Mrs Keller had a big family. Her husband had a factory in the town. One of her sons was a lawyers and the other two were drivers. And her two daughters worked in the post office. The old woman stayed at home and could do all housework and wouldn’t employ anybody.
One evening, the telephone rang while the old woman was preparing supper. She went to answer it. She was told that one of her sons died in a traffic accident. She heard this and fell in a faint. When she came back to life, she was in hospital. And she needed to be helped after that.
Several months later she was told on the telephone her daughter died while she was being operated on. The old woman was so sad that she had to be in hospital again. From then on she was afraid to answer any telephones and sometimes she was afraid hear the bell. Of course it brought them some trouble and some important business was held up. So her husband advised her to see a psychiatrist. The man examined her carefully and then asked her some questions.
“You will soon be all right if you follow my advice, Mrs Keller.” said the psychiatrist.
The old woman took the medicine the doctor gave on time and tried to forget her dead son and daughter. And two months later she went to see the psychiatrist again.
“You have saved me, Doctor,” the old woman said, as soon as she saw him.
“Are you afraid to answer the telephone now?”
“No,” answered Keller.
“I dare answer it whether it rings or not.”Mrs Keller could do all housework because ______.
| A．she had no money to employ a helper. |
| B．she was strong enough to do all at home |
| C．she didn’t believe anybody |
| D．only she was free at home |
The old woman fell in a faint because _____
| A．she went to answer the telephone. |
| B．she was very ill that evening |
| C．she walked in the room carelessly |
| D．she heard the news about her son’s death. |
After she came out of hospital, Mrs Keller wasn’t _________as before.
| A．strong | B．able | C．clever | D．sad |
______made the old woman not answer the telephone.
| A．The doctor’s advice | B．Her husband’s suggestion |
| C．Her poor health | D．The two pieces of bad news |
Catch yourself daydreaming while washing the dishes again?If this happens often you probably have a pretty capable working memory and a sharper brain, new research suggests.
This mind wandering, it seems, actually gives your working memory a workout. Working memory is the mental work space that allows the brain to juggle multiple thoughts at the same time. The more working memory a person has, the more daydreaming they can do without forgetting the task at hand.
Researchers studied groups of people from the University of Wisconsin－Madison community, ranging in age from 18 to 65. The volunteers were asked to perform simple tasks, like pressing a button every time they took a breath or clicking in response to a letter popping up on a computer screen; these tasks were so easy that their minds were likely to wander, the researchers figured.
The researchers checked in periodically, asking the participants if their minds were on task or wandering. When the task was over, they measured each participant's working memory capacity by having them remember letters while doing math questions. Though all participants performed well on the task, the researchers noticed that the individuals who indicated their minds had wandered more than others also scored higher on the working memory test.
“What this study seems to suggest is that, when circumstances for the task aren't very difficult, people who have additional working memory resources allocate them to think about things other than what they're doing，” said Jonathan Smallwood, a study researcher of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science.
When our minds run out of working memory, these off－topic thoughts can take the main stage without us consciously meaning them to; for instance, arriving at home with no memory of the actual trip, or suddenly realizing that they've turned several pages in a book without understanding any of the words.
“It's almost like your attention was so absorbed in the mind wandering that there wasn't any left over to remember your goal to read，” study researcher Daniel Levinson, said in a statement. People with overall higher working memory were better able to stay focused when the task at hand required it. Those who had low working memory often had their thoughts drift away from the task, and did less well at it.
The findings add to past research suggesting these mind drifts can be positive moments. For instance, daydreaming has often been associated with creativity—researchers think that our most creative and inventive moments come when daydreaming. It's likely that the most intelligent among us also have high levels of working memory, Levinson noted.The word “juggle” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “________”．
| A．search | B．understand | C．handle | D．foresee |
What can be concluded from Jonathan Smallwood's words?
| A．Absorbed in the mind wandering, your attention left no space for your goal. |
| B．On the working memory test, people with wandering minds will get high score. |
| C．Dealing with some easy jobs, people with higher working memory will daydream. |
| D．People who often have daydreams probably own a pretty capable working memory. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Mind drifts are always positive. |
| B．Daydreaming is good for the mind. |
| C．Creative moments come with working memory. |
| D．The more daydreaming, the more effectively one works. |
阅读理解
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
January 1 — January 31
You are charming and intelligent. You are actually quite ambitious. You like to go to parties and chat with your friends. On the other hand, you are friendly, but you are also a very private person.
