“You are going abroad and will live there? Oh, wonderful! You are so lucky.”

Perhaps your family and friends said similar things to you when you left home. But is it true all the time? Is your life in the new country always wonderful and exciting?

Specialists say that it isn’t that easy to get used to life in a new culture. “Culture shock” (沖擊) is the term specialists use when talking about the feelings that people have in a new environment. “There are three stages of culture shock,” say the specialists. In the first stage, the newcomers like their new environment. Then, when the fresh experience dies, they begin to hate the city, the country, the people, and everything else. In the last stage, the newcomers adapt to their surroundings and finally enjoy their life there.

Culture shock arises from many obvious factors. The weather may be unpleasant. The customs may be different. The public service systems such as the telephone, post office, or transportation may be difficult to work out. Even the simplest things become headaches. Still worse, the language may be difficult.

Who feels culture shock? Everyone does in this way or that. But culture shock surprises most people. Very often the people having the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their home countries and were successful in their community. Coming to a new country, these people find they do not have the same established positions. They find themselves without a role, almost without an identity. They have to build a new self?image.

Culture shock leads to a feeling of disorientation (迷惘). This feeling may be homesickness. When homesick, people feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the strange environment, and create and escape inside their room for a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to make the person familiar with the culture. Getting to know the new environment and gaining experience are the long term solutions to the problem of culture shock.

1.When people move to a new country, they ________.

A. find their new life always wonderful and exciting.

B. dislike the new surroundings from the beginning.

C. quickly get accustomed to the new culture there.

D. will get used to the new life with certain difficulty.

2.Based on the passage, which of the following results from culture shock?

A. weather conditions and customs

B. public service and transportation

C. feeling homesick and disoriented

D. language communication issues

3.According to the passage, the more successful you are at home, ________.

A. the fewer difficulties you will meet with abroad

B. the more problems you may have to face abroad

C. the greater success you are likely to make abroad

D. the less homesick you will eventually feel abroad

4.Which of the following statements is correct according to the passage?

A. Cultural shock affects and surprises those who live in a new culture.

B. A new culture makes everything difficult except the simplest things.

C. Since culture shock is painful, we can never get over it completely.

D. Escaping by staying inside does solve the problem of culture shock.

Back in the early 1900s, American physician Byron Robinson wrote a book proposing an interesting theory: humans actually have two brains --- one in our heads and the other in our stomachs, and the two “communicate” all the time. Interestingly, in Chinese culture, thoughts are also related to the belly in phrases and idioms like fugao (腹稿, a draft), manfu jinglun (滿腹經綸, a bellyful of ideas), and yiduzi weiqu (一肚子委屈, a bellyful of complaints).

This may sound a little ridiculous at first. But try to think of a time when you were extremely nervous. Chances are that you also felt uncomfortable in your stomach, didn’t you? This is probably why people use the idiom “butterflies in one’s stomach” to refer to being nervous.

Now scientists from Canada and the US have found that our guts (腸道), if not as bright as our actual brains, are much more than just where we digest the food we eat. They also affect our emotions and even behavior, all thanks to the bacteria in them, reported Scientific American.

In the study, scientists fed timid mice stomach bacteria from mice that were more active and daring. After eating the bacteria, the timid mice grew more energetic and fearless. Sure enough, when bold mice got the bacteria from timid ones, they became more anxious. The mice’s behavior also changed when scientists disturbed the bacteria in their guts by changing their diets and feeding them antibiotics (抗生素).

“If something goes wrong in the gut, that change is reflected in the brain,” Emeran Mayer, a professor at University of California, Los Angeles, told The Huffington Post.

The brain-and-gut connection also works in the opposite way. Scientists studied children with autism (自閉癥) --- a mental illness that makes people unable to socialize with others --- and found that they also have a lot of stomach problems. They have fewer types of stomach bacteria and lower totals of a few key bacteria than healthy children.

This research raises the possibility that scientists could treat patients with brain problems simply by feeding them the right food, which would be much more efficient than providing psychological therapy (療法).

