【任务11：请宿主在6h内完成本次阅读真题并保证正答率高于60%。任务奖励：200积分。】

Some people in the US have asserted that（声称） forgiving student loan debt is one way to stimulate the economy and give assistance to those in need. One government proposition （提议）is to eliminate（免除） $10,000 of debt for ‘economically distressed’students. Some in US Congress have gone so far as to suggest forgiving up to $50,000 in debt per student borrower, but does forgiving student debt necessarily correlate to helping the economically disadvantaged?

The answer is no. This policy is just giving money away to universities and the most affluent（富裕的） students in attendance. Federal Reserve data reveals that the highest-income 40 percent of households owe approximately 60 percent of outstanding student debt, while the lowest 40 percent owe just under 20percent. This could be due to a combination of factors students from high-income households are more likely to go to expensive colleges, less likely to receive financial aid, and more likely to have high incomes post-graduation. Plus, the majority of student debt is held by graduate degree （研究生学位）earners, who earn approximately 25 percent more than their undergraduate counterparts. Clearly, giving free reign（支配） to banks to forgive student debt is a step in the wrong direction.

Other proposals for broader, long-term student loan plans have some fundamental problems. One idea is to cancel student debt only for undergraduate degrees and for students making less than $125,000.

This attempts to address the fact that Congress’previously mentioned student loan forgiveness plan largely helps out the wealthy, but is an adverse incentive（刺激） for universities to keep raising tuition and for students to choose to major in low-earning degree programs Colleges have no reason to make their programs more affordable if they believe students will just take out more debt. And, students will feel more comfortable making the irresponsible decision to go tens of thousands of dollars in debt to major in impractical or idealistic subjects if they know their loans will be forgiven.

This is especially concerning given the pandemic (大流行病) has rendered a college education practically worthless. Students are paying tens of thousands of dollars per year to live at home and be lectured on the Internet. Do we really want to tell colleges that they can get away with providing below-average service for an outrageous（粗暴的） cost?

In the case of any of these student debt plans, working-class Americans who chose not to or could not afford to go to college will be subsidizing （补贴）the education of the professional class. Plumbers and retail workers will be paying for the degrees of doctors and lawyers

The US government's effort to help those in debt is commendable but is this really the solution that will help the poor financially recover?

46. Why do some people advocate forgiving student loan debt?

A) They assert it will narrow the gap between the wealthy and the poor.

B) They believe it will benefit both the economy and the underprivileged. （弱势群体）

C) They claim it will eliminate economic distress among college students.

D) They think the cost of education is the responsibility of the government

47. What do we learn from the Federal Reserve data?

A) Approximately 60% of student debt remains unpaid.

B) Cancelling student debt benefits wealthy families most.

C) Forgiving student debt provides little benefit to universities.

D) Low-income families owe the biggest amount of student debt

48.What does the author say students are likely to do if they know they needn't repay their

loans?

A) They will choose to study subjects without considering their job prospects

B) They will be free to pursue their goals without being burdened financially

C) They will over-borrow and live beyond their means.

D) They will be able to enroll in expensive universities.

49.What does the author imply about colleges offering online education?

A) They cannot get away with the serious consequences.

B) They have suffered greatly from the current pandemic.

C) The tuition they charge is not justified by the quality of their service.

D) The tuition they charge has surged outrageously during the pandemic.

50. What will happen if any of the proposed student debt plans is implemented?

A) Plumbers and retail workers will have a chance of becoming professionals.

B) Working-class students will have increasing access to subsidized education

C) Blue-collar workers will have to bear the cost of educating would-be high-earners

D) A growing number of students will be able to earn degrees in medicine and law.

BBACC

If there's one rule that most parents cling to in the confusing, fast-changing world of kids and media, it’s “No screens before age 2.”

As of today, that rule has been thrown out the window.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which first issued that recommendation back in 1999, has extensively updated and revised its guidelines for children and adolescents to reflect new research and new habits.

The new guidelines, especially for very young children, shift the focus from WHAT is on the screen to WHO else is in the room. And in doing so, they raise some intriguing points about the future of learning from media.

For babies younger than 18 months, AAP still says no screens at all are the best idea--with one notable exception: Live video chat. Surveys indicate that families already popularly believe that “Face time doesn't count", or at least that the benefit of virtual visits with grandparents or other relatives outweighs the potential cost of exposing babies to the laptop or smartphone.

The AAP doesn't cite positive evidence that infants actually get something out of this kind of “conversation", the way that they clearly do from live social interaction. But there's some observational research that infants as young as six months old are emotionally engaged by playing live peekaboo (躲猫猫) with Grandma online.

For infants and toddlers (学步儿童), ages 15 months to 2 years old, there's limited evidence from a couple of very small studies that they can learn new words from educational media, if and only if parents are watching alongside them, repeating what the video says and/or drawing attention to what is on the screen. In other words, treating a video or an app like a picture book is the best bet.

