The Science of Risk-Seeking
Sometimes we decide that a little unnecessary danger is worth it because when we weigh the risk and the reward, the risk seems worth taking. 1. Some of us enjoy activities that would surprise and scare the rest of us. Why? Experts say it may have to do with how our brains work?
The reason why any of us take any risks al all might have to do with early humans. Risk-takers were better at hunting, fighting, or exploring. 2. As the quality of risk-taking was passed from one generation to the next, humans ended up with a sense of adventure and a tolerance for risk.
So why aren’t we all jumping out of airplanes then? Well, even 200,000 years ago, too much risk-taking could get one killed. A few daring survived, though, along with a few stay-in-the-cave types. As a result, humans developed a range of character types that still exists today. So maybe you love car racing, or maybe you hate it. 3.
No matter where you are on the risk-seeking range, scientists say that your willingness to take risks increases during your teenage years. 4. To help you do that, your brain increases your hunger for new experiences. New experiences often mean taking some risks, so your brain raises your tolerance for risk as well.
5. For the risk-seekers a part of the brain related to pleasure becomes active, while for the rest of us, a part of the brain related to fear becomes active.
As experts continue to study the science of risk-seeking, we’ll continue to hit the mountains, the waves or the shallow end of the pool.
A. It all depends on your character.
B. Those are the risks you should jump to take.
C. Being better at those things meant a greater chance of survival.
D. Thus, these well-equipped people survived because they were the fittest.
E. This is when you start to move away from your family and into the bigger world.
F. However, we are not all using the same reference standard to weigh risks and rewards.
G. New brain research suggests our brains work differently when we face a nervous situation.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Summer Holiday Fun 2018!
The summer holidays are upon us again. Here is our guide to summer holiday fun in Peterborough!
Peterborough Museum
The Age of the Dinosaurs is the museum’s main attraction this summer. Get up close to prehistoric creatures via some great hands-on exhibits! Watch out for monsters lurking around every ember! The museum is open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Saturday, and from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Sunday in August.
Call 01733 864663 for details.
Saxon Youth Club
School holiday fun: Young people aged 13-19 will be able to produce their own music, compete in sports activities, or try their hand at cooking at Saxon Youth Club, Saxon Community Centre, Norman Road, Peterborough every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 pm. PLUS an aero ball tournament will take place on Thursday, 12th August between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm.
Call 01353 720274 for details.
Houghton Mill
Through the Looking Glass – a new production of the family favorite on Monday 30th, August. Bring rugs or chairs to sit on and a picnic if you wish to eat during the play. Gates open 5:30 pm, performance 6:30 pm-8:30 pm. Tea room will be open until the end of the interval. Adult £ 10. Child £ 7. Family £ 20.
Booking advisable on 0845 4505157.
Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey
Farmland Games: From Wellie Wanging to Pretend Ploughing matches, come and join the Farmland Team. Collect your sporting stickers and create a colorful rosette that is fit for a winner! No need to book, just turn up between 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Thursday, 19th August. Suitable for children aged four and above, each child should be accompanied by an adult and all activities are included in the normal admission price. Tickets Cost: £ 7 per child.
For further information, call 01223 810080.
1.If you are interested in cooking, you can go to ________.
A. Peterborough Museum B. Saxon Youth Club
C. Houghton Mill D. Farmland Museum
2.You want to watch the new play with your parents, so it will cost you ________.
A. £ 7 B. £ 17
C. £ 20 D. £ 27
3.Which of the following activities needs parents’ company?
A. Visiting the dinosaur exhibition. B. Playing farmland games.
C. Competing in sports activities. D. Watching the new play.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Prateek Sharma was born into a family of farmers. After 10 years of being a chief manager of Kotak Mahindra Bank, he did a good job and earned a good pay. But Prateek couldn’t continue the corporation life with ease, as his heart was always in farming. So he worked as a banker on weekdays and on weekends travelled 100 km to get to his 5-acre in Dhaba Khurd.
By the end of 2015, Prateek had set up a house on his farm to grow offseason vegetables. Prateek thought he’d quit his job once he was able to earn enough from farming, but this wasn’t an easy decision to make. This was because costs to grow these vegetables were very high, along with the fact that farmers weren’t a part of the value chain and thus couldn’t decide the price of their own vegetables.
Fortunately, Prateek met Vinay Yadav, another educated farmer. They then decided to start their own value chain and sell their vegetables and grains, while skipping the middlemen. The variety of vegetables they grew wasn’t enough, so they decided to form a group of farmers.
Once the plan was ready, the group was registered by the name of Farmer Producer Organization (FPO). However, the trial failed in the first year as most of the farmers were grain growers and had limited knowledge of growing vegetables. However, the largest reason was the switch to organic from chemical.
Luckily, once the soil was used to organic methods, the next round of crops were successful and the FPO had a good amount of produce. So at the end of 2017, Prateek finally quit his job and devoted all his time to farming. Now he’s successful and recently his team has started two farmer resource centers at Dhaba Khurd and Nathrula Canj.
1.Why did Prateek have trouble continuing his life as a banker?