According to CBC News, you can get “good” bacteria that lift your spirits from food like yogurt while “bad” bacteria are usually in high fat and high sugar foods.

1.What is the author’s attitude toward Byron Robinson’s theory of two human brains?

A. Unsatisfied. B. Doubtful. C. Positive. D. Negative.

2.The author mentioned the idiom “butterflies in one’s stomach” in the second paragraph to _____.

A. describe the symptoms of nervousness

B. suggest a connection between our stomach and our emotions

C. hint at the danger of nervous feelings

D. encourage people to calm down and relax

3.What’s the closest meaning of the underlined word “bold” in Paragraph 4?

A. anxious B. fearless C. energetic D. sharp

4.According to the article, ______.

A. people with mental illnesses are more likely to have stomach problems

B. the use of antibiotics can turn timid mice into daring ones

C. timid mice have fewer types of stomach bacteria than daring mice

D. people must consider changing their diets when they feel anxious

5.We can infer from the article that______.

A. psychological therapy has never worked before for autistic children

B. yogurt is the best solution for anxiety problems

C. high fat and high sugar foods are responsible for many mental diseases

D. diet changes can lead to mood changes

There is no denying that over the years college education has been accepted without the slightest doubt. All high school graduates should go, says conventional wisdom and statistical evidence, because college will help them earn more, become “better” citizens and be more responsible than those who don’t go.

But college can never work its magic for everyone. Now with half our high school graduates attending college, those unfit for the pattern are getting more. College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis; college students interfere with each other’s experiments and write false letters of recommendation in the fierce competition for admission into graduate schools. Others find no stimulation (激勵) in their studies, and consequently have to drop out, which is often encouraged by college administrators.

Some observers say the fault lies with young people themselves --- they are spoiled and expecting too much. But that’s a condemnation (譴責）of the students as a whole, and doesn’t explain all campus unhappiness. Others blame our society. Both are partly right. We have been told that young people have to go to college because our economy can’t absorb an army of untrained eighteen-year-olds. But disappointed graduates are learning that it can no longer absorb an army of trained twenty-two-year-olds, either.

Some campus watchers suggest that college may not be the best, the proper or the only place for every young person after finishing high school. It seems that through the rosy (玫瑰的) glow of our own college experiences, we may have been looking at those surveys and statistics upside down. Perhaps college does not make people intelligent, ambitious, happy, or quick to learn things—maybe it is just the other way around. Intelligent, ambitious, happy, quick-learning people are merely those who are attracted to college in the first place. And perhaps all those successful college graduates would have been successful even without college education. This is heresy (異端邪說) to those who have been brought up to believe that if a little schooling is good, more has to be much better. But contrary evidence is beginning to pile up.

1.According to the first paragraph, ______.

A. people now no longer challenge college education

B. people have great expectations for college education

C. the author thinks youngsters should all go to college

D. people still have a low opinion of college education

2.More young people drop out of college because ______.

A. they are no longer motivated in their studies

B. they can start selling shoes and driving taxis

C. they compete for admission to graduate schools

D. college administrators encourage them to do so

3.Who does the author think is responsible for campus unhappiness?

A. young students who are all spoiled and expecting too much.

B. our society that can’t offer enough jobs to college graduates.

C. our society that has not enough jobs for high school graduates.

D. young people as well as our society are to blame for all this.

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE about those surveys and statistics?

A. They prove high school graduates are smarter than college graduates.

B. They are so convincing that we think of our rosy college experiences.

C. They may have been misread because of our rosy college experiences.

D. They prove wrong because they contradict our rosy college experiences.

5.What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4?

A. It is just the opposite B. There is no right way

C. It is the wrong way D. There’s no other way

6.What is the main purpose of this passage?

A. To inform young people college education is no longer important now.

B. To prove college education doesn’t make young people more intelligent.

C. To argue against the idea that college is the first choice for all youngsters.

D. To tell young people that there’s something wrong with college education.

閱讀下面短文并回答問題，然后將答案寫到答題卡相應的位置上（請注意問題后的詞數要求）。

【1】Sometime early in the next century, human beings will move into habitats on Mars. They will live there for about a year, and then will be replaced with another set of pioneers. The establishment of this base on Mars will advance our knowledge of the solar system and aid in our understanding of the earth.

