题型:任务型阅读 题类:模拟题 难易度:困难
江苏省2020年高考英语全真模拟试卷二
Should I live in the city or the suburbs?
There are three different kinds of areas you can live in: urban, suburban, and rural. You can describe living in a rural area as living out in the sticks or the county This type of living is seen as idyllic(田园生活的)for those seeking reprieve(暂时缓解)from crowds. Rural areas generally have small, self -sustaining populations.
Urban living is city living: active nightlife, full of noise, sophisticated public transit system and sometimes small and expensive city apartments. Urban areas tend to be densely(密集地)populated and have more intense traffic and pollution as a result.
For those seeking an intermediary between urban and rural living, the suburbs might be just the thing. Suburbs are large residential areas away from the core of town yet close enough to the city center.
Can you afford to live in the city?
Choosing whether to live in the city or the suburbs is often a matter of budget—where can you afford to live? By and large, living in the city is more expensive than living in the suburbs, though that's not always the case. For instance, in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and a few other cities, suburban living is not always better on your wallet.
Your lifestyle influences your happiness in the city or suburbs.
For someone who enjoys five-star restaurants, vibrant(充满活力的)nightlife, and fast-paced living, residing in an urban hub is a dream come true. On the other hand, if you find crowds and tons of noise unbearable, then a large city might feel like purgatory(炼狱).
Your lifestyle is one of the primary considerations in deciding where you ought to live. If you are into fishing, hiking, and spending time outdoors, then realize that you may have to drive several hours to enjoy your hobbies if you choose city living.
Is your career better suited for the city or suburbs?
Your career should also strongly influence your choice about whether to live in the city or in the suburbs. For example, if your job is in landscape, you might find it difficult to find work in the city because there is not a high demand for landscape artists. The fact of the matter is that most city homes don't have large yards with grass to cut, and competition for landscaping contracts is probably fierce. Similarly, a business executive(主管)may find that the suburbs do not offer the convenience afforded by city living.
The debate of whether to live in the suburbs or the city is long lasting and never-ending. When it all boils down to it, it is a matter of preference and budget, so go with your gut(决心)and you'll make the right choice.
Passage outline |
Supporting details |
of living in three kinds of areas |
◆Living in rural areas helps people escape from streets and public transportation. ◆Living in urban are can mean active nightlife but has many like noise, pollution and so on. ◆The suburbs might appeal to those seeking to achieve a between urban and rural living. |
Affordability |
Generally, city living more than suburban living, but in some cases, urban living is less expensive. |
Lifestyle |
◆When choosing where to live, you should take your lifestyle into ◆You can settle in a big city if you prefer modem life. However, if you want to your hobbies like fishing and hiking, you'd better avoid city living. |
Career |
◆Your profession plays a great role in helping you on where to live. ◆A landscape artist has difficulty finding work in the city while a business executive finds it not to live in the suburbs. |
Conclusion |
Anyway, you'll make the right decision if you your choice on your preference and budget. |
Are you truly happy? Do you ever know what it means to be happy and what it takes to achieve happiness? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The following are a few tips that I follow to create happiness in my life.
Make a plan for attaining goals that you believe will make you happy. Your mood will very likely increase if you are going after something you value.
Surround yourself with happy people. It is easy to begin to think negatively when you are surrounded by people who think that way. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}
When something goes wrong, try to figure out a solution instead of being absorbed in self-pity. Truly happy people don't allow setbacks to affect their mood because they know that with a little thought they ran turn the circumstances back to their favor.
{#blank#}3{#/blank#}These few minutes will give you the opportunity to focus on the positive things in your life and will lead you to continuous happiness.
{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Whether you treat yourself to lunch, take a long, relaxing hath or simply spend a few extra minutes on your appearance, you will be subconsciously putting yourself in a better mood.
Keeping healthy is another way to achieve happiness. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}
A. Cheerfulness doesn't always imply happiness. B. Find a way to joke about a situation that would otherwise make you happy. C. Spend a few minutes each day thinking about the things that make you happy. D. It's also important to take some time each day to do something nice for yourself. E. These are important questions for anyone who is staking happiness to ask themselves. F. Being overweight or not eating nutritious foods ran have a negative effect on your mood. G. On the contrary, if you are around people who are happy, their emotional states will be infectious. |
Decoding the young brain
There was a funny experiment to see how a young child would answer a specific question compared to an adult. After the adult had spent some time speaking with the child, he asked the child, “What do you think about me?” The child answered, “You talk too much.” When the adult performed the same experiment with another adult, the reply to the same question was, “I think you're a very interesting person.” Even if the adult felt the same way as the child, his brain allowed him to take a moment,consider the question, and come up with an answer. He could have been annoyed, but his answer didn't reflect it because he was being polite.
