents all day long.is baby-pooling.Many post-80s couples can't go to the movies,shop or attend parties because_____.

阅读理解In this text, the author mainly discusses

阅读理解Thestartofhighschooldoesn’thavetobestressfulA)Thismonth,morethan4millionstudentsacrossthenationwillbeginhighschool.Manywilldowell.Butmanywillnot.Considerthatnearlytwo-thirdsofstudentswillexperiencetheninth-gradeshock,whichreferstoadramaticdropinastudent’sacademicperformance.Somestudentscopewiththisshockbyavoidingchallenges.Forinstance,theymaydropdifficultcoursework.Othersmayexperienceahopelessnessthatresultsinfailingtheircoreclasses,suchasEnglish,scienceandmath.B)Thisshouldmatteragreatdealtoparents,teachersandpolicymakers.Ultimatelyitshouldmattertothestudentsthemselvesandsocietyatlarge,becausestudents’experienceoftransitioning(过渡)totheninthgradecanhavelong-termconsequencesnotonlyforthestudentsthemselvesbutfortheirhomecommunities.Wemaketheseobservationsasresearchpsychologistswhohavestudiedhowschoolsandfamiliescanhelpyoungpeoplethrive.C)Inthenewglobaleconomy,studentswhofailtofinishtheninthgradewithpassinggradesincollegepreparatorycourseworkareveryunlikelytograduateontimeandgoontogetjobs.Onestudyhascalculatedthatthelifetimebenefittothelocaleconomyforasingleadditionalstudentwhocompleteshighschoolishalfamilliondollarsormore.Thisisbasedonhigherearningsandavoidedcostsinhealthcare,crime,welfaredependenceandotherthings.D)Theconsequencesofdoingpoorlyintheninthgradecanimpactmorethanstudents’abilitytofindagoodjob.Itcanalsoimpacttheextenttowhichtheyenjoylife.Studentslosemanyofthefriendstheyturnedtoforsupportwhentheymovefromtheeighthtotheninthgrade.Onestudyofninth-gradestudentsfoundthat50percentoffriendshipsamongninthgraderschangedfromonemonthtothenext,signalingstrikinginstabilityinfriendships.E)Inaddition,studiesfindthefirstyearofhighschooltypicallyshowsoneofthegreatestincreasesindepressionofanyyearoverthelifespan.Researchersthinkthatoneexplanationisthattiestofriendsarebrokenwhileacademicdemandsarerising.Furthermore,mostadultcasesofclinicaldepressionfirstemergeinadolescence(青春期).TheWorldHealthOrganizationreportsthatdepressionhasthegreatestburdenofdiseaseworldwide,intermsofthetotalcostoftreatmentandthelossofproductivity.F)Givenallthat’sridingonhavingasuccessfulninthgradeexperience,itpaystoexplorewhatcanbedonetomeettheacademic,socialandemotionalchallengesofthetransitiontohighschool.Sofar,ourstudieshaveyieldedonemaininsight:Students’beliefsaboutchange—theirbeliefsaboutwhetherpeoplearestuckonewayforever,orwhetherpeoplecanchangetheirpersonalitiesandabilities—arerelatedtotheirabilitytocope,succeedacademicallyandmaintaingoodmentalhealth.Pastresearchhascalledthesebeliefsmindsets(思维模式),withafixedmindsetreferringtothebeliefthatpeoplecannotchangeandagrowthmindsetreferringtothebeliefthatpeoplecanchange.G)Inonerecentstudy,weexamined360adolescents’beliefsaboutthenatureofsmartness—thatis,theirfixedmindsetsaboutintelligence.Wethenassessedbiologicalstressresponsesforstudentswhosegradesweredroppingbyexaminingtheirstresshormones(荷尔蒙).Studentswhobelievedthatintelligenceisfixed—thatyouarestuckbeingnotsmartifyoustruggleinschool—showedhigherlevelsofstresshormoneswhentheirgradesweredecliningatthebeginningoftheninthgrade.Ifstudentsbelievedthatintelligencecouldimprove—thatistosay,whentheyheldmoreofagrowthmindsetofintelligence—theyshowedlowerlevelsofstresshormoneswhentheirgradesweredeclining.Thiswasanexcitingresultbecauseitshowedthatthebody’sstressresponsesarenotdeterminedsolelybyone’sgrades.Instead,declininggradesonlypredictedworsestresshormonesamongstudentswhobelievedthatworseninggradeswereapermanentandhopelessstateofaffairs.H)Wealsoinvestigatedthesocialsideofthehighschooltransition.Inthisstudy,insteadofteachingstudentsthattheirsmartnesscanchange,wetaughtthemthattheirsocialstanding—thatis,whethertheyarebulliedorexcludedorleftout—canchangeovertime.Wethenlookedathighschoolstudents’stressresponsestodailysocialdifficulties.Thatis,wetaughtthemagrowthmindsetabouttheirsociallives.Inthisstudy,studentscameintothelaboratoryandwereaskedtogiveapublicspeechinfrontofupper-yearstudents.Thetopicofthespeechwaswhatmakesonepopularinhighschool.Followingthis,studentshadtocompleteadifficultmentalmathtaskinfrontofthesameupper-yearstudents.I)Experimentresultsshowedthatstudentswhowerenottaughtthatpeoplecanchangeshowedpoorstressresponses.Whenthesestudentsgavethespeech,theirbloodvesselscontractedandtheirheartspumpedlessbloodthroughthebody—bothresponsesthatthebodyshowswhenitispreparingfordamageordefeatafteraphysicalthreat.Thentheygaveworsespeechesandmademoremistakesinmath.Butwhenstudentsweretaughtthatpeoplecanchange,theyhadbetterresponsestostress,inpartbecausetheyfeltliketheyhadtheresourcestodealwiththedemandingsituation.Studentswhogotthegrowthmindsetintervention(干预)showedless-contractedbloodvesselsandtheirheartspumpedmoreblood—bothofwhichcontributedtomoreoxygengettingtothebrain,and,ultimately,betterperformanceonthespeechandmentalmathtasks.J)Thesefindingsleadtoseveralpossibilitiesthatweareinvestigatingfurther.First,weareworkingtoreplicate(复制)thesefindingsinmorediverseschoolcommunities.Wewanttoknowinwhichtypesofschoolsandforwhichkindsofstudentsthesegrowthmindsetideashelpyoungpeopleadapttothechallengesofhighschool.Wealsohopetolearnhowteachers,parentsorschoolcounselorscanhelpstudentskeeptheirongoingacademicorsocialdifficultiesinperspective.Wewonderwhatwouldhappenifschoolshelpedtomakebeliefsaboutthepotentialforchangeandimprovementalargerfeatureoftheoverallschoolculture,especiallyforstudentsstartingtheninthgrade.