A. He felt it so boring to be a banker.
B. He almost never satisfied his boss.
C. He found farming easier to do well.
D. He was enthusiastic about farming.
2.Why was it difficult for Prateek to decide on quitting his job?
A. The prices of organic products were low.
B. The income from farming wasn’t much.
C. He had no money to put into farming.
D. He found farming produce hard to sell.
3.What did Prateek and Vinay Yadav set about doing after they met?
A. Building their own marketing system.
B. Raising the prices of their products.
C. Switching from chemical to organic.
D. Adding the kinds of vegetables grown.
4.What mainly resulted in the failure of FPO’s first year trial?
A. Their no experience in growing vegetables.
B. Their poor management on the employees.
C. The soil’s not adapting to organic farming.
D. The wrong ways of doing organic farming.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The values of artistic works, according to cultural relativism（相对主义）, are simply reflections of local social and economic conditions. Such a view, however, fails to explain the ability of some works of art to excite the human mind across cultures and through centuries.
History has witnessed the endless productions of Shakespearean plays in every major language of the world. It is never rare to find that Mozart packs Japanese concert halls, as Japanese painter Hiroshige does Paris galleries. Unique works of this kinds are different from today’s popular art, even if they began as works of popular art. They have set themselves apart in their timeless appeal and will probably be enjoyed for centuries into the future.
In a 1757 essay, the philosopher David Hume argued that because “the general principles of taste are uniform（不变的）in human nature,” the value of some works of art might be essentially permanent. He observed that Homer was still admired after two thousand years. Works of this type, he believed, spoke to deep and unvarying features of human nature and could continue to exist over centuries.
Now researchers are applying scientific methods to the study of the universality of art. For example, evolutionary psychology is being used by literary scholars to explain the long-lasting themes and plot devices in fiction. The structures of musical pieces are now open to experimental analysis as never before. Research findings seem to indicate that the creation by a great artist is as permanent an achievement as the discovery by a great scientist.
1.According to the passage, what do we know about cultural relativism?
A. It introduces different cultural values.
B. It explains the history of artistic works.
C. It relates artistic values to local conditions.
D. In excites the human mind throughout the world.
2.In Paragraph 2, the artists are mentioned in order to show that ________.
A. great works of art can go beyond national boundaries
B. history gives art works special appeal to set them apart
C. popular arts are hardly distinguishable from great arts
D. great artists are skilled at combining various cultures
3.According to Hume, some works of art can exist for centuries because ________.
A. they are results of scientific study
B. they establish some general principles of art
C. they are created by the world’s greatest artists
D. they appeal to unchanging features of human nature
4.Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?
A. Are Popular Arts Permanent? B. Are Artistic Values Universal?
C. Is Human Nature Uniform? D. Is Cultural Relativism Scientific?
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
A new argument has been put forward as to whether penguins are disturbed by the presence of tourists in Antarctica.
Previous research by scientists from Keil University in Germany monitored Adelie penguins and noted that the birds’ heart rates increased dramatically at the sight of a human as far as 30 meters away. But new research using an artificial egg, which is equipped to measure heart rates, disputes this. Scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge say that a slow moving human who does not approach the nest too closely, is not viewed as a threat by penguins.
The earlier findings have been used to partly explain the 20 per cent drop in populations of certain types of penguins near tourist sites. However, tour operators have continued to insist that their activities do not adversely（不利地）affect wildlife in Antarctica, saying they encourage non-destructive behavior in tourists, and that the decline in penguin numbers is caused by other factors.
Amanda Nimon of the Scott Polar Research Institute spent three southern hemisphere summers at Cuverville Island in Antarctica studying penguin behavior towards humans. “A nesting penguin will react very differently to a person rapidly and closely approaching the nest,” says Nimon. “First they exhibit large and prolonged heart rate changes and then they often flee the nest leaving it open for predators（掠夺者）to fly in and remove eggs or chicks.” The artificial egg, specially for the project, monitored both the parent who had been ‘disturbed’ when the egg was placed in the nest and the other parent as they both took it in turns to guard the nest.
However, Boris Culik, who monitored the Adelie penguins, believes that Nimon’s findings do not prove his own research invalid. He points out that species behave differently – and Nimon’s work was with Gentoo penguins. Nimon and her colleagues believe that Culik’s research was methodologically（方法论上）defective because the monitoring of penguins’ responses needed catching the birds and fitting them with heart-rate transmitters（发射器）. Therefore, argues Nimon, it would not be surprising if they became stressed on seeing a human subsequently.
1.According to the passage, which of the following messages is presented?
A. No firm conclusions are drawn.
B. Neither Culik’s nor Nimon’s findings are of much value.
C. Penguin reduction is closely related to tourist behavior.
D. Tourists are not responsible for the fall in penguin numbers.
2.Which of the following is right according to the passage?
A. Penguins are harder to research when they have young.
B. Tour operators should encourage tourists to avoid Antarctica.
C. Not all penguins behave in the same way.
D. Penguins need better protection from tourists.
3.What do you know about the opinions of Culik and Nimon in the passage?