The secret lies in the science of the developing brain. The child's honest answer was reflected in the fact that his brain wasn't equipped to filter(过滤) information before answering the question. As a result, he was honest, but he said something that may have been hurtful. However, the child did not intentionally hurt the adult; it's just the way his brain works. As a child grows into adolescence and then into adulthood, that changes.
The human brain is made up of billions of neurons(神经元). In order for our body to execute a command, like getting up from a chair and walking to the other room, the neurons in the brain have to communicate with each other. They also help us employ our senses like taste and touch and help us remember things.
When the neurons send messages, perhaps one sensation(感觉) the person feels is excitement about eating a cookie because it is so delicious. Later, if that person smells a cookie or hears someone talking about a cookie, it can spark the electrical signals that call up the memory of eating the delicious cookie. In an adult, he or she may remember that eating too many cookies can have consequences, like weight gain. But because the younger brain is more impulsive(冲动的), the desire to feel the pleasure of the sweet treat outweighs the consequences.
That is because when a child is young, his brain is “wired” in such a way that he seeks pleasure and is more willing to take risks than an adult. This affects his decision-making process and it is why younger people tend to be more impulsive. Sometimes parents have to tell their children over and over again before the child remembers that something is dangerous or risky. How many times have we heard a parent say, “I tell her this all the time, but she never listens!”
To conclude, what we know about the young brain is that children are more likely than adults to be impulsive. It isn't always necessarily because they are being naughty; it may very well be because of their brains. So the next time you ask a child what he really thinks of you, be prepared for any kind of answer.
Decoding the young brain |
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An experiment on a young child |
A young child answered the question {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the top of his head while an adult paused, and {#blank#}2{#/blank#}twice before he found an answer. |
Causes of the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} reflected in the experiment |
The developing brain of the young child contributed to his honest answer. ◆He was more likely to hurt or offend others {#blank#}4{#/blank#} he didn't intend to do so. ◆It's just the way his brain works and with him growing up, that changes. |
Billions of neurons {#blank#}5{#/blank#}up the human brain have their own mechanism for functioning. ◆The neurons have to communicate with each other, helping us employ our senses and remember things. ◆A person may {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the smell of a cookie with the memory of eating it. ◆A younger brain is more impulsive compared with an adult's. |
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A young child's having a natural {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to seek pleasure and take risks results from his young brain. ◆This affects his decision-making process and it is why younger people act in an impulsive way. ◆Warned many times before, a young child will still try something {#blank#}8{#/blank#} or risky. |
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A conclusion drawn from the experiment |
An adult's ability to control his impulses is much {#blank#}9{#/blank#} and a young child is not {#blank#}10{#/blank#} being naughty when they make hurtful or offensive answers. |
What Does Teamwork Really Mean?
We often hear the word "teamwork". But are you a team player? Understanding the question can surely promote team spirit as well as individual development. In many job interviews, a common question is whether the interviewee is a "team player". More often than not, he or she will say "yes". But what does being a team player really mean?
On the most basic level, a team player is someone who can work within a group of people. This group is a number of people greater than one. Therefore it is an essential requirement of any employment that any potential employee is a team player.
On a deeper level, a team player is someone who can play a role in the team, to achieve and support the goals set and agreed upon by the team. The simplest analogy(类似)to the corporate team would be a sports team.
There are two main aims of the football team. One is to score goals and the other is to prevent the opposition team from scoring. In football, there are eleven players per side, and almost the same number of players in reserve. There are also other vital members of the team in the background, such as the coach, the doctor, etc.
Every member of the team has a very specific role - as a captain, goalkeeper. Every member of the team is vital to the success of the team. If one player does not perform to the best of his or her ability, the team is handicapped(阻碍,妨碍).
Similarly in the corporate world, each company has its clearly defined goals. Every member of the corporate team should have specific roles and responsibilities in view of achieving these goals.
Being a team player does not mean you should always agree with the rest of the team. There are times when your vision may differ from the vision of the company, the leader or the rest of the team. It may be a valid vision and if you believe in it strongly enough, you should share it with the rest of the team. If the leader is a competent one, he or she will assess it on its merits and not let ego(自我,自负) get in the way. However, if the team should not agree with your vision, don't take it personally.
They may find the idea inappropriate, not YOU personally. Don't take it as a sign of personal rejection. If your leader or team members see that you can handle rejection of your ideas in a mature manner, it is only to your own credit.