阅读理解Passage 4 At all age and at all stages of life, fear presents a problem to almost everyone

阅读理解When I decided to quit my full time employment it never occurred to me that I might become a part of a new international trend. A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming"I wanted to spend more time with my family". Curiously,some two-and-a-half years and two novels later,my experiment in what the Americans term "downshifting" has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality. I have been transformed from a passionate advocate of the philosophy of "having it all", preached by Linda Kelsey for the past seven years in the pages of She magazine, into a woman who is happy to settle for a bit of everything. I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of she after a build-up of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of "juggling your life", and making the alternative move into "downshifting" brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status. Nothing could persuade me to return to the kind of life Kelsey used to advocate and I once enjoyed: 12-hour working days, pressured deadlines, the fearful strain of office politics and the limitations of being a parent on "quality time". In America, the move away from juggling to a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle is a well- established trend. Downshifting--also known in America as "voluntary simplicity"--has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anti-consumerism. There are a number of bestselling downshifting self-help books for people who want to simplify their lives; there are newsletters, such as The Tightwad Gazette, that give hundreds of thousands of Americans useful tips on anything from recycling their cling-film to making their own soap; there are even support groups for those who want to achieve the mid-''90s equivalent of dropping out. While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline--after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late'' 80s--and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in Britain, at least among the middle-class downshifters of my acquaintance, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives. For the women of my generation who were urged to keep juggling through the '' 80s, downshifting in th mid-''90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life--growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one--as a personal recognition of your limitations.