February 1 — February 28
You are determined and hard working．You are born under the sign of loyalty and faimess．You like parties and enjoy a lot of friends. On the other hand, you are quite famous for your courage. You really like to explore and you are an adventurer.
March 1 — March 31
You are very loyal, independent, and open-minded. You are a born leader, and when you set a goal, you go to it. You adore challenges and competitions. You are most likely to be the one who calls out, "Let's go!" you are always in a circle of friends. You love animals. You are like a roller coaster.
April 1—April 30
You are artistic, well-mannered, intelligent, and diplomatic．You are usually sweet and kind, of course．You are sometimes famous for your artistic sense and good taste. You love throwing grand parties. Vacations and routines are very important to you. You are also fairly popular.
May l — May 31
You are talented, sincere, and most of all, enthusiastic. You are the master of ceremonies. You shine in the crowd．When you walk into a room, heads turn, and you hear whispers and gasps. You have a strong will to defeat any challenge in your way. You have a hunger for fashion.
June 1 — June 30
You are very elegant, wise, and compassionate(有同情心的)．You are very attractive and people are attracted to you. Your friends rely on you for advice. You will be someone like Jacqueline Onassis. You are also very lucky in many ways.
July l — July 31
You are mostly agreeable, energetic, and popular.You like to try new things wherever you go. You know how to dress and you always look your best. You are talented and you love sports. You are always one step ahead of anyone else. You adore freedom and independence.
August 1 — August 31
You are empathetic, easygoing, and compliant．You can get along with almost everyone. Many people admire you for your talent and creativity. On the other hand, you are sensitive and compassionate. You always like to dream. You enjoy peace and quiet at night.
September 1 — September 30
You are individualistic, sociable, and very entertaining. You are capable of anything. You have an excellent memory. You like long, friendly conversations with your closest friends．You turn boring things into the life of the party.
October 1 — October 31
You are thoughtful, intelligent, and the class comedian．You are also very popular, and nice around friends. You love to save the best for last. You are amusing and very fun to be around with. You love to spend hours each day reading and studying for final exams, when the school year has just started. You almost never turn on your friends.
November 1 — November 30
You are unselfish, knowledgeable, and friendly. You are loyal to your friends and family. You can see the difference between right and wrong. You are very honest and you speak out when you feel something has gone wrong. You are the person who likes trendy clothes.
December 1 —December 31
You are smart, optimistic, and willing to help others. You are like a rare diamond. You are intentionally the nicest while you are with friends. You are also very affectionate. You are too good to be true. Your friends trust in you easily. You are also popular in the "Being Nice" way. Who is the combination of very different characteristics?
| A．A person born during April 1---April 30. |
| B．A person born during August 1---August 31. |
| C．A person born during January 1---January 31. |
| D．A person born during February 1---February 28. |
People born in the months of_______ are usually very fashionable．
| A．May, July and November |
| B．May, July and October |
| C．July, October, and November |
| D．April, May and October |
A young boy recently received an unexpected message in the mail from his father Joseph, who died two years ago.
Rowan's dad was a hardworking man who wanted to give his son the best life he could. It was why Rowan's mother, Julie Van Stone, said Joseph joined the Navy and went to MIT to get two masters degrees.
While at school in Boston, he would often write to Rowan. Even when he left school and was driving back to Colorado, he would send postcards from each state he stopped in. Those postcards were sent in 2007. "I remember him saying he had sent 5 or 6, and I only got 3 or 4 in the mail. But I never thought anything of it," Van Stone said.
Those postcards and pictures are priceless memories for Van Stone and her son, especially after Joseph passed away from a rare brain disease. Rowan never had a chance to say goodbye. But, on Saturday, just days before the two-year anniversary of Joseph's death, a postcard arrived in the mail. It arrived March 11, 2015. The message read: "Hello from Pennsylvania. I love you, and I miss you so much. See you soon. Love, Daddy."
Neither he nor his mother knows how it happened, and they may never know. But, they have their own ideas why. "I feel like that was the final goodbye that he didn't get to say," Van Stone said. Van Stone says Joseph's last words to her before he died were: "Everything is a circle. We will see each other again. All that matters is love."What did Rowan’s dad do to give his son the best life?
| A．He bought many for Julie. |
| B．He became a soldier in Navy. |
| C．He kept writing to his son. |
| D．He got many masters degrees. |
How long did it take for the postcard to reach Rowan?
| A．2 years. | B．5 years. | C．6 years. | D．8 years. |
Where did Rowan’s dad send the postcard?
