A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time. The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.

They found that almost all of the categories showed a drop in these “mood words” over time. Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage.

“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi. He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape. “One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media. Maybe these media — movies, radio, drama, had more emotional content than books.”

Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio (比率) between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events.

During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash. But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends. In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true.

“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression (壓抑) of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’… perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body.”

1. The word "decline" (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to_________.

A. increase B. rise C. decrease D. change

2.A study of more than five million books indicated a decrease in “mood words” over time except_______.

A. in the use of the words of historical events

B. in the category of fear

C. in the category of literature

D. in the category of joy

3. What’s the main idea of this passage?

A. A study of emotional words.

B. A study about vocabulary in literature.

C. Reasons for the use of emotional words decreases in literature.

D. A study on increase in the category of fear.

1. If one wants to apply for the NEMS programme, it is essential for him to __________.

A. make contact with Ms Soh

B. have passed the GRE test

C. possess a university diploma

D. major in engineering or science

2. Students admitted to the NEMS Programme __________.

A. are required to obtain a Doctor’s degree

B. will first have regular courses at Stanford

C. needn’t be released from their regular jobs

D. can receive degrees of both NTU and Stanford

3. What’s the main purpose of the NEMS programme?

A. To offer scholarship for tuition grants and living expenses.

B. To strengthen the cooperation between NTU and Stanford.

C. To introduce Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute.

D. To train experts on environmental science and engineering.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. 30 May 2012 is the deadline for NEMS application.

B. Applicants for NEMS should have relevant work experience.

C. Other centers and institutes for environmental and water technologies also exist in NTU

D. Singapore is the global center of environmental science and technology.

There are 67 counties in the state of Alabama. Each county is rich with history and its own unique stories. Colbert County, located in the northwest corner of the state, has its share of exciting stories and claims to statewide fame. The county was created on February 6, 1867, and Tuscumbia became the county seat (the town in which the offices of the county government are located).

One of the most famous residents of Tuscumbia was Helen Keller. Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880. Her home was a white frame cottage built by her grandparents. Since ivy (常春藤) grew everywhere, the house was called Ivy Green. It was here, at the water pump in the backyard, that Keller learned the word “w-a-t-e-r” with the help of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Visitors to Ivy Green can walk under boxwood trees that are 150 years old. The home has furniture that the Keller family used. It also has Keller’s Braille (盲文) books and her original Braille typewriter.

Spring Park is Tuscumbia’s most popular park and favorite tourist attraction. This park has the world’s largest manufactured waterfall called Coldwater Falls. The Spring Park Light and Water Show is an amazing sight to see. It takes place every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at sundown. The water appears to dance to music and colored lights. The music played during the show is recorded by singers and musicians from Alabama.

Fame Recording Studios is in the city of Muscle Shoals in Colbert County. The studio is the first successful recording studio in Alabama. It is best known for creating “Southern rock,” “Southern soul,” and “county soul.” Well-known performers like Aretha Franklin and musical groups such as Alabama and Lynyrd have made recordings at this studio.

Visitors can continue to explore music in Alabama by visiting the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia. Built in 1990, this site recognizes the musical talents of more than 500 Alabama residents in a wide variety of musical styles, including country and rhythm and blues.

Truly, Colbert County has a lot of wonderful locations to visit. Guests will not be disappointed in a visit to this delightful place.

1.Which of the following is TRUE about Alabama and music?

A. Alabama musicians have established exhibits for visitors.

B. There are a great many talented musicians in Alabama.

C. Music is the most important industry in Alabama.

D. Alabama residents enjoy listening to music.

2. How many locations related to music in Colbert County are mentioned in the text?

A. 1. B. 2. C. 3. D. 4.

3.The author writes the text mainly to persuade the reader __________.

A. to learn from Helen Keller

B. to visit businesses in Alabama

C. to stop for a visit in Colbert County

D. to listen to Southern styles of music

4.The text is most probably taken from __________.

A. a story book B. a book review

C. a personal diary D. a travel magazine

Coconut oil has become popular as healthier oil in cooking, cleaning and even as part of a natural beauty product. At room temperature except in warmer climates, it hardens, but naturally becomes liquid as the temperature rises. 1. Healthy fat is an important part of the diet,

and coconut oil is one source of the healthy fat. Coconut oil is also nature’s richest source of medium-chain fatty acids (脂肪酸). This oil’s health benefits include, but are not limited to, improving heart health, helping chemical reactions on our body, keeping a healthy weight, helping weight loss and supporting the immune system. 2.

Coconut oil is all-natural and does not contain the chemicals you will find in most shampoos and body washes. It is a wonderful body wash that can be applied directly to your skin to keep your skin wet. 3. Using it in your mouth for twenty minutes is a much better method of cleaning the entire mouth and removing bacteria.

Strong chemical cleaners are not safe or healthy for you, your family or the environment. _____4. It can be used to clean and shine furniture or leather. You can even use coconut oil as a spot remover.