阅读理解Matching the influx of foreign immigrants into the larger cities of the United States during the late nineteenth century was a domestic migration, from town and farm to city, within the United States. The proportion of urban population began to grow remarkably after 1840, increasing from 11 percent that year to 28 percent by 1880 and to 46 percent by 1900. A country with only 6 cities boasting a population of more than 8,000 in 1800 had become one with 545 such cities in 1900. Much of the migration producing an urban society came from smaller towns within the United States, but the combination of new immigrants and old American "settlers" on America''s "urban frontier" in the late nineteenth century proved extraordinary. The growth of cities and the process of industrialization fed on each other. The agricultural revolution stimulated many people in the countryside to seek a new life in the city and made it possible for fewer farmers to feed the large concentrations of people needed to provide a workforce for growing numbers of factories. Cities also provided ready and convenient markets for the products of industry, and huge contracts in transportation and construction—as well as the expanded market in consumer goods—allowed continued growth of the urban sector of the overall economy of the United States. Technological developments further stimulated the process of urbanization. One example is the Bessemer converter(an industrial process of manufacturing steel), which provided steel girders for the construction of skyscrapers. The refining of crude oil into kerosene, and later the development of electric lighting as well as of the telephone, brought additional comforts to urban areas that well unavailable to rural Americans and helped attract many of them from the farms into the cities. In every era the lure of the city included a major psychological element for country people; the bustle and social interaction of urban life seemed particularly intriguing to those raised in rural isolation.

阅读理解Passage three: Questions are based on the following passage

阅读理解Technically, any substance other than food that alters our bodily or mental functioning is a drug. Many people mistakenly believe the term drug refers only to some sort of medicine or an illegal chemical taken by drug addicts. They don''t realize that familiar substances such as alcohol and tobacco are also drugs. This is why the more neutral term substance is now used by many physicians and psychologists. The phrase" substance abuse" is often used instead of" drug abuse" to make clear that substances such as alcohol and tobacco can be just as harmfully misused as heroin and cocaine. 　　We live in a society in which the medicinal and social use of substances (drugs) is pervasive: an aspirin to quiet a headache, some wine to be sociable, coffee to get going in the morning, a cigarette for the nerves. When do these socially acceptable and apparently constructive uses of a substance become misuses? First of all ,most substances taken in excess will produce negative effects such as poisoning or intense perceptual distortions. Repeated use of a substance can also lead to physical addiction or substance dependence. Dependence is marked first by an increased tolerance, with more and more of the substance required to produce the desired effect, and then by the appearance of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the substance is discontinued. 　　Drugs (substances) that affect the central nervous system and alter perception, mood, and behavior are known as psychoactive substances. Psychoactive substances are commonly grouped according to whether they are stimulants, depressants, or hallucinogens. Stimulants initially speed up or activate the central nervous system, whereas depressants slow it down. Hallucinogens have their primary effect on perception, distorting and altering it in a variety of ways including producing hallucinations. These are the substances often called psychedelic ( from the Greek word meaning" mind-manifesting" ) because they seemed to radically alter one''s state of consciousness.