So, don't be afraid to offer new ideas even seemingly crazy ones. Everyone in the team should feel free to offer ideas and not worry about them being dismissed.
The pleasure of working in an environment where every member of the team is a team player is unparalleled. If you are not enjoying your working environment, chances are high that your team is also not working well. Ask yourself this:
Are your team objectives in line with those of the company? If not, why not?
What Does Teamwork Really Mean?
Introduction |
●When asked the question whether the interviewee is a "team player", {#blank#}1{#/blank#} he/she will say "yes". |
The essence of a team player |
●{#blank#}2{#/blank#}, a team player is one who can work within a group of people. |
●Deeply, a team player is one who can play a role in the team. |
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{#blank#}3{#/blank#} |
In a football team ●There are two aims of the football team—to score goals and prevent the opponents from scoring. ●Every member has a specific role and plays a(n) {#blank#}4{#/blank#} role in the success of the team. |
In the corporate world ●Each company has its clearly defined goals. ●Every member of the team should {#blank#}5{#/blank#}their responsibility for their goals. |
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{#blank#}6{#/blank#} |
●You should have your own idea when your vision {#blank#}7{#/blank#}with that of the company, the leader or the rest of the team. |
●When others find the idea inappropriate, don't take the rejection personally and you should handle it {#blank#}8{#/blank#}. |
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●Although seeming crazy, new ideas should be offered {#blank#}9{#/blank#} and freely. |
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Conclusion |
●If you are not happy in your working environment, it is {#blank#}10{#/blank#} that your team is not working well. |
On an average day most of us check our smartphones 47 times, and this habit clouds our judgment on what information to select and store, which might explain why it's time we should do things about the information we take in to form memories.
As simple as it sounds, the repetition of tasks-reading, or saying words over and over — continues to be the best method for transforming short-term memories into long-term ones. To do that, we have to retrain our minds to focus on one task at a time. Sadly, most turn a blind eye to this formula because we believe we're productive. New connections are made in your brain when you learn, so to remember what you learn, do what you probably did in your youth: Repeat words, thoughts and ideas over and over until you get them right.
Also, spaced repetition might be the best way. Quickly pushing facts into our brains leads us to forget them in the long term. When you review knowledge and practice it often, it sticks, a research has shown. So if you can include what you're trying to remember into daily life, ideally over time, your chances of keeping it significantly improve. But once you stop reviewing that knowledge, the retention (保留) drops greatly. To get past it, space out your repetition over a few days and test the effect yourself. But be careful: find a healthy interval that works. This is a good way to effectively start tackling a new language.
Sometimes, memory and focus usually go hand-in-hand. Dr. Cowan suggests rearranging our office setup as one way to improve focus. "The rebirth of the open workplace cannot be helping stay on task, "Dr. Cowan said. Referring to work spaces without desks, physical barriers and privacy, but with a lot of playthings.
Multiple studies have found that procrastination (拖延) leads to stress and completely kills focus. Stop engaging in useless tasks like surfing the web and just handle whatever it is you need to work on. Then watch your focus increase quickly and your memory improve.
Memory is very cue (提示) dependent, "Mr. Schacter, a psychologist, said, referring to. Something he calls absent-minded memory failure. "Most say it could never happen to me, but it's a very long list of responsible people that it has happened to. When you don't have that cue, you can forget almost everything. "
A simple way around that is to set reminders. Even better, combine a few of these techniques: Write your reminder on a post-it and put it on your desk so you're forced to repeatedly look at it over a long period, including the practice of spaced repetition.
Simple Ways to Be Better at Remembering |
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Current situation |
The use of smartphones makes it difficult to process the information, so we should do something to help {#blank#}1{#/blank#}it. |
Ways of {#blank#}2{#/blank#}our memories |
Repeat the tasks until you {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the information you got in mind. It's sad that the majority {#blank#}4{#/blank#}the repetition because we assume we're productive. |
Put what you want to remember into daily life and you will remember them {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Go over and practice what you've learned at {#blank#}6{#/blank#} |
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Be sure not to {#blank#}7{#/blank#}doing things necessary to handle. Give special {#blank#}8{#/blank#}to what you need to focus on rather than deal with other things. |
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Absent-minded failure may affect almost anything if you're not {#blank#}9{#/blank#}of it. Build on the memory with the {#blank#}10{#/blank#}of many techniques. |
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Conclusion |
Be aware of the situation you're in and take targeted measure to form memories, or you're likely to pay the price. |
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