Unexpected but Good
What a fine day! Mansor was sure that he would see his birthday present on the dining table. It had been like this for the past 15 years. Whatever happened, his parents would place the present next to his glass of milk on that day. He had given various hints (暗示) about what he really wanted, and even silently put a picture of the mobile phone into his mother?s handbag. It was impossible that she didn?t get the message.
To his surprise, there was nothing on the table this time. The family gave morning wishes to each other as usual and talked as if there was nothing special about the day. His mother only reminded him to clear his writing table.
Mansor quickly ran out of the house as he did not want his parents to see he was sad that they had forgotten his birthday! He would feel better if he joined his friends at the Old People?s Home. As he did not want to stay around the house any longer, he got into the first taxi he saw. He was still sad while he was in it.
He got down from the taxi and realized how fine the weather was. The sun was shining brightly as if to give him joy. The chirping of the birds lightened his heart. He walked with a spring in his steps to Old People?s Home. As he looked around, he saw people laughing and enjoying themselves. These old people didn?t get much care or attention from their busy children, yet they were happy. Why should he be sad? A mobile phone was not quite a big deal after all.
Then he decided to go home. After getting home, he started to tidy his table, knowing that his mother expected him to do so. Wait! What?s this? An air ticket to Pulau Redang (热浪岛) for a scuba diving course! “The mobile phone is nice, but we prefer that you learn something rather than have the latest mobile phone.
Hope you will like our present.”
With tears of excitement, Mansor realized that he should have known that his parents would never forget his birthday.
45. What did Mansor do to get the present he wanted? A. He talked to his parents. B. He gave hints to his parents. C. He carefully cleaned his table. D. He paid a visit to his good friends. 46. After seeing those old people, Mansor A. felt their life was so boring B. realized he shouldn?t be sad C. wanted to offer help to them D. hoped to get another present
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.
47. The parents bought the ticket for Mansor because they A. didn?t want to let him down B. didn?t like the mobile phone C. expected him to learn something D. hoped he could respect their wishes 48. What can we learn from the story? A. Mansor liked the birthday present. B. Mansor knew his parents very well. C. Mansor?s parents would buy a new gift. D. Mansor?s parents would say sorry to him.
.
C
Unkind Words Hurt the Brain
There is a popular saying in the English language: “Sticks and stones may break my bones (骨头), but words will never hurt me.”
Well, that is not true. Words do hurt. Children may be laughed at for being short and thin, or they may feel left out because their classmates say how strange they look with a hat on. What?s worse, unkind words cause more than emotional harm. They can hurt children as much as being hit on the body, sometimes even more so.
A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal abuse (言语虐待) by other children can harm the development in the brain. The study was a project done by researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts.
Researcher Martin Teicher and his team also studied young adults, aged 18 to 25. They were asked about their experiences of verbal abuse. Then researchers took brain tests on them. Results showed that those who reported experiencing verbal abuse from their classmates in middle school didn?t have balanced development between the left and the right side of the brain.
The unusual thing about the human brain is that it still develops after birth. Babies can?t walk for months because their brains are not fully developed. Other things, such as self-respect, creativity and learning skills also develop differently in every person. This is because development of the human brain is guided by the experiences during childhood and teenage years.
The middle school years are a very important period for children to develop their brain. Unkind words from classmates during this period have the greatest effect on brain development, because children at this age are very sensitive (敏感的) to all kinds of influences from outside.
Besides, the researchers also tested the emotional condition of all the young people in the study. The tests showed that people who had brain damage (损害) also had higher levels of fear, anger and depression than others in the study.
Remember, words do hurt. Verbal abuse hurts not only the mind, but also the brain.
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We may not control what others say to ourselves, but we can pay attention to what we say to others. Start making changes now!
49. According to the passage, students are emotionally harmed when A. they break their bones B. they are laughed at C. they wear strange hats D. they are hit on the body 50. The researchers? findings showed that unkind words could . A. destroy children?s friendship B. make children more sensitive
C. harm children?s brain development D. stop children from respecting others 51. What is Paragraph 5 mainly about?
A. Most babies? brains are well-grown at birth. B. Human brains continue to develop after birth. C. Babies can?t walk because their brains are small. D. Human brains are likely to be hurt during childhood. 52. What is the purpose of this passage?
A. To explain when words can hurt people?s feelings. B. To introduce different ways to get along with others. C. To criticize students who are unkind to their classmates. D. To call on students to stop saying unkind words to others.
_.
D
I?m the kind of person who has at least 10 windows open on my computer, at the same time as I hold a dialogue, listen to the radio and send texts. I think I can concentrate well on all these things, but to be honest, I probably can?t.