阅读理解While disease is present prior to social organization, communal life creates special hazards. While the organization of society can reduce the dangers of disease, trade and urbanization, with their consequent problems of sanitation and pollution, can also aggravate such dangers. Even in the mid-twentieth century, during the brief calm between the polio and AIDS epidemics, epidemic health risks associated with carcinogens (cancer-producing substances ) from polluted air threatened the industrialized world. 　　To the economist, efforts to combat these risks are at least partially public goods. The benefits from public goods are indivisible among beneficiaries. A sole private purchaser of health care would give others in society a "free ride" with respect to the benefits obtained. To market theorists, such goods are lawful objects of governmental intervention in the market. While the theory of public goods helps explain aspects of public health law and assists in fitting it into modern economic theory, it omits a critical point. Ill health is not a mere byproduct of economic activity, but an inevitable occurrence of human existence. As a result, wherever there is human society, there will be public health. Every society has to face the risks of disease. And because it must, every society searches to make disease comprehensible within the context of the society''s own particular culture, religion, or science. In this sense, health care is public not only because its benefits are indivisible and threats to it arise from factors outside of the individual but also because communal life gives individuals the cultural context in which to understand it. 　　Governments typically have assumed an active role with respect to health care, acting as if their role were obligatory. How governments have fulfilled that duty has varied throughout time and across societies, according not only to the wealth and scientific sophistication of the culture but also to its fundamental values--because health is defined in part by a community''s belief system, public health measures will necessarily reflect cultural norms and values. 　　Those who criticize the United States government today for not providing health care to all citizens equate the provision of health care with insurance coverage for the costs of medical expenses. By this standard, seventeenth and eighteenth-century America lacked any significant conception of public health law. However, despite the general paucity (scarcity) of bureaucratic organization in pre-industrial America, the vast extent of health regulation and provision stands out as remarkable. Of course, the public role in the protection and regulation of eighteenth-century health was carried out in ways quite different from those today. Organizations responsible for health regulation were less stable than modern bureaucracies ,tending to appear in crises and fade away in periods of calm. The focus was on epidemics which were seen as unnatural and warranting a response ,not to the many prevalent and chronic conditions which were accepted as part and parcel of daily life. Additionally ,and not surprisingly ,religious influence was significant ,especially in the seventeenth century. Finally, in an era which lacked sharp divisions between private and governmental bodies, many public responsibilities were carried out by what we would now consider private associations. Nevertheless, the extent of public health regulation long before the dawn of the welfare state is remarkable and suggests that the founding generation''s assumptions about the relationship between government and health were more complex than commonly assumed.

阅读理解 Barring an extraordinary change in investor behavior in the largest emerging economies, the role of equities in the global financial system will likely be reduced in the coming decade. That's the central finding of a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). As emerging-market households attain a level of income that enables them to purchase financial assets, they are becoming a powerful new investor class, whose choices will help determine global demand for different asset classes. The actions of these new investors will, in turn, shape how businesses obtain the capital they need to grow, how other investors around the world fare, and how stable and resilient economies will be. The MGI study found that financial assets held by investors in developing nations have been growing at more than three times the rate of assets in developed nations, raising their share of global financial wealth from 7 percent to 21 percent over the past decade, or about $ 41.3 trillion. By the end of the current decade, investors in developing economies will hold as much as 36 percent of global financial wealth, or between $114 trillion and $141 trillion. Emerging-market investors currently behave differently than those in mature economies. Investors in Europe, the United States, and wealthier parts of Asia, hold 30 to 40 percent or more of their financial assets in equities, but the new investors of the emerging economies keep three-quarters of theirs in deposit accounts. While the use of equities in developing economies to finance growth and build savings is increasing, this evolution is taking place slowly. The likely result: a shift in the global allocation of financial assets toward deposits and fixed-income instruments and away from equities in this decade. This shift is being exacerbated by aging and other trends in the developed world that are dampening investor appetite for equities. As a result, equities could decline from 28 percent of global financial assets in 2010 to 22 percent in 2020. What's behind the slow adoption of equity investing in developing markets? For an equity-investing culture to take root, there must be trusted, transparent markets with strong protections for small investors, as well as the institutions and systems to provide easy market access. Rules and regulations may be in place in emerging markets today, but enforcement is often unreliable. When the correct conditions are in place, investors are likely to gravitate to equities for higher returns. In the meantime, even though total investor demand for equities will grow over the next decade, it will fall short of what corporations need by $12. 3 trillion. This imbalance between the supply and demand for equity will be most pronounced in emerging economies, where companies need significant external financing for growth.

