单选题For authors of self-help guides, no human problem is too great or too small. Want to become fitter, richer or happier in 2017? There are books for it— 34 upon shelves of them. Hoping for increased efficiency, decisiveness and creativity in the months ahead? There are titles for that, too. As we settle down to our New Year's 35 , well turn in droves to self-help books, hoping to find our own best selves in their pages. But a book needn't lecture to leave its imprint. The truth is that all good literature changes us, and a growing body of research suggests you might do better browsing through fiction for support in 36 life's challenges. Think of it less as self-help than 'shelf help'. Reading has been proven to sharpen 37 thinking, enabling us to better discern patterns—a handy tool when it comes to the often baffling behaviour of ourselves and others. But fiction in particular can make you more socially able. Last year, the Journal of Applied Social Psychology published a paper showing how reading Harry Potter made young people in the U. K. and Italy more 38 disposed towards stigmatised (使蒙上污名的) minorities such as 39 . And in 2013, psychologists at the New School for Social Research found that literary fiction enhanced peopled ability to 40 and read others, emotions. We think of novels as places in which to lose ourselves, but when we 41 , we take with us inspiration from our favourite characters. A 2012 study by researchers at Ohio State University found that this process could actually change a reader's behavior. In one experiment, participants strongly identifying with a 42 character who overcame obstacles to vote proved significantly more likely to vote in a real election. They may not promise transformation in seven easy steps, but gripping novels can inform and motivate, short stories can console and trigger self-reflection, and poetry has been shown to engage parts of the brain linked to memory. Sometimes an author helps by simply taking your mind off a problem, 43 you so fully in another's world and outlook that you transcend yourself, returning recharged and determined. A. accepting B. analytical C. battling D. books E. concretely F. critical G. emerge H. express I. fictional J. immersing K. positively L. refugees M. register N. resolutions O. shelves

单选题Until recently, the medical community believed that most hearing loss was caused by hear cells in the ear degrading as we age. But evidence is emerging that sound levels at sporting events, concerts, nightclubs and on personal devices can cause lasting damage to the connections between hear cells in the ear and the nerves that 27 sounds to the brain. Over 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults worldwide could be at risk of hearing loss as a result of 28 to unsafe levels of recreational noise, according to a recent World Health Organization report. To make matters worse, this kind of hearing loss doesn't show up on 29 tests. Researchers are calling it a hidden epidemic. 'We think this problem is 30 prevalent. but it's difficult to measure because the tools we have available today are not sensitive enough,' says Konstantina Stankovic, an auditory neuroseientist and surgeon at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and Harvard Medical School, in Boston. Stankovic is now working with colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne to develop imaging 31 that would allow us to see this kind of neural damage in living brains. This could help with early diagnosis. Others are developing drugs that could help 32 the connections between the ear and the brain. To properly 33 our ears, loud noises should be banned in many public places just as smoking is now, says Stankovic. Some countries have laws in place to protect 34 in bars and clubs by monitoring noise levels. Last year, Minneapolis City Council made it 35 for bars and clubs to offer free ear buds to patrons. Stankovic thinks more will need to be done to change 36 accepted norms around recreational noise. 'I think it will require a public health effort similar to the efforts for limiting smoking, because of the peer pressure associated with loud music and noisy environments,' she says.? A. compulsory B. condense C. exposure D. incredibly E. independently F. protection G. restore H. safeguard I. socially J. standard K. techniques L. transmit M. treat N. uneasy O. workers

单选题 The human brain contains 10 thousand million cells and each of these may have a thousand connections. Such enormous numbers used to discourage us and cause us to dismiss the possibility of making a machine with human-like ability, but now that we have grown used to moving forward at such a pace we can be less sure. Quite soon, in only 10 or 20 years perhaps, we will be able to assemble a machine as complex as the human brain, and if we can we will. It may then take us a long time to render it intelligent by loading in the right software(软件)or by altering the architecture but that too will happen. I think it certain that in decades, not centuries, machines of silicon(硅)will arise first to rival and then exceed their human ancestors. Once they exceed us they will be capable of their own de-sign. In a real sense they will be able to reproduce themselves. Silicon will have ended carbon's long control. And we will no longer be able to claim ourselves to be the finest intelligence in the known universe. As the intelligence of robots increases to match that of humans and as their cost declines through economies of scale we may use them to expand our frontiers, first on earth through their ability to withstand environments. harmful to ourselves. Thus, deserts may bloom and the ocean beds be mined. Further ahead, by a combination of the great wealth this new age will bring and the techno-logy it will provide, the construction of a vast, man-created world in space, home to thousands of millions of people, will be within our power.

