criminal. But the police were already on the case, and because of the missing ring, Prather could face prison. Gilleece planned to employ two divers to search for it. Meanwhile, the police wanted Gilleece to bring the teen to the station. He called them and said, “He’s going to be at the docks with me tomorrow.”

The next day a crowd gathered to watch the two divers search in the waters Prather mentioned. Finally a diver appeared with the wallet, and inside was the ring. Cheers burst from the crowd. The wallet’s owner immediately dropped the charges against Prather. But troubled by Prather sleeping in the cold woods, Gilleece told the teen he could stay with him and his family until he stood on his own feet. He also gave the kid a job at his bar.

“Most people would have given the videos to the police, but he chose to help me,” Prather told CBS News. 24. What happened to the newly married woman?

A. She lost the wallet at the bar. C. She left her wallet on a bench.

B. She regretted charging Prather. D. Her wallet was stolen by Prather.

25. Why did Gileece take Prather to the docks?

A. To find the ring he had thrown. C. To help pay for the woman’s loss.

B. To help he police to catch him. D. To let him apologize to the woman.

26. What did Gilleece do after the case was over?

A. Rid Prather of the charge.

B. Talk with Prather’s family. D. Get Pratber to work in his bar.

C. Help free Prather from prison. 27. Which can be the best title for the text?

A.A wedding ring was recovered. C. Anyone can make a difference.

C

B. A wallet changed a teen’s life. D. A kind woman saved a teen.

A study showed that the experiences children have in their first few years are important. These experiences affect the development of the brain. When children receive more attention, they often have higher IQs. Babies receive information when they see, hear and feel things, which makes connections between different parts of the brain. There are a hundred trillion connections in the brain of a three-year-old child. Researcher Judit Gervain tested how good newborns are at distinguishing different sound patterns. Her researchers produced images of the brains of babies as they heard different sound patterns. For example, one order was mu-ba-ba. This is the pattern “A-B-B”. Another order was mu-ba-ge. This is the pattern “A-B-C”. The images showed that the part of the brain

responsible for speech was more active during the “A-B-B” pattern. This shows that babies can tell the difference between different patterns. They also were sensitive to where it occurred in the order.

Gervain is excited by these findings because the order of sounds is the building block of words and grammar. “Position is key to language,” she says. “If something is at the beginning or at the end, it makes a big difference: ‘John caught the bear.’ is very different from ‘The bear caught John.’”

Researchers led by scientist Patricia Kuhl have found that language delivered by televisions, audio books, the Internet, or Smartphones — no matter how educational — doesn’t appear to be enough for children’s brain development. They carried out a study of nine-month-old American babies. They expected the first group who’d watched videos in Chinese to show the same kind of learning as the second group who were brought face-to-face with the same sounds. Instead they found a huge difference. The babies in the second group were able to distinguish between similar Chinese sounds as well as native listeners. But the other babies — regardless of whether they had watched the video or listened to the audio — learned nothing. 28. What makes connections in a baby’s brain?

A. Experiencing new information. C. The connection with other babies.

B. Having a higher IQ. D. The baby’s early age.

29. What did Judit Gervain and her team find in the experiment?

A. Word order is relevant to meaning.

B. Babies identify different sound patterns. D. Babies can well understand different words.

C. A certain brain region processes language.

30. What does the underlined sentence mean in Paragraph 3?

A. Words have different sounds.

B. Different languages have different grammar. D. Grammar is important in learning languages.

C. Different orders have different meanings.

31. What is the main conclusion from the study led by Patricia Kuhl?

A. Babies shouldn’t watch a lot of television.

B. Foreign languages help babies’ brain develop. C. Listening to different languages develops babies’ brain. D. Social communication improves babies’ brain development.

D

When it comes to focusing at work, there is no lack of things to take responsibility for our wandering minds.

Refreshing Twitter, scanning the news, talking with colleagues about small beer. But there’s one possible cause of frequent distraction. Our work isn’t complex enough, and there isn’t enough of it.

This idea isn’t popular, especially with those who feel they’re already working busily. Actually complex tasks demand more of our working memory and attention, with little mental distraction. We get bored when our skills go beyond the demands of our work. And we feel anxious when the demands of a task go beyond our skills. Understanding your skill level, and matching this with a worthy task will make you more likely to be fully devoted to your work. Besides questioning the complexity of tasks, it’s worth reflecting on whether you have enough work to do in general. If not, you’re inviting distraction.

Think back to your last deadline. That timeline offers you no distractions like using social media. Our workload tends to expand to fit the time available for the completion of work. Small tasks that should take two hours will take an entire workday if we have that time available. Distractions are to blame for this time trap.

A few years ago, after I finished a report on a tight deadline, I continued to be just as busy. I entered my social media accounts when I should have been working. I checked new emails constantly. I felt guilty when I wasn’t busy, and I alleviated this guilt by filling my time with busy work. Later I realized busy work couldn’t really bring the relief, for the guilt came from the fact that I was working without intention. When we have more to do, choosing what we do ahead of time becomes necessary. Therefore, if you have distraction, consider that you might need to work harder on projects that will fill your days and enrich your life.

32. What do people usually blame for being distracted?

A. The absence of work complexity.

B. Their colleagues’ lack of teamwork. D. The tiredness after hours of hard work.

C. Social media or chats with colleagues. 33. When will we feel anxious at work?

A. When we don’t have enough tasks to do.

B. When our ability can’t meet job requirements. C. When we are busy with work for a long while. D. When we spend too much time on social media.

34. Which of the following can best explain “alleviated” underlined in paragraph 4?

A. Transformed.

B. Researched.

C. Deepened. D. Eased.

35. What’s the author’s suggestion on dealing with distraction?

A. Balance our work and social activities. B. Work hard with the intention to fill our life.

C. Expand our workload to fit the time available. D. Remove the sense of guilt about mind’s wandering away. 第二节（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填人空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项

I did not go on my first hike until my mid-30s. I could blame it on the fact that I grew up on the Great Plains of South Dakota and North Dakota. 36 Having never gone, I didn’t see the value and always shook my head when asked.

37 At the urging of my wife, and with my two young kids, we walked a beautiful forest path on a cool August morning. I carried a small backpack with water and snacks. When we reached the top, we ate lunch together overlooking a perfectly still pond and a scenic Vermont.

A few weeks ago, my 11-year-old son, my 61-year-old dad, and I hiked Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. Last weekend, I hiked down the Grand Canyon with my son along the South Kaibab trail. And later this week, my wife and daughter will join us to walk the Waterfall Trail in the White Tank

Mountains. 38 .

Now, just to be clear, by no means would I classify myself as an expert hiker. 39 And I have no plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro or walk the Appalachian Trail. But waking early on a Saturday morning to walk 3~5 miles along a forest path with lunch in the backpack is a journey I’d recommend to anyone.

It is healthy physical exercise that creates wonderful memories. 40 And given the chance, hiking teaches us important truths about life.

A. Most of our hikes only last 2 hours. B. I’ve fallen in love with climbing mountains. C. I love the stillness and calm of an empty path. D. But mostly, to be honest, I just wasn’t interested. E. If you can climb a mountain, you can do anything. F. It provides an opportunity to slow down and disconnect. G. I went on my first hike a few years back while living in Vermont.