In recent years，researchers from diverse fields have agreed that short﹣termism is now a significant problem in industrialised societies. The inability to engage with longer﹣term causes and consequences leads to some of the world's most serious problems：climate change，biodiversity collapse，and more.The historian Francis Cole argues that the West has entered a period where "only the present exists，a present characterised at once by the cruelty of the instant and by the boredom of an unending now".
It has been proved that people have a bias（偏向） towards the present，focusing on loud attractions in the moment at the expense of the health，well﹣being and financial stability of their future selves or community. In business，this bias surfaces as short﹣sighted decisions. And on slow﹣burning problems like climate change，it translates into the unwillingness to make small sacrifices（牺牲） today that could make a major difference tomorrow. Instead，all that matters is next quarter's profit，or satisfying some other near﹣term desires.
These biased perspectives cannot be blamed on one single cause. It is fair to say，though，that our psychological biases play a major role. People's hesitancy to delay satisfaction is the most obvious example，but there are others. One of them is about how the most accessible information in the present affects decisions about the future. For instance，you might hear someone say："It's cold this winter，so I needn't worry about global warming." Another is that loud and urgent matters are given too much importance，making people ignore longer﹣term trends that arguably matter more. This is when a pop star draws far more attention than，say，gradual biodiversity decline.
As a psychologist once joked，if aliens（外星人）wanted to weaken humanity，they wouldn't send ships；they would invent climate change. Indeed，when it comes to environmental transformations，we can develop a form of collective "poor memory"，and each new generation can believe the state of affairs they encounter is nothing out of the ordinary. Older people today，for example，can remember a time with insect﹣covered car windscreens after long drives. Children，on the other hand，have no idea that insect population has dropped dramatically.
（1）The author quotes Francis Cole mainly to .
| A． |
draw a comparison |
| B． |
introduce a topic |
| C． |
evaluate a statement |
| D． |
highlight a problem |
（2）What can be inferred from the last paragraph？
| A． |
Climate change has been forgotten. |
| B． |
Lessons of history are highly valued. |
| C． |
The human mind is bad at noting slow change. |
| D． |
Humans are unwilling to admit their shortcomings. |
（3）What does the author intend to tell us？
| A． |
Far﹣sighted thinking matters to humans. |
| B． |
Humans tend to make long﹣term sacrifices. |
| C． |
Current policies facilitate future decision﹣making. |
| D． |
Bias towards the present helps reduce near﹣term desires. |
C
My mom has eyes in the back of her head. She also taught me from an early age to be suspicious of strange men, especially when they give you presents. One day, a “nice man” bearing flowers managed to steal 20 euros from her purse, while she was holding it in her hands. “He said he was collecting for a church charity so I pulled out a euro,” she explains, “He said ‘no, no, that’s too much’ and offered to look in my purse to find a smaller coin. He must have slid out that 20 euro note at the same time. I did not even notice until an hour later. I felt so stupid.”
According to neuroscientists, the key requirement for a successful pickpocket is not having nifty (熟练的) fingers, it’s having a working knowledge of the loopholes (漏洞) in our brain. The most important of these loopholes is the fact that our brains are not set up to multi-task. Most of the time that is a good thing — it allows us to filter (过滤) out all but the most important features of the world around us. But a good trickster can use it to against you. This kind of trick involves capturing all of somebody’s attention with other movements. Street pickpockets often use this effect to their advantage by manufacturing a situation that can not help but overload your attention system. Other strategies are more psychological. Pickpockets tend to hang out a “beware of pickpockets” sign, because the first thing people do when they read it is check they still have their valuables, helpfully giving away where they are. And in my mom’s case, the thief’s best trick was not coming across like a pickpocket. “He was a very nice guy and very confident. Not someone that would cause you to suspect,” she says. Apollo Robbins, a stage pickpocket, said smart move, like moving your hand in an arc motion rather than a straight line, is another popular strategy employed by tricksters.
At last, it should be pointed out that most thefts are opportunistic. The skill level of most thieves is far less than you think. But they are opportunistic enough to keep up with new technology.What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．People’s brains are not designed to multi-task. |
| B．People’s brains can filter out all but the most important features. |
| C．Somebody’s attention can be distracted by a certain trick. |
| D．Somebody’s overload attention system. |
How did the pickpockets manage to cheat the mother ?
| A．He had such smart motion that she didn’t notice that. |
| B．He looked so reliable that she didn’t suspect him. |
| C．He made her focus her attention on what he said instead of being cheated . |
| D．All the above. |
In the author’s opinion, _________.
| A．people’s brains have many loopholes |
| B．thieves are more skillful than opportunistic |
| C．signs reminding people of pickpockets can play a negative role in protecting valuables |
| D．his mom’s losing money is nothing but a by-accident experience |
What will the author probably talk about next?
| A．Mom’s another suffering |
| B．Pickpockets concerning new technology |
| C．Pickpockets’ tricks |
| D．Apollo Robbins’ stage pickpockets |
B
Today, the bicycle is the primary method of transportation for the human race. About 1.6 billion bicycles are in use around the world --- in big cities, along remote country lanes, and in the smallest villages ---and hundreds of millions of bikes are produced every year to meet the continuing demand for cheap wheeled transport.