5. Do you use it for cooking, cleaning or as a natural beauty product?

A. It can also take the place of mouth-wash.

B. Instead, clean with greener methods, like coconut oil.

C. There are a number of health benefits of using this oil in your daily life.

D. How do you use coconut oil in everyday life?

E. Coconut oil removes more bacteria.

F. So you can replace most of your cooking oils with coconut oil for better health.

G. It can change our immune system.

The family had just moved to Rhode Island, and the young woman was feeling a little depressed on that Sunday in May. After all, it was Mother's Day—and 800 miles her from her parents in Ohio.

She had called them that morning, to wish her a happy Mother's Day and her mother had how colorful their backyard was spring had arrived. Later, she told her husband how she those lilacs in her parents' yard. “I know where we can find some,” he said. “Get the and come on.” So off they went.

Some time later, they stopped at a hill and there were lilacs all round. The young woman rushed up to the nearest and buried her face in the flowers. Carefully, she some．

Finally, they returned to their car for the home. The woman sat smiling, surrounded by her .

When they were near home, she shouted “stop,” got off quickly and to a nearby nursing home. She went to the end of the porch (門廊), where a(n) patient was sitting in her wheelchair, and put the flowers into her lap. The two , bursting into laughter now and then. Later the young woman turned and ran back to her . As the car pulled away, the woman in the wheelchair with a smile, and held the lilacs .

“Mom,” the kids asked, “ did you give her our flowers?” “It is Mother's Day, and she seems so while I have all of you. And anyone would be by flowers.”

This satisfied the kids, but not the husband. The next day he some young lilacs around their yard.

I was the husband. Now, every May, our yard is full of lilacs. Every Mother's Day our kids purple lilacs. And every year I remember that smile of the lonely old woman.

1.A. movedB. keptC. separatedD. made

2.A. learnedB. mentionedC. imaginedD. realized

3.A. as ifB. so thatC. now thatD. even if

4.A. grewB. missedC. wateredD. showed

5.A. carsB. kidsC. clothesD. lilacs

6.A. yardB. hillC. bushD. door

7.A. boughtB. pickedC. setD. raised

8.A. breakB. holidayC. tripD. dinner

9.A. friendsB. memoryC. honorD. flowers

10.A. respondedB. pointedC. droveD. hurried

11.A. elderlyB. lovingC. seriousD. sensitive

12.A. hesitatedB. waitedC. chattedD. sat

13.A. familyB. motherC. pathD. home

14.A. noddedB. leftC. wavedD. continued

15.A. sadlyB. politelyC. quicklyD. tightly

16.A. whyB. whenC. howD. where

17.A. lonelyB. confusedC. aloneD. patient

18.A. calmedB. persuadedC. disappointedD. cheered

19.A. arrangedB. plantedC. driedD. hid

20.A. findB. gatherC. receiveD. sell

Recently a new science behind incentives(激勵(lì)), 1._ (include) in education, has been discussed. For example, researcher Roland Fryer wanted to see what works best in motivating children 2._ __ (do) better in school. _3._ _ some cases, he gave students incentives based on input(輸入), like reading certain books, while in _4._ _, the incentives 5._ (base) on output, like results on exams. His main 6._ _ (find) was that incentives increased achievement when based on input but had no effect when based on output. Fryer’s conclusion was that the incentives for inputs might be 7._ ____ (effect) because students do not know how to do better on an exam, apart from general rules like “study harder”. Reading certain books, on the other hand, is a well-set task over 8._ ___ they have much more control.

As long as you have direct control over your goal, you have 9._ __ much higher chance of success. And it’s easier to start again 10._ you fail, because you know exactly what you need to do.

短文改錯(cuò) (共10分;每小題1分,滿分10分)

假定英語(yǔ)課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請(qǐng)你修改你同桌寫的以下短文。短文中共有10處錯(cuò)誤，每句中最多有兩處。錯(cuò)誤涉及一個(gè)單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個(gè)漏字符號(hào)(∧), 并在此符號(hào)下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線（＼）劃掉。

修改： 在錯(cuò)的詞下劃一橫線, 并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意：1、每處錯(cuò)誤及其修改均僅限一詞；

2、只允許修改10處, 多者(從第11處起) 不計(jì)分。

Nowadays, there is a increasing number of people joining in the activities of volunteering. It’s well-known that volunteering jobs are making contributions to society with something in return. It’s as the Spirit of Lei Feng. However, knowing this, there are still many people would like to devote themselves to this trend. For instance, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games had such many volunteers. They make lots of contributions to the success of the Olympics. Moreover, we can often see many students go to visit the old to take warm to them. Even though some people’s career is a volunteer. They are ready to helping others. Although the volunteers are much more common, we still need to thank they for devoting themselves to society.

