Minimalism(简约主义)is a term that describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is reduced to its most basic features．As for me, minimalism functions well not in art or design, but in my daily life．
When I was packing for university, I found it extremely difficult to let go of some of the things I owned．I knew I couldn’t take everything with me, but I kept asking myself “how could I possibly throw this away?”, “what if I need it one day?”, and “what about all of the memories?” Now that I’ve moved, and left that stuff behind, I don’t even miss it. Whether or not I got rid of it, it barely makes a bit of difference to me now．I’ve learned that over time people forget, or their need for a particular object eventually disappears. Either they store it away or they get rid of it．
You might think nostalgically（怀旧的）about the toys you cared about when you were a child, but what is making you smile now is not the thing itself but the memory of it. I’ve heard it a hundred times, “you don’t need things to make you happy.” It takes something life-changing like moving across the country to realize how true this is．
Speaking of which, for a lot of people, minimalism is about able to move．It’s about being able to go almost anywhere at any time because you don’t have many possessions to carry. When you keep things you don’t need, they become a burden that ties you to a place. Moving to university was a good time to let go of a lot of stuff．And when I visit for the holidays, I’ll probably get rid of even more, to lighten the burden．
Of course there are exceptions. There are some things that are irreplaceable, very rare or expensive or we simply love and cherish for some reason or another, since we are humans．But after we keep those, how much is left that we don’t really need?
Hence, minimalism．And why does minimalism bring happiness? That’s because what really makes me happy is freedom．And the key to freedom is minimalism because minimalism reduces our attachment to things．
Attachment to too many objects creates a great mess and can severely hold back our freedom to do whatever we want, while minimalism helps us start new projects, move, travel, learn new things, work, expand, be debt-free, be healthy – really living life to our full potential．
I left the nest to fly onwards and upwards. I can’t do it with old things weighing me down. And that is why I have adopted minimalism with open arms．In paragraph l, the writer gives the definition of minimalism to ________．
| A．introduce a topic | B．present his own idea |
| C．describe a scene | D．offer an argument |
Many people don’t want to let go of some of their belongings because ________．
| A．they haven’t had any life-changing experiences |
| B．they hope to live life to their full potential by storing things away |
| C．they fear their memories will be gone with the thrown-away stuff |
| D．they may have to change their lifestyle because of the loss of them |
Which of the following is NOT the reason why the writer favors “minimalism” in life?
| A．It takes the burden off her while she is moving． |
| B．It reduces her attachment to her personal things． |
| C．It enables her to gain the freedom that she desires． |
| D．It helps her to realize how true life is． |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Minimalism brings happiness． |
| B．Minimalism is applied in many fields． |
| C．Minimalism makes people think nostalgically． |
| D．Minimalism is about able to move． |
Have you ever had the strange feeling that you were being watched? You turned around and, sure enough, someone was looking right at you!
Parapsychologists（灵学家）say that humans have a natural ability to sense when someone is looking at them. To research whether such a “sixth sense” really exists, Robert Baker, a psychologist（心理学家）at the University of Kentucky, performed two experiments.
In the first one, Baker sat behind unknowing people in public places and stared at the backs of their heads for 5 to 15 minutes. The subjects（受试者）were eating, drinking, reading studying, watching TV, or working at a computer. Baker made sure that the people could not tell that he was sitting behind them during those periods. Later, when he questioned the subjects, almost all of them said they had no sense that someone was staring at them.
For the second experiment, Baker told the subjects that they would be stared at from time to time from behind a two way mirror in a laboratory setting. The people had to write down when they felt they were being stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found that the subjects were no better at telling when they were stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found that the subjects were no better at telling when they were started at than if they had just guessed.
Baker concludes that people do not have the ability to sense when they’re being stared at. If people doubt the outcome of his two experiments, said Baker, “I suggest they repeat the experiments and see for themselves.”