A. They are unreasonable. B. They are based on each other.
C. They are similar. D. They are contrary to each other.
4.The underlined word subsequently probably means ________.
A. later B. calmly
C. separately D. earlier
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
“Wanted: Violin. Can’t pay much. Call …”
Why did I notice that? I wondered, since I rarely looked at the classified ads. I laid the paper on my lap and closed my eyes, remembering what had happened during the Great Depression, when my family ________ to make a living on our farm. I, too, had wanted a violin, but we didn’t have the ________.
When my older twin sisters began showing an interest in music. Harriet Anne learned to play Grandma’s upright piano, ________ Suzanne turned to Daddy’s violin, simple tunes soon became ________ melodies as the twins played more and more. ________ in the rhythm of the music, my baby brother danced around while Daddy hummed（哼唱）and Mother whistled. I just ________.
When my arms grew ________ enough, I tried to play Suzanne’s violin. I loved the beautiful sound of the firm bow drawn across the strings. Oh, how I wanted one! But I knew it was ________ the question.
One evening as the twins played in the school orchestra, I closed my eyes tight to capture the picture firmly in my ________. “Someday, I’ll sit up there.” I vowed（发誓）________.
Unfortunately, it was not a ________ year. At harvest the crops did not bring as much as we had hoped. I, however, couldn’t ________ any longer to ask, “Daddy, may I have a violin of my own?”
“Can’t you use Suzanne’s?”
“I’d like to be in the orchestra, too, and we can’t ________ use the same violin at the same time.”
Daddy’s face looked ________. That night, and many following nights, I heard him ________ God in our family prayers, “… and Lord, Mary Lou wants her ________ violin.”
One evening we all sat around the table. The twins and I studied. Mother sewed and Daddy wrote a letter to his friend, George Finkle, in Columbus. Mr. Frinkle, Daddy said, was a fine ________.
As he wrote, Daddy read parts of his letter out loud to Mother. Weeks later I ________ he’d written one line he didn’t read aloud: “Would you watch for a ________ for my third daughter? I can’t ________ much, but she enjoys music. And we’d like her to have her own instrument.”
1.A. managed B. promised C. struggled D. forced
2.A. luck B. money C. choice D. hope
3.A. while B. since C. after D. before
4.A. soft B. fluent C. gentle D. lovely
5.A. Picked out B. Caught up C. Taken on D. Called for
6.A. shouted B. laughed C. listened D. cried
7.A. long B. tough C. big D. slim
8.A. far from B. next to C. out of D. along with
9.A. dream B. hand C. life D. mind
10.A. faithfully B. silently C. frequently D. patiently
11.A. hopeless B. stable C. good D. difficult
12.A. stand B. help C. wait D. risk
13.A. both B. ever C. either D. still
14.A. angry B. sad C. pale D. weak
15.A. demand B. persuade C. commit D. remind
16.A. favourite B. private C. own D. individual
17.A. violinist B. pianist C. physicist D. guitarist
18.A. heard B. conveyed C. discovered D. informed
19.A. class B. favor C. gift D. violin
20.A. owe B. order C. charge D. pay
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
阅读下列材料，在空白处填入适当的单词或用括号内单词的正确形式填空。
Many people travel during the holiday season but do not make sure that their houses 1. (protect). Crimes go up rapidly during the winter and summer holiday seasons. Here are two things that you should keep in mind when you go 2. holiday.
Always give 3. (strange) the feeling that you are at home. Have the snow 4. (clean) off your stairs or out of your driveway during the winter season. Your might ask others to park 5. cars in your driveway.
Tell your newspaper deliverer that you are not at home. 6. (have) a pile of newspapers and other mails on your doorstep tells people that you are not at home, so you should have a neighbor 7. a relative get your mail every day.
Nobody would bother to make these classic novels into films if they 8. (have) nothing to do with contemporary life.
Great Expectations 9. (set) in England in the early 1800s.
Like many of Burns’ poems, a Red, Red Rose was intended 10. (be) a song.
Some of the world’s greatest singes were also cast in this 11. (produce).
Modern pop music has its roots in the folk songs of black Americans 12. (hold) in slavery.
Thus, from the blues, there 13. (spring) up a faster, livelier kind of music called jazz.
Besides the works of da Vinci, the Louvre Museum has more than 6,000 other European paintings, 14. (range) from the 13th century to the 19th century.
The idea for our festival was hatched back in 1978, 15. it was known as the Utah/US Film Festival.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。作文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^）并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
I don’t remember exact how old I was when I began to ride a bike. I only remembered how I practiced riding a bike in early years. When I first successfully rode a bike, that remains a vivid memory, my brother helped me with holding the back seat of the bike when I was riding. “Wow, I did it!” cried I, as soon as he noticed I was riding without his hands hold it! I learnt quickly, and soon, even though my feet were not touching the ground, but I was able to cycle around six kilometer a day to school! It’s so lovely to remember which happened at that time.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，自制了一些中国结（Chinese knot）。现在你准备给开网店的美国朋友Tom写封信，请他代卖。要点包括：
1. 外观（尺寸、颜色、材料）；
2. 象征意义；
3. 价格。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析