假如你是學(xué)生會(huì)主席李華，你校學(xué)生會(huì)將于12月12日下午4點(diǎn)在學(xué)校報(bào)告廳舉辦高一、高二年級(jí)英語(yǔ)短劇大賽。請(qǐng)你根據(jù)以下信息，用英語(yǔ)寫一篇書面通知。內(nèi)容如下：

活動(dòng)目的：激發(fā)學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)興趣，豐富課外生活。

參賽要求：每班學(xué)生自編自導(dǎo)一個(gè)英文短劇。

報(bào)名時(shí)間及地點(diǎn)：12月8日之前高一、高二年級(jí)英語(yǔ)老師辦公室。

評(píng)講：年級(jí)前六名獲獎(jiǎng)。

注意：1. 字?jǐn)?shù)100字左右。

2. 可以適當(dāng)增加細(xì)節(jié)，以使行文連貫。

3. 參考詞匯：報(bào)名：sign up

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When Josephine Cooper was growing up，she learned the importance of charity from her parents．Although they made a modest living for their family of 10，they insisted on sharing with those less fortunate．

Half a century later，Mrs Cooper became a beloved volunteer at the San Diego Food Bank，where she devoted herself to helping others．She organized and ran a distribution center from a church，helping it become the organization’s largest emergency food distribution center in San Diego．She was one of 25 outstanding senior volunteers in the nation selected and invited to Washington D．C．to receive the award．

“She was the main person who helped us make that program grow,” said Mike Doody，former director of the Food Bank．“She had a way of getting people to work together and to work hard．She was determined and stubborn，but in a good way．She had a good heart．” People knew her as “Grandma” because of her selflessness and her devotion to helping hungry children and families．“She reminded people of their Grandma．” Doody said．

As a widow with a young child in 1979，Mrs．Cooper was helped through a difficult financial time when the Food Bank provided her with groceries．“She dedicated her life to giving back,” said her daughter，Monica Cooper．It wasn’t unusual for a local church to call Mrs Cooper to ask her to aid a needy family．“She would give people food out of her cupboard．Sometimes we would cook a meal for a family living out of their car,” Cooper said．

Although Mrs Cooper was honored to receive the national award for her volunteer work，she said being able to help others was her reward．She died of liver disease and kidney failure，aged 93．

1.The underlined word “charity” in Paragraph 1 refers to ．

A．offering help B．donating money

C．providing services D．showing sympathy

2.Which of the following is true of Mrs Cooper?

A．She died at an early age．

B．She refused the national award．

C．She was kind and devoted．

D．She was not easy to get along with．

3.Mrs Cooper’s story suggests that ．

A．everyone needs a Grandma nearby

B．children are what their parents are

C．a(chǎn) sound mind is in a sound body

D．a(chǎn) mother’s love never changes

Those who have suffered from insomnia know the sinking feeling of watching the clock tick．Now a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that lying in bed awake may actually contribute to the problem of sleeplessness．

The study of 79 adults（average age 72）with insomnia aimed to determine whether brief behavioral interventions for insomnia would help．Traditional behavioral therapy（療法）requires at least half a dozen hour-long sessions with a therapist — a costly commitment many patients either can't make or don't have access to．Other options include sleep-aiding medications or supplements．In the current study，the 39 participants in the behavioral therapy group received a 45- to 60-minute instructing session，plus a 30-minute follow-up session and two 20-minute phone calls．

Doctors offered the following behavioral interventions for improving sleep: reduce time in bed; get up at the same time every day，regardless of sleep duration; don't go to bed unless sleepy; and don't stay in bed unless asleep．

The other 40 participants in the study were given printed educational materials about insomnia，which included the same instructions given to the intervention group，but without the individualized sessions with a therapist．Two weeks later，the latter group also got a 10-minute follow-up phone call．

At the end of four weeks，the behavioral treatment group was significantly more likely to show improvements in sleep than the printed-materials group．By that time，55% of those who received behavioral treatment no longer met the criteria for insomnia，compared with 13% of the group that got educational brochures．

The good news comes at the same time as a report on the health effects of insomnia from the U．K．'s Mental Health Foundation．The report，Sleep Matters，suggests a link between insomnia and poor relationships，low energy levels and an inability to concentrate．Poor sleep has already been linked to depression，immune deficiency and heart disease．

1.What is the meaning of the underlined word “ insomnia”?

A．sleeplessness B．depression

C．heart disease D．immune deficiency

2.What is the disadvantage of traditional behavioral therapy?

A．It can’t help．

B．It costs a lot of money．

C．It requires sessions with a therapist．

D．It includes sleep-aiding medications．

3.How to improve sleep according to the doctor?

A．Lying in bed awake．

B．Get up early every day．

C．Don’t go to bed late at night．

D．Don’t stay in bed if you are not asleep．

4.We can learn from the text that insomnia may cause the following results except________．

A．depression B．concentration

C．immune deficiency D．heart disease