68. The purpose of the two experiments is to .
A. explain when people can have a sixth sense
B. show how people act while being watched in the lab
C. study whether humans can sense when they are stared at
D. prove why humans have a sixth sense
69. In the first experiment, the subjects .
A. were not told that they would be stared at
B. lost their sense when they were stared at
C. were not sure when they would be stared at
D. were uncomfortable when they were stared at
70. The underlined word “outcome” in the last paragraph most probably means .
A. value B. result C. performance D. connection
71. What can be learned from the passage?
A. People are born with a sixth sense.
B. The experiments support parapsychologists’ idea.
C. The subjects do not have a sixth sense in the experiments.
D. People have a sixth sense in public places.
Grown-ups know that people and objects are solid. At the movies, we know that if we reach out to touch Tom Cruise, all we will feel is air. But does a baby have this understanding?
To see whether babies know objects are solid, T. Bower designed a method for projecting an optical illusion（视觉影像）of a hanging ball. His plan was to first give babies a real ball, one they could reach out and touch, and then to show them the illusion. If they knew that objects are solid and they reached out for the illusion and found empty air, they could be expected to show surprise in their faces and movements. All the 16-to 24- week -old babies tested were surprised when they reached for the illusion and found that the ball was not there.
Grown-ups also have a sense of object permanence. We know that if we put a box in a room and lock the door, the box will still be there when we come back. But does a baby realize that a ball that rolls under a chair does not disappear and go to never-never land?
Experiments done by Bower suggest that babies develop a sense of object permanence when they are about 18 weeks old. In his experiments, Bower used a toy train that went behind a screen. When 16-week-old and 22-week-old babies watched the toy train disappear behind the left side of the screen, they looked to the right, expecting it to reappear. If the experimenter took the train off the table and lifted the screen, all the babies seemed surprised not to see the train. This seems to show that all the babies had a sense of object permanence. But the second part of the experiment showed that this was not really the case. The researcher substituted（替换）a ball for the train when it went behind the screen. The 22-week-old babies seemed surprised and looked back to the left side for the train. But the 16-week -old babies did not seem to notice the switch（更换）. Thus, the 16-week-old babies seemed to have a sense of “something permanence,” while the 22-week-old babies had a sense of object permanence related to a particular object.
68. The passage is mainly about _____.
A. babies’ sense of sightB. effects of experiments on babies
C. babies’ understanding of objects D. different tests on babies’ feelings
69. In Paragraph 3, “object permanence” means that when out of sight, an object ________.
A. still exists B. keeps its shape C. still stays solid D. is beyond reach
70. What did Bower use in his experiments?
A. A chair. B. A screen. C. A film. D. A box.
71. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The babies didn’t have a sense of direction.
B. The older babies preferred toy trains to balls.
C. The younger babies liked looking for missing objects.
D. The babies couldn’t tell a ball from its optical illusion.
It's not the flashiest car in the world. Not even close. But the 1971 Volkswagen named Helioscan do something most cars can't: nm on solar energy – energy from the sun's light and heat!
Joshua Bechtold, 14, and the other students at the Riverside School in Lyndonville, Vermont, worked many months to get Helios ready for the 1999 American Tour de Sol （"Sol" is the Latin word for "sun"）. They named their car after Helios, the sun god in Greek mythology（神话）.
The 4-year-old Tour de Sol encourages the use of "green", or environmentally friendly, cars to help reduce pollution and save energy. It’s not a race. Cars are judged on fuel efficiency（耗油量） rather than speed. In the week-long event, 44 cars took the 350-mile tour from Waterbury, Connecticut, to Lake George, New York. Of the 23 student cars, Helios was the only one built by middle school students.
A teacher drove Helios, but the children talked with people wherever they stopped along the mad. "That was my favorite part," says Anna Browne, 15. "We explained how the car runs.”
Due in part to old, inefficient batteries（电池）, Helios finished fourth - out of four - in its kind, the sun-powered class. "We were there for the fun of it," Anna says. "We're proud of Helios," says Ariel Gleicher, 14. "It's a car that's good for the environment."