A. In Boston.B. In Colorada
B. In PennsylvaniaD. In New York
So you think you know your dog. But how well does your dog know you? She probably recognizes you when she sees you. But can a dog tell by simply looking at you whether you have a happy or an angry expression on your face? Researchers in Austria have taught pet dogs to know the difference.
Dogs are very mindful of sound. When dog owners shout or speak in a strong, unkind voice, dogs often act ashamed and quietly move away from the area.
Recently, researchers found that dogs can look at our faces, and tell the difference between a smile and a frown(皱眉). The animals were able to recognize a look of praise from one of blame.
Researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna performed a series of experiments. They taught dogs to recognize facial expressions. They showed the dogs two pictures of either the upper or lower half of a person's face. On one picture, the person looked happy. The other appeared angry.
The dogs were then shown images of the eyes or mouths of people they had never seen before. They were also shown the left half of the faces used in training.
Corsin Muller led the study. “We were really speaking, do they realize that smiling eyes have the same meaning as a smiling mouth, or angry eyes have the same meaning as an angry mouth? And it turned out that they really did perform very well in these research experiments.”
Once the dogs learned to recognize which image was happy or angry, they could easily find the same expressions in pictures of any face.
Corsin Muller says future studies will try to show whether dogs can learn the meaning of facial expressions―for example, whether a frown shows that someone is angry.
In the experiments, researchers found the dogs were slower to link a reward, or prize, with recognition of the angry face. This suggested that dogs had an idea people with angry faces were best avoided.What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．How one can know his dog well. |
| B．How a dog can probably be well trained. |
| C．How a dog can tell one something. |
| D．How a dog can know one’s expressions. |
Hearing its owner’s strong, unkind voice, a dog is likely to_________.
| A．jump happily | B．act excitedly |
| C．escape quietly | D．shout loudly |
A dog is able to recognize one’s __________.
| A．praise | B．blame |
| C．anger | D．all of the above |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Dogs are as clever as human beings. |
| B．Dogs can understand man’s feelings. |
| C．Dogs can be trained to do everything. |
| D．Dogs can learn to make any angry face. |
Below are four ads on the website.
lArtful Experience
It’s an artful experience even if you’re artistically challenged. Adults, teens, and children of all ages are welcome at Contemporary Art studio. We provide everything: stamps, idea books, a little coaching, and a lot of encouragement. Drop in anytime. It’s creative fun for everyone to paint your own pottery（陶器）! No experience needed. Our studio will show you how. It’s as easy as 1-2-3!
sumplastpl@hotmail.com
lChinese-English Translator
This is an excellent opportunity for recent graduates looking to put their Chinese skills to use.
Requirements: native speaker of English; business translation experience is preferred but not a must; able to fulfill several projects on time; excellent reading skills in Chinese. If interested, please email staff@young.com or call 453-268-130.
lAncient Object Market
Here you find a large variety of old European furniture, statues and paintings. We also offer a large selection of clocks in bronze, wood, white metal. Organizing buying tours based on the needs of our clients is something else we do. We pick you up from the airport, make hotel reservations and drive you around to the best wholesale(批发) dealers. Our email is artworkdeal@hotmail.com.
l_____________________
We are delighted to offer you an efficient and reasonably priced service of high-class car rentals （租赁）with qualified drivers. Suitable for your journeys to and/or from Rome’s airports or other destinations. We will be there to meet you on your arrival at the airport and drive you to your destination in complete safety and comfort. If you need the service, please call 668-556-429.Contemporary Art studio is a place where_________.
| A．one can enjoy many kinds of artworks |
| B．one can learn how to paint on pottery |
| C．one can make pottery by himself/herself |
| D．one can improve his/her painting skills greatly |
Who may be suitable for a Chinese-English translator?
| A．An American graduate who is good at Chinese. |
| B．A Chinese graduate who majored in business. |
| C．A Chinese college student who has good English writing skills. |
| D．An American college student who is interested in English translation. |
If Mr. Black wants to buy a painting, he can__________.
| A．send an email to sumplastpl@hotmail.com |
| B．send an email to artworkdeal@hotmail.com |
| C．call 453-268-130 |
| D．call 668-556-429 |
Which of the following can be the best title for the fourth advertisement?
| A．Nice Rome trips. |
| B．Airport Car Rentals With Drivers. |
| C．Cheap Car Tours. |
| D．Flight Service To Pick You Up |