Yet the bicycle is hardly a new vision of how humans move around. Historians speculate(猜测) about Leonardo da Vinci’s 1940s drawings and a 1580s stained glass window in England that appear to describe a two-wheeler. The first widely recognized two-wheeler in actual use, however, was the pedal-less Celerifere, a toy of the French upper class in the 1970s. The more famous Draisienne followed that toy in 1816, still without pedals. The front wheel could be steered, and this two-wheeler was eventually mass-produced in Europe, particularly in England. Ernest Michaux added cranks(曲轴) to the two-wheeler in 1855, which started a revolution in human transportation --- the Velocipede.
By 1870, complicated metal Velocipede were in production in Europe and the United States. Over time, they gave way to the “Ordinary” or high-wheeler. The Ordinary was the beginning of the heyday(全盛期) of bicycling. It was speedy and capable of long trips on poor roads, so it was soon in widespread use. At that time a skilled person might earn 25 cents an hour in wages, but a good Ordinary sold for $75 to $125, making it more expensive than building a house. Nevertheless, they sold at a furious pace.
Ordinaries had a big problem, however. When the front wheel came up against any obstacle that it could not roll over, the bike simply threw the rider headfirst onto the ground. Called a “header”, this characteristic problem inspired the “safety bicycle” in the 1980s. With two wheels of equal size, plus a roller chain(齿轮) transmission, the safety bicycle was with a slight adaptation, they attracted thousands of women to cycling. Many historians point to the safety bicycle as the beginning of women’s rights.
In England, in 1909, the Raleigh bicycle, equipped with a 3-speed hub, started to be produced. In the 1930s, British-built “lightweight” bicycles, suitable for the packed earth of country roads, were being imported into the United States. The early 1980s saw the creation of the “Freestyle” or trick bicycle. And in the late 1990s, the road bike and the mountain bike proved to be the dominant machines of the decade.
Today, the bicycle continues to be the most energy and cost-efficient transportation device in the world.What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
| A．The places suited to the use of bicycles. |
| B．The way bicycles are used in the world. |
| C．The importance and popularity of bicycles. |
| D．The number of bikes produced every year. |
We can learn from the second paragraph that____________.
| A．the Celerifere was actually the first bicycle in history. |
| B．the Draisienne had two pedals and its wheels could be steered. |
| C．Ernest Michaux created the Velocipede in 1885. |
| D．the bicycle idea might have come from one of da Vinci’s drawings. |
What does the underlined word “furious” in the third paragraph mean?
| A．Rapid | B．Gentle | C．Steady | D．Smooth |
How has the author developed the text?
| A．In order of space | B．In order of time |
| C．In order of importance | D．In order of frequency |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。
A
There are no signs of little green men on Mars. But new discoveries offer a bit more hope that some form of life existed there in the past --- and perhaps is still there in the present. Methane gas(甲烷) and water have been found on the Red Plane. The presence of both suggests at least the possibility of life.
According to a new report in the journal, Science, the Mars rover, Curiosity, has detected spikes of methane in the Martian atmosphere. This gas is also found in the Earth’s atmosphere, and comes from animal and plant life, as well as from the environment itself. If there’s methane in Mar’s atmosphere, where is it coming from? Scientists aren’t sure. But it marks a big change. In September 2013, Curiosity found almost no traces of methane in the Martian air. Just weeks later, however, the rover picked up a whiff of(一点点) the gas.
The scientists don’t know whether the methane spikes are caused by some form of biological matter or by the geology of the planet. Christopher Chyba, a professor of astrophysics and international affairs at Princeton, says it’s best not to be too hopeful about biology on the Red Planet. “Hopes for biology on Mars have had a way of disappearing once Martian chemistry has been better understood,” he says. “But figuring out what’s responsible for the methane is clearly a key astrobiological objective --- whatever the answer turns out to be.”
The discovery of water on Mars is nothing new. For decades, scientists have had evidence that it flowed across the surface of the planet billions of years ago. But according to another new report in Science, while the surface water on Mars seems to be long gone, there’s a lot more of it left than most of people realize.
This report is also based on findings from Curiosity. Paul Mahaffy, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, led the study. He says there is enough water on Mars “to cover the surface to a depth of about 165 feet.”
It is not easy to reach this water. Most of it is locked up in ice at the planet’s poles.Why do scientists think there might be life on Mars?
| A．Because the Mars rover has detected water on the planet. |
| B．Because there is evidence that little green men exist on the planet. |
| C．Because the Mars rover has found some plants on the planet. |
| D．Because both methane and water have been found on the planet. |
What is the attitude of professor Christopher Chyba towards life on Mars?
| A．Optimistic | B．Negative |
| C．Neutral | D．Indifferent |
The water on Mars _______________.
| A．still flows on its surface |
| B．covers the whole planet |
| C．is locked up in ice at the planet’s poles |
| D．only existed on it billions of years ago |
In which column of a website can we read this text?
| A．Culture | B．Entertainment |
| C．Science | D．Education |
E
Before we start a voyage, we usually try to find out more or less definitely where we are bound and how we are supposed to get there.