【2】We already know that Mars is like the earth in many ways: general size; presence of water; length of day; range of temperatures. These similarities have caused many people to consider a century-long project: to terraform Mars. Terraforming means changing a planet’s surface so that Earth’s life forms can survive there. This concept, previously found only in science fiction is now being seriously considered by scientists.

【3】Terraforming Mars is theoretically simple: add nitrogen and oxygen to the atmosphere; pump water to the surface; and add the earth’s plants and animals in the order in which they developed on Earth. But it will take at least 300 years.

【4】Some people think that such a project is too huge for humans to accomplish, but there are very good reasons to make the attempt. The earth now contains some 7 billion people, and no one knows how many humans the earth can support. Our very existence and numbers are threatening many other species with extinction. We also have had some experience with terraforming our own planet: changing the landscape, the atmosphere and the climate. At present, we are aware of the importance of terraforming the earth as we try to control global warming, air and water pollution, and protect some natural habitats.

【5】While the future of such a project is daunting(令人生畏的), it is not impossible. Even if earth-bound societies come and go in the next 300 years, the project can continue through the work of the Mars settlers without the need for constant backing from earth.

【6】The future existence of humanity may very well depend on our ability to terraform Mars.

1.What’s the purpose of establishing a base on Mars in the 1st paragraph? ( not more than 12 words)

2.List three ways Mars is like the earth. ( not more than 9 words)

3.What’s the author’s attitude towards the project? (1 word)

4.What does the future existence of humanity most probably rely on? ( not more than 6 words)

5.What’s the main idea of this passage? (not more than 8 words)

很多學生在考試中失敗并不是因為他們的能力不夠，而是因為壓力太大。請根據你的親身經歷，談談你對壓力的看法以及你應對壓力的措施，詞數120左右。

There has been an outpouring of love for a 23-year-old disabled woman whose dog was killed in front of her while a groomer(美容師) tried to trim(修剪) its claws.

Calls and e-mails came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Arizona as well as Oakland and Macomb counties, offering Laurie Crouch, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis(硬化癥), everything from dogs to money, such as that from Jason Daly of Roseville who said, “ I would like to buy her a new dog.”

A story about the death of Crouch’s pet, Gooch, was printed on the front page of Macomb Daily. Crouch said a man sat on the dog to trim its nails. Gooch died after one claw was trimmed.

Crouch yelled at the groomer to stop when she saw Gooch was struggling to breathe, but she said she was ignored. “If I could have walked, I would have put my hands on her and pulled her off my dog and physically stopped her, but I can’t do that.” Gooch was not a trained service animal, but naturally helped Crouch by picking up things for her.

“This case is absolute animal abuse(虐待),” Larry Obrecht, division manager of the Oakland County Animal Shelter in Auburn Hills, said.

People who read the story contacted Oakland Press to offer help. A message, from Rebecca Amett of Giggles N Wiggles Puppy Rescue, in Roseville, said, “We have puppies to donate … and want to help the young woman who lost her service dog.”

“When Gooch was with me, I was happy,” Crouch said, “I think I can be happy again but no animal can replace Gooch. There’s never going to be another Gooch out there but I think I will find a dog that can bring me joy again.”

1.What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. A disabled woman’s service dog.

B. A cruel groomer killed a disabled woman’s dog.

C. People’s love for a disabled woman who lost her dog.

D. Disabled woman loves to have the dog as company.

2. People called and emailed to .

A. offer help and care to Laurie Crouch.

B. give their angry voice to the groomer.

C. offer a cure for Crouch’s disease.

D. tell Crouch how to punish the groomer.

3.We can infer from the passage that .