The truth is that if you think you are good at multi- tasking, the chances are you?re not. People who multi-
task a lot perform less well in tests than people who don?t do it so often. But there are some exceptions.
Scientists researched what happened when people were at a driving simulator (模 拟器) while chatting on a hands-free phone. Just to make it harder, as well as keeping a distance from the car in front, they had to memorize a list of words.
Not surprisingly, people weren?t very good at it. The distractions slowed their reaction time and dented the quality of their driving. This is the case except for one person, who outperformed everyone else. Whatever the distraction, this individual just handled it well. There had been no mistake.
Research has shown that our attention is limited. We are able to focus on a few different things at a time, but add in one extra distraction and we stop doing so well. Our cognitive (认知的) resources have to be shared between the different tasks. There?s plenty of proof that talking on a mobile phone causes drivers to fail to notice half of the
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things going on in their environment, and unsurprisingly, increases accident rates. Yet a tiny percentage of people seem uninfluenced.
So how do they do it? Is there something special about the brains of these supertaskers?
When we practice a skill, the brain becomes more efficient and shows less, rather than more activity. It would be a mistake to think that more brain activity always means better. Supertaskers can handle multiple tasks because their brains are born special. The more they have to do, the more efficient they become. Yet, so far, little is known about how this skill might influence them in everyday life.
Can you learn to supertask? Probably not. You can certainly practice different tasks and improve your performance on each one, but that doesn?t mean you?ll get better at doing them all at the same time.
53. The underlined word “dented” in Paragraph 4 probably means “ A. got
B. lost
C. added
54. What can we learn from the article?
A. Supertaskers might be easily found in our everyday life. B. Supertaskers? brains can be different from ordinary people?s. C. We may increase our cognitive resources through difficult tasks. D. We will be able to do several things at the same time by practicing. 55. What might be the best title for the article? A. Are you a supertasker? B. Why are we supertaskers? C. Can you tell a supertasker? D. How can we be supertaskers?
”.
D. worsened
七、阅读短文，根据短文内容，从短文后的五个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳
选项。每个选项只能用一次。（共 10 分，每小题 2 分） What to Do When Your Technology Goes Wrong
Technology sometimes goes wrong. And the more you use technology, the more you know it can go wrong. Tech troubles can let users down quickly.
You may be mad, throw the device (设备) against the wall, or cry at the beginning. 56 . By following these steps, you could solve some of the most common tech problems on your own.
Search the web
Learn about your tech problem on a search website. See what others have experienced.
First, find useful articles about solving the problem. 57 . Tech advice from years ago may not work now. Check for updates
Check for updates to make sure you have the most recent version (版本) of apps and software. You might be experiencing a problem that has been fixed in an update.
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But if you have not yet updated to the latest version, you may fail to find the solution.
Restart
58 , simply restart it. Sometimes, software or app updates need your device turned off and restarted to work properly.
Read online forums (论坛)
Read online forums to see if you can find information about your problem. 59 , you may get ideas about how to solve the problem you have.
Go to the professionals
If you have tried everything you know and are still having problems, perhaps it is time to ask an expert. 60 . Now, do you know what to do when your technology goes wrong?
A. Even if the problem is not exactly the same
B. When your computer or phone is having problems C. So take your device to local tech shops to get help D. Second, be sure to look for the most recent articles
E. In fact, you may be able to solve the problem by yourself
八、阅读短文，根据短文内容回答问题。(共 10 分，每小题 2 分)
Liverpool native Rob Pope can run like the wind blows. He has
won several world-famous long-distance races, including the Australian Marathon Championships in 2015 and the Liverpool Rock ?n? Roll Marathon in 2015 and 2016. But his biggest running adventure began on September 15, 2016.
Inspired (受……启发) by the main character?s classic cross- country run in the movie Forrest Gump , Pope decided to run back and forth across America. He said that he wanted to make a
difference. He wanted to make people happy, whether it would brighten their day with a funny story about someone he might meet along the way, or through pushing himself. Besides, he wanted to raise money for two organizations that meant a lot to him: the World Wildlife Fund and Peace Direct. WWF is making efforts to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, while the other is trying to solve problems by education and empowerment of women worldwide.
From the day he began his adventure, he was running wherever he was going. He started his journey from Alabama—his Gump-inspired starting point. When he got to California?s Santa Monica Pier, he decided to turn around. Then he continued on to the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine. Fans of the film will remember that this is exactly where Gump turned around and started running back across the country. Pope plans to do the same. “I have some history in trying to do the best I can, just like
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