阅读理解Cheating is nothing new

阅读理解In this section there are five reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions and 5 short answerquestions. Please read the passages and then write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.Text EWilliam Henry Perkin was born on March 12, 1838, in London, England. As a student at the City of London School, Perkin became immersed in the study of chemistry. His talent and devotion to the subject were perceived by his teacher, Thomas Hall, who encouraged him to attend a series of lectures given by the eminent scientist Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution. Those speeches fired the young chemist’s enthusiasm further, and he later went on to attend the Royal College of Chemistry, which he succeeded in entering in 1853, at the age of 15.At the time of Perkin’s enrolment, the Royal College of Chemistry was headed by the noted German chemist August Wilhelm Hofmann. Perkin’s scientific gifts soon caught Hofmann’s attention and, within two years, he became Hofmann’s youngest assistant. Not long after that, Perkin made the scientific breakthrough that would bring him both fame and fortune.At the time, quinine was the only viable medical treatment for malaria. The drug is derived from the bark of the cinchona tree, native to South America, and by 1856 demand for the drug was surpassing the available supply. During his vacation in 1856, Perkin spent his time in the laboratory on the top floor of his family’s house. He was attempting to manufacture quinine from aniline, an inexpensive and readily available coal tar waste product. Despite his best efforts, however, he did not end up with quinine. Instead, he produced a mysterious dark sludge. Luckily, Perkin’s scientific training and nature prompted him to investigate the substance further. Incorporating potassium dichromate and alcohol into the aniline at various stages of the experimental process, he finally produced a deep purple solution.Historically, textile dyes were made from such natural sources as plants and animal excretions. Some of these, such as the glandular mucus of snails, were difficult to obtain and outrageously expensive. Indeed, the purple color extracted from a snail was once so costly that in society at the time only the rich could afford it. Further, natural dyes tended to fade quickly. It was against this backdrop that Perkin’s discovery was made.Perkin quickly grasped that his purple solution could be used to color fabric, thus making it the world’s first synthetic dye. Realizing the importance of this breakthrough, he lost no time in patenting it. But perhaps the most fascinating of all Perkin’s reactions to his find was his nearly instant recognition that the new dye had commercial possibilities.With the help of his father and brother, Perkin set up a factory not far from London. Utilising the cheap and plentiful coal tar that was an almost unlimited byproduct of London gas street lighting, the dye works began producing the world’s first synthetically dyed material in 1857.Although Perkin’s fame was achieved and fortune assured by his first discovery, the chemist continued his research. Among other dyes he developed and introduced were aniline red (1859) and aniline black (1863) and, in the late 1860s, Perkin’s green. It is important to note that Perkin’s synthetic dye discoveries had outcomes far beyond the merely decorative. The dyes also became vital to medical research in many ways. For instance, they were used to stain previously invisible microbes and bacteria, allowing researchers to identify such bacilli as tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax. Artificial dyes continue to play a crucial role today. And, in what would have been particularly pleasing to Perkin, their current use is in the search for a vaccine against malaria.

阅读理解If you try to contact Indy Cube（a provider of workspaces）after 5 pm, you receive an automatic Message that would make a good demonstration for the fast-growing four-day week movement