A. Crouch refused to take another dog.

B. Crouch must be sad after losing her dog.

C. Crouch has accepted another dog from a stranger.

D. Crouch can live well without a dog’s company.

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Room Information

Rooms are equipped with Double, Queen , or King bed (s) , smoking or non-smoking based on location and availability. Provided in each spacious guest room is a hair dryer, coffee maker, iron, ironing board, 25’TV and guest voice mail．

Check-in Time：7:00 P. M.

Hotel Amenities：Air Conditioned, Free Parking, 24 Hour Front Desk, Pool, Television with Cable, Coffee Maker in Room, Hairdryers Available．

Beach Plaza Hotel

625 N．Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd, Ft．Lauderdale, FL 33304

Room Information

The oceanfront accommodations at Beach Plaza Hotel are some of the most affordable on Fort Lauderdale Beach．Each room features direct-dial telephone, cable television and daily maid service．The very affordable efficiency studios even include full kitchens! All rooms surround the private poolside garden courtyard．

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Check-in Time：7:00 A.M.

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1.Which hotel gives a promise?

A．Beach Plaza Hotel． B．Baymont Inn Ft . Lauderdale．

C．Baymont Inn Hotel． D．Fort Lauderdale Plaza Hotel．

2.In which hotel parking is the cheapest?

A．Beach Plaza Hotel． B．Baymont Inn Ft . Lauderdale．

C．Baymont Inn Hotel． D．Fort Lauderdale Plaza Hotel．

3.If you ______ , you will probably go to Beach Plaza Hotel．

A．enjoy seeing films without leaving your hotel room

B．want to eat food cooked by yourself in the hotel

C．are fond of swimming in heated water

D．are a cigarette smoker

4.Which of the following is NOT true to the ads?

A．In Beach Plaza Hotel a 24-hour maid is available．

B．All of the three hotels provide television with cable．

C．You can keep your money in the room safe in Fort Lauderdale Plaza Hotel．

D．While staying in Fort Lauderdale Plaza Hotel, you can surf the Internet．

A Southampton University team found that people who were vegetarians by 30 had recorded five IQ points higher on average at the age of 10. Researchers said it could explain why people with a higher IQ were healthier as a vegetarian diet was linked to lower heart disease and obesity rates. The study of 8,179 people was reported in the British Medical Journal.

Twenty years after the IQ tests were carried out in 1970, 366 of the participants said they were vegetarians — although more than 100 reported eating either fish or chicken.

Men who were vegetarians had an IQ score of 106, compared with 101 for non-vegetarians; while female vegetarians averaged 104, compared with 99 for non-vegetarians. There was no difference in the IQ scores, between strict vegetarians and those who said they were vegetarians but reported eating fish or chicken.

Researchers said the findings were partly related to better education and higher class, but it remained statistically significant after adjusting for these factors.

Vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher social class and to have higher academic or vocational qualifications than non-vegetarians. However, these differences were not reflected in their annual income, which was similar to that of non-vegetarians.

Lead researcher Catharine Gale said, “The findings that children with greater intelligence are more likely to report being vegetarians as adults, together with the evidence on the potential benefits of a vegetarian diet on heart health, may help to explain why a higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease in adult life.

But Dr Frankie Phillips of the British Dietetic Association said，“It is like the chicken and egg. Do people become vegetarians because they have a very high IQ or is it just that they are clever enough to be more aware of health issues？”

1.What’ s the result of the research mentioned in the text?

A. Children with a higher IQ are less likely to have heart disease later in life.

B. Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life.

C. Intelligent children tend to belong to higher social class later in life.

D. Children with a healthier heart tend to have a higher IQ later in life.

2.It was found in the research that________.

A. most of the participants became vegetarians 20 years after the IQ tests were carried out

B. female vegetarians were more likely to have higher annual income than non-vegetarians

C. vegetarians who ate fish or chicken were of similar intelligence with strict vegetarians

D. vegetarians were more likely to have higher annual income than non-vegetarians

3.Catharine Gale talked about “being vegetarians” in a(n)________way.

A. doubtful B. favorable

C. negative D. objective

4.What’ s the best title for the text?