I happen to have the “Concise Oxford dictionary” on my desk and that will do as well as any other. The word I am looking for appears at the bottom of Page 344. edition 1912.
“Geography: the science of the earth's surface, form, physical features, natural and political divisions, climate, productions and population.”
I could not possibly hope to do better, but I still stress some of the aspects of the case at the expenses of others, because I intend to place man in the centre of the stage. This book of mine will not merely discuss the surface of the earth and its physical features, together with its political and natural boundaries. I would rather call it a study of man in search of food and shelter and leisure for himself and for his family and an attempt to his background or has reshaped his physical surroundings in order to be comfortable and well nourished and happy with his limited strength.
Among the two million human beings in the world, there is of course the widest possible range for all sorts of experiments of an economic and social and cultural nature. It seems that those experiments deserve our attention before anything else. For a mountain is after all merely a mountain until it has been seen by human eyes and has been walked on by human feet and until its slopes and valleys have been occupied and fought over and planted by a dozen generation of hungry settlers.
The Atlantic Ocean was just as wide and deep and as wet and salty before the beginning of the 13th century as after, but it took the human touch to make it what it is today—a bridge between the New World and the Old, the highway for the commerce between East and West.
For thousands of years the endless Russian plains lay ready to offer their abundant harvest to whoever should take the trouble to sow the first grain. But the aspect of that country today would he a very different one if the hand of a German or a Frank, rather than that of a Slav, had guided the iron-pointed stick that plowed the first furrows (犁沟).
The island of Nippon would shake and quake just as continually, whether they happened to be settled by Japanese or by the Tasmanian race, but in the latter case they would hardly be able to feed 60,000,000 people.
Generally speaking, I have paid more attention to the purely “human” side of geography than to the commercial problems which are so important in a day and age devoted to mass production.
In the first four paragraphs, the author wants to share with the readers ______.
| A．his approach to planning a voyage |
| B．his emphasis on using a dictionary |
| C．his definition of the word “geography” |
| D．his altitude to the earth's physical features |
Which of the following will the author NOT consider to be on experiment according to Paragraph 5?
| A．Exploring a mountain. |
| B．Climbing a mountain. |
| C．Planting on slopes and valleys. |
| D．Becoming hungry. |
The author mentioned the Russian plains and the island of Nippon to show that _____.
| A．they both feed a lot of people |
| B．they enjoy very good natural conditions |
| C．different people may make the same place different |
| D．their natural conditions haven't changed for many years |
How is the passage organized?
| A．Topic ---Argument --- Explanation |
| B．Introduction --- Supporting examples --- Conclusion |
| C．Opinion --- Discussion --- Description |
| D．Main idea --- Comparison --- Supporting examples |
D
Once again, the time has come for the biggest event in the fashion world: New York Fashion Week! But do you know enough about this annual event to call yourself a true fashionista?
From seating arrangements to model behavior, here are some things you might not know about Fashion Week.
___________________
At Fashion Week, it’s where you sit that counts. A-list attendees include the fashion media, buyers, retailers, fashion professionals, celebrities and socialites, but who gets the coveted front-row seats comes down to the designers and their PR teams. Usually, it’s celebrities and important editors who get the best seats.
Why do models always look so unhappy?
Models usually parade along the runway with serious expressions on their faces. Well, it’s not that they’re too cool to smile. Most high fashion designers typically ask their models not to smile while walking down the runway. The idea is that audience members will concentrate on the fashion designs instead of the model’s face or personality. “It’s more than anything else about doing the job well,” supermodel Claudia Schiffer told Reuters.
How should Fashion Week attendees behave?
Designers appreciate it when attendees wear their brand to their show. Most design houses will even ensure that the celebrities are “appropriately” dressed in designer wear once they agree to attend.
Catwalk photographers hate it when the audience’s feet sully their pristine runway shots, so just as the lights go down, they scream a single message to the audience: “Uncross your legs, please!”
How do the Big Four fashion weeks differ?
The Big Four always take place in this order: New York, London, Milan and Paris. Each of the Big Four is known for championing different styles — New York for sportswear; London for edgy, avant-garde design; Milan for its over-the-top yet stylish looks; and Paris for haute couture.which of the following is the most suitable heading for the third paragraph?
| A．Who attends fashion week? |
| B．Who gets a first-row seat? |
| C．Which seats are the best? |
| D．What counts at the fashion week? |
why do models always look so unhappy/
| A．They are too cool to smile |
| B．They are used to wearing serious expressions. |
| C．Audience will focus on the fashion designs rather than models’faces. |
| D．They will be fined if they smile while parading. |
we can learn from the passage that ____.
| A．London fashion week is known for sportswear |
| B．Fashion week attendees can be dressed however they like |
| C．The audience can cross their legs all through the show |
| D．Celebrities and important editors usually sit in the front row |
The main purpose of the passage is to ____
A.A.Advertise some fashion designs
B.advise people to attend fashion week
C.Introduce some knowledge about fashion week
D.Tell fashion week attendees how to behave
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