阅读理解Boredom has become trendy. Studies point to how boredom is good for creativity and innovation, as well as mental health. It is found that people are more creative following the completion of a tedious task. When people are bored, they have an increase in associative thought—the process of making new connections between ideas, which is linked to innovative thinking. These studies are impressive, but in reality, the benefits of boredom may be related to having time to clear your mind, be quiet, or daydream. In our stimulation-rich world, it seems unrealistic that boredom could occur at all. Yet, there are valid reasons boredom may feel so painful. As it turns out, boredom might signal the fact that you have a need that isn’t being met. Our always-on world of social media may result in more connections, but they are superficial and can get in the way of building a real sense of belonging. Feeling bored may signal the desire for a greater sense of community and the feeling that you fit in with others around you. So take the step of joining an organization to build face-to-face relationships. You’ll find depth that you won’t get from your screen no matter how many likes you get on your post. Similar to the need for belonging, bored people often report that they feel a limited sense of meaning. It’s a fundamental human need to have a larger purpose and to feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves. When people are bored, they’re more likely to feel less meaning in their lives. If you want to reduce boredom and increase your sense of meaning, seek work where you can make a unique contribution, or find a cause you can support with your time and talent. If your definition of boredom is being quiet, mindful, and reflective, keep it up. But if you’re struggling with real boredom and the emptiness it provokes, consider whether you might seek new connections and more significant challenges. These are the things that will genuinely relieve boredom and make you more effective in the process.

阅读理解Questions 41 to 45 are based on the following passage

阅读理解Passage 2 Not too many decades ago it seemed obvious both to the general public and to sociologists that modem society, has changed peoples natural relations, loosened their responsibilities to kin and neighbors, and substituted in their place superficial relationships with passing acquaintances

阅读理解Success was once defined as being able to stay at a company for a long time and move up the corporate ladder. The goal was to reach the top, accumulate wealth and retire to a life of ease. My fathe

阅读理解If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition--wealth, distinction, control over one''s destiny--must be deemed worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition''s behalf. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared; and it especially must be highly regarded by people who are themselves admired, the educated not least among them. In an odd way, however, it is the educated who have claimed to have given up on ambition as an ideal. What is odd is that they have perhaps most benefited from ambition--if not always their own then that of their parents and grandparents. There is a heavy note of hypocrisy in this, a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped--with the educated themselves riding on them. 　　Certainly people do not seem less interested in success and its signs now than formerly. Summer homes, European travel, BMWs--the locations, place names and name brands may change, but such items do not seem less in demand today than a decade or two years ago. What has happened is that people cannot confess fully to their dreams, as easily and openly as once they could ,lest they be thought pushing, acquisitive and vulgar. Instead, we are treated to fine hypocritical spectacles, which now more than ever seem in ample supply: the critic of American materialism with a Southampton summer home; the publisher of radical books who takes his meals in three-star restaurants; the journalist advocating participatory democracy in all phases of life, whose own children are enrolled in private schools. For such people and many more perhaps not so exceptional, the proper formulation is," Succeed at all costs but avoid appearing ambitious." 　　The attacks on ambition are many and come from various angles ;its public defenders are few and unimpressive, where they are not extremely unattractive. As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States. This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and promptings, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less openly professed. Consequences follow from this, of course, some of which are that ambition is driven underground, or made sly. Such then, is the way things stand: on the left angry critics, on the right stupid supporters, and in the middle, as usual, the majority of earnest people trying to get on in life.

阅读理解BVertical(@E E ÉJ)farming is a hugely promising agricultural  technique that aims to produce more food to meet the growing population on our planet.The technique includes growing in vertical frames or even in high-rise farms,saving on precious ground space,while moving farms into urban areas,creating vertical farming "towers' in buildings and producing nutritious crops without topsoil.Climate change is affected by traditional and intensive(EZ # ÉJ)farming practices.Traditional farming needs a lot of space to tend livestock and rich soil to grow either food crops or feed for livestock.Typically,that means clearing forest or other wild habitats.But the arrival of vertical farming means that means that much less space can be used to feed more people quickly.The United Nations estimates that he word's population will hit nearly 10 billion by the year 2050.Almost 70 percent of those people will live in and around cities.Vertical farming allows food production equipment to be built close to population centers rather than in rural areas.There food production can expand upwards rather ' than outwards.The crops raised also travel fewer miles to customers and can be grown fresh in urban surroundings,reducing the amount of per serving .What can we infer about vertical farming from the first two paragraphs?（）