A. Get more IQ points!

B. Be a vegetarian, please!

C. A high IQ is linked to being a vegetarian

D. Vegetarian diet cuts heart risk

People in several American states may be surprised to see cars on city streets without a driver. Experimental driverless vehicles now are legal in Florida, Nevada and California. They are pointing the way to a future that is not far down the road. The high-tech company Google has a number of self-driving cars, which had covered 480,000 kilometers by August. Volvo is among the companies doing road tests and says it plans to sell driverless cars by 2020.

In September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed an act to allow autonomous vehicles on the roads of his state. “Today we’re looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow’s reality—the driverless car.” The technology for these cars includes cameras, radar and motion sensors. The systems have been improved through competitions sponsored by the US government agency DARPA. Engineer Richard Mason of the Rand Corporation helped design driverless vehicles for DARPA challenge races.

“Cars have become much more fuel-efficient, and new electronic features are making Hondas safer,” said Angie Nucci of Honda America. “A camera on the passenger-side mirror actually engaged on your guiding screen so you can safely change lanes.” Other safety features include warning systems on the front and the sides of the cars. These systems help drivers, but don’t replace them. Curator Leslie Kendall of the Petersen Automotive Museum said autonomous cars will make the high ways safer．

“By taking out drivers, you also remove most risks of an accident,” Kendall said. He said consumers, however, may be unwilling to lose control. “It may take them time to come to realize that the technology is indeed reliable, but it will have to prove itself first.”

Mason said the technology already works and the biggest challenge now is getting down the cost for driverless vehicles from hundreds of thousands of dollars to something more affordable. He said this will happen as the technology is improved.

1.What can we learn from Paragraph l?

A. Volvo will be the first to sell driverless cars.

B. Driverless cars are pointing us a faraway future.

C. Driverless vehicles are now legal in the whole USA.

D. Google’s self-driving cars have covered a long distance.

2.We learn that Governor of California Jerry Brown_________.

A. helped design self-driving cars

B. supports self-driving cars on roads

C. considers self-driving cars science fiction

D. improved the self-driving car systems

3.According to Richard Mason, what is the biggest challenge for driverless cars?

A. They are not allowed to run on the road.

B. Their technical problems remain to be solved.

C. They are now too expensive for consumers.

D. They are more dangerous for people on the street.

4.Which is the best title for the passage?

A. The Benefits of the Self-driving Cars

B. The Biggest Challenge of the Self-driving Cars

C. Safer or More Dangerous Self-driving Cars

D. Self-driving Cars—Science Fiction Future Is Near

Every year, it costs British students more and more to attend university. 1. So is a university degree really worth it?

In 2006, the UK government started to allow universities in England and Wales to charge British students tuition fees. As a result, more than 80% of students in England and Wales now take out a student loan in order to go to university. 2. The average student in England and Wales now graduates from university with debts of around ￡12,000. Students of medicine, who study for longer, usually have debts of more than ￡20,000. That is a lot of money. 3. They even struggle to pay rent on a house, because they have to start paying back the student loan after graduating.

You might think that a British person with a degree will find it easy to get a well-paid job. However, most people in “white-collar jobs” seem to have a degree these days, so there is a lot of competition. 4. Like everyone else, graduates usually have to start at the bottom and work their way up. That can be very frustrating for them, since they are often over-qualified for the work they are doing. While at university, they had dreams of getting an exciting, challenging job. Therefore, life after university ends up being quite disappointing for a lot of graduates.

5. Students have always been seen as not having a lot of money, but “student poverty” is now considered a real problem in the UK. Most British students expect to get a loan, part-time job or summer job. Worse still, however, an increasing number of students turn to crime to support themselves.

A. They are graduating with larger and larger debts.

B. All these lead to the reevaluation of a university degree.

C. It means graduates cannot afford to buy a house for many years.

D. Sometimes they have to borrow money from relatives and friends.

E. If solved improperly, the debts might cause serious social problems.

F. They use the loan to pay for tuition fees, books and living expenses.

G. Also, British companies tend to value work experience over a piece of paper.