64. What is special about the car Helios in the text?
A. It was built by middle school students.
B. It has an attractive design.
C. It was made in 1971.
D. It won the fourth prize.
65. How many sun-powered cars took part in the race?
A. 1. B. 4. C. 23. D. 44.
66. What would be the best title for the text.'?
A. The Making of Helios
B. 1999 American Tour de Sol
C. Sun-powered Cars on the Road
D. Use of Green Cars in Connecticut
67. The students felt proud of Helios because______.
A. it could run as far as 350 miles B. it was favored by many children
C. it had high-quality batteries D. it was driven by clean energy
At one time, computers were expected largely to remove the need for paper copies of documents（文件）because they could be stored electronically. But for all the texts that are written, stored and sent electronically, a lot of them are still ending up on paper.
It is difficult to measure the quantity of paper used as a result of Internet-connected computers, although just about anyone who works in an office can tell you that when e-mail is introduced, the printers start working overtime. “I feel in my bones this revolution is causing more trees to be cut down,” says Ted Smith of the Earth Village Organisation.
Perhaps the best sign of how computer and Internet use pushes up demand for paper comes from the high-tech industry itself, which sees printing as one of its most promising new markets. Several Internet companies have been set up to help small businesses print quality documents from a computer. Earlier this week Hewlett-Packard Co. announced a plan to develop new technologies that will enable people to print even more so they can get a hard copy of a business document, a medical record or just a one-line e-mail, even if they are nowhere near a computer. As the company sees it, the more use of the Internet the greater demand for printers
Does all this mean environmental concerns （环境问题） have been forgotten? Some activists suggest people have been led to believe that a lot of dangers to the environment have gone away. “I guess people believe that the problem is taken care of, because of recycling （回收利用）,”said Kelly Quirke, director of the Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco. Yet Quirke is hopeful that high-tech may also prove helpful. He says printers that print on both sides are growing in popularity. The action group has also found acceptable paper made from materials other than wood, such as agricultural waste.
72. The growing demand for paper in recent years is largely due to ___________.
A. the rapid development of small businesses B. the opening up of new markets
C. the printing of high quality copies D. the increased use of the Internet
73. Environmentalists believe one possible way of dealing with the paper situation is ______.
A. to encourage printing more quality documents
B. to develop new printers using recycled paper
C. to find new materials for making paper
D. to plant more fast-growing trees
74. Hewlett-Packard Co. has decided to develop new technologies because ___________.
A. people are concerned about the environment
B. printers in many offices are working overtime
C. small companies need more hard copies
D. they see a growing market for printers
75. What would be the best title for the text?
A. Computers and Printers B. E-mail and the Business World
C. Internet Revolution and Environment D. Modern Technology and New Markets
LONDON（Reuters）-Organic fruit, delivered right to the doorstep. That is what Gabriel Gold prefers, and he is willing to pay for it. If this is not possible, the 26-year-old computer technician will spend the extra money at the supermarket to buy organic food.
"Organic produce is always better," Gold said. "The food is free of pesticides（农药）, and you are generally supporting family farms instead of large farms. And more often than not it is locally（本地）grown and seasonal, so it is more tasty. "Gold is one of a growing number of shoppers buying into the organic trend, and supermarkets across Britain are counting on more like him as they grow their organic food business. But how many shoppers really know what they are getting, and why are they willing to pay a higher price for organic produce? Market research shows that Gold and others who buy organic food can generally give clear reasons for their preferences-but their knowledge of organic food is far from complete. For example,small amounts of pesticides can be used on organic products. And about three quarters of organic food in Britain is not local but imported（进口）to meet growing demand. "The demand for organic food is increasing by about one third every year, so it is a very fast-growing market," said Sue Flock, a specialist in this line of business.
60. More and more people in Britain are buying organic food because ____.
A. they are getting richer
B. they can get the food anywhere
C. they consider the food free of pollution
D. they like home-grown fruit
61.Which of the following statements is true to the facts about most organic produce sold in Britain？
A. It grows indoors all year round.
B. It is produced outside Britain.
C. It is grown on family farms.
D. It is produced on large farms.
62.What is the meaning of "the organic trend" as the words are used in the text？
A. growing interest in organic food
B. better quality of organic food
C. rising market for organic food
D. higher prices of organic food
63.What is the best title for this news story？
A. Organic food-healthy, or just for the wealthy？
B. The making of organic food in Britain
C. Organic food-to import or not？
D. Good qualities of organic food