单选题 In the beginning of the movie I, Robot, a robot has to decide whom to save after two cars plunge into the water—Del Spooner or a child. Even though Spooner screams 'Save her! Save her!' the robot rescues him because it calculates that he has a 45 percent chance of survival compared to Sarah's 11 percent. The robot's decision and its calculated approach raise an important question: would humans make the same choice? And which choice would we want our robotic counterparts to make? Isaac Asimov evaded the whole notion of morality in devising his three laws of robotics, which hold that 1. Robots cannot harm humans or allow humans to come to harm; 2. Robots must obey humans, except where the order would conflict with law 1; and 3. Robots must act in self-preservation, unless doing so conflicts with laws 1 or 2. These laws are programmed into Asimov's robots—-they don't have to think, judge, or value. They don't have to like humans or believe that hurting them is wrong or bad. They simply don't do it. The robot who rescues Spooner's life in I, Robot follows Asimov's zeroth law: robots cannot harm humanity (as opposed to individual humans) or allow humanity to come to harm—an expansion of the first law that allows robots to determine what's in the greater good. Under the first law, a robot could not harm a dangerous gunman, but under the zeroth law, a robot could kill the gunman to save other. Whether it's possible to program a robot with safeguards such as Asimov's laws is debatable. A word such as 'harm' is vague (what about emotional harm? Is replacing a human employee harm?), and abstract concepts present coding problems. The robots in Asimov's fiction expose complications and loopholes in the three laws, and even when the laws work, robots still have to assess situations. Assessing situations can be complicated. A robot has to identify the players, conditions, and possible outcomes for various scenarios. It's doubtful that a computer program can do that—at least, not without some undesirable results. A roboticist at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory programmed a robot to save human proxies (替身) called 'H-bots' from danger. When one H-bot headed for danger, the robot successfully pushed it out of the way. But when two H-bots became imperiled, the robot choked 42 percent of the time, unable to decide which to save and letting them both 'die.' The experiment highlights the importance of morality: without it, how can a robot decide whom to save or what's best for humanity, especially if it can't calculate survival odds?

单选题 南京 南京是中国东部重要的政治、文化和金融中心。自三国时期(the Three Kingdoms Period)开始，先后有六个朝代在此建都，因此南京有“六朝古都”(the Ancient Capital of Six Dynasties)的美誉。南京城建于明朝，是中国现存规模最大的古城。南京不仅是一座著名的历史文化名城，也是极具特色的现代化城市。它是先进的制造业基地，也是仅次于北京、上海的第三大科教中心城市。由于地处长江下游，靠近东海，南京是中国重要的交通和通讯枢纽(hub)。2014年，第二届夏季青年奥林匹克运动会(Summer Youth Olympic Games)将在南京举办。

单选题 筷子 筷子由两根长短相同的木棍组成，是中国的传统餐具(eating utensil)。筷子出现在三千多年前，它的出现不仅是中国烹饪文化的变革，也是人类文明的标志。此外，筷子在烹饪技巧的发展过程中也起着推动作用。如今，筷子不仅是一种餐具，还成为一种独特的文化形式，对于我们来说，筷子可以作为艺术品来欣赏、研究和收藏。筷子虽小，但仍被世界上许多人所推崇。一项有趣的实验表明，当你在使用筷子的时候，许多关节和肌肉都会得到锻炼。

单选题Directions:Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteanessaybasedonthepicturebelow.Youshouldstartyouressaywithabriefdescriptionofthepictureandthendiscusshowtostopstudentsreadingnovelsinclass.Youshouldgivesoundargumentstosupportyourviewsandwriteatleast150wordsbutnomorethan200words.

单选题 中国结 中国结(Chinese knot)是中国特有的传统民间手工编织艺术，体现着中国人的智慧和深厚文化。作为独特的中华文化的代表，中国结极易被外国人辨认出来。中国结最早起源于远古时代，由于当时没有文字，人们便在一根绳上盘上不同的结来记录重要的事件。到了清代，中国结真正成为流行的民间艺术。这种手工编织外观精致对称(symmetrical)，符合中国传统审美(aesthetics)，故名“中国结”。在中国，“结”字代表着团结、友爱、和平、婚姻、爱情等，因此“中国结”常用来表示美好的祝愿。

单选题 Questions13-16 are based on the passage you have just heard.

单选题It is true that the group interactions have both positive and negative sides. When we 22 , conflict cannot be gotten rid of. Having open discussion of conflict doesn't always bring advantages. It may come with negative effects, reducing 23 and lowering job satisfaction. During the work we found that the conflict can 24 task conflicts and relationship conflicts. These two kinds of conflicts are different in that the first one occurs when there are disagreements in completing the tasks; however, relationship conflict is initiated by 25 interpersonal relationships and is linked with friction and tension. Relationship conflict is considered to 26 performance because it leads to negative emotions, destructive behaviors and distraction. Some researches show that task conflicts can improve the performance as it 27 evaluation of assumptions, open expression. Therefore generating better solutions becomes easy. Conflicts and relationship negatively have something to do with individuals' satisfaction. The members want to stay in the group, favoring of other group members. The regular patterns are like this: When we are doing very 28 tasks, it is not good to group functioning, as many disagreements come out. On the contrary, when the group 29 non-routine tasks, disagreements won't have detrimental (不利的) effects, and 30 , disagreements are beneficial to the tasks. While discussion of conflict is not always advantageous and norms are linked with an increase in the number and intensity of relationship conflicts, they did not increase members' ability to deal with the conflicts 31 .

单选题 Questions13-15 are based on the passage you have just heard.

单选题 Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on perseverance by referring to the saying 'What you do every day matters more than what you do every once in a while. ' You can cite examples to illustrate your point and then explain what you will do to enhance your perseverance. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.