The flip side of this is that many studies have actually shown poorer language skills correlated with earlier solo viewing of “educational”videos. There’s also research that shows language delays in children who watch more TV and start watching earlier. In both cases, the problem seems to be media replacing interaction with people. For this reason, the new AAP guideline has changed from “avoid all screens under age 2” to “avoid solo media use in this age group.”

For preschoolers ages 2 to 5, there's more evidence that they have the ability to transfer knowledge from screens to the real world, including early literacy and math. For this age group, AAPrecommends no more than an hour a day of screen use. And, just as with younger children, they want care-givers to take part in screen time:“Co-view with your children, help children understand what they are seeing, and help them apply what they learn to the world around them."

51. What do we learn about the “No screens under 2”rule?

A) It has met more and more resistance from parents.

B) It has proved helpful to children's healthy growth.

C) It confuses parents with regard to kids' education.

D) It has been discarded in line with recent research.

52.What do the new AAP guidelines advocate?

A)Young children should be accompanied by parents during screen time.

B) Parents should be emotionally involved in their children's upbringing.

C) Young children should watch videos carefully selected by parents.

D) Parents should protect their children from too much media exposure.

53.What do families think of live video chat according to surveys?

A) It should not be regarded as screen time.

B) It helps babies to develop their verbal skills.

C) It is not as harmful as playing games on laptops.

D) It is a good substitute for video viewing.

54. What do researches find about kids solo viewing educational videos?

A) It arouses their interest in language learning.

B) It works no better than reading picture books.

C) It hampers（妨碍） their development of language skills.

D) It helps them acquire independent learning skills.

55. What does the author say about preschoolers ages 2 to 5?

A) They can understand pretty well what they see on the screen.

B) They can learn on their own without much parental guidance.

C) They can make use of educational videos to develop digital literacy.

D) They can relate what they learn on the screen to real life situations

DAACD

Classical music aims to evolve（发展）, build audiences without alienating（疏远） old guard

A) In 1913, classical music sparked （引发）a riot（暴乱） in Paris. Igor Stravinsky was introducing his revolutionary“Rite（仪式） of Spring”ballet to the world, with its discordant （不和谐的）melodies and unorthodox （非正统的）choreography(编舞),and the purists in the crowd expressed their disapproval loud and clear. It might have been classical music’s version of the time Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. “The noise, fighting, and shouting in the audience got so loud,”NPR's music reporter Miles Hoffman said of the Stravinsky debut, “that the choreographer had to shout out the numbers to the dancers so that they knew what they were supposed to do."

B) It's difficult to imagine a similar disturbance occurring today within America's sacred

symphony halls（交响乐大厅）. In fact, it's hard to picture any kind of disruptive activity at all (unless someone's cell phone happens to go off, and then you'd better watch your back). A mannerly （客气的）aura (氛围) hangs over most classical proceedings, and many of the genre's biggest supporters would have it no other way

C) Today, Western audiences for classical music and opera and ballet are almost always

well dressed, older, respectful, achingly （极其）silent and often very wealthy (one has to be able to afford most tickets). But as many of America's most storied （著名的）“highbrow”(高雅的) institutions struggle financially-the Philadelphia Orchestra's much-publicized rebound from bankruptcy is just one recent example-classical music fans and theorists are wondering how the medium can weave （融入）itself into the 21st century's cultural fabric without sacrificing its integrity.

D) For example, should we feel OK “clapping” during classical music events, even if nobody else is? Why shouldn't we cheer for something great, like we do at a rock concert? The Huffington Post recently ran a Great Debate on this issue and many commenters came out on the side of silence. “There is no more rewarding experience in life than being part of an audience where everybody is leaning forward in silence, thoroughly carried away by a great performance of a masterpiece," one commenter wrote. “Why is it so difficult for folks to develop an appreciation and understanding for the mannerisms（特殊习惯） and traditions of classical music?” asked another.

E) The truth is that classical music audiences weren't always so polite. Robert Greenberg,

an award-winning composer（作曲家）, said that when Beethoven first performed his 7th Symphony, audiences forced the orchestra to perform encores(重演)of certain movements immediately, applauding wildly. And in the last few decades, he said, many audiences at opera （歌剧）performances have abandoned pretenses, yelling “Bravo” （好）when they feel like it.

F) “I don't think there's anything wrong with an audience showing their enthusiasm for a

proper moment by applauding, showing their joy,”Greenberg said, noting that the stuffiness （沉闷）in concert halls is “one aspect of contemporary concert etiquette" he doesn't understand. “Instead of waiting half an hour to show enthusiasm, why not show it every eight or nine minutes?"

G) Until the rules about behavior and clothing change, it's hard to imagine multitudes of

young people filling concert halls on their own accord. They're probably more likely to head to Central Park to watch a free performance with a bottle of wine and their friends.“I think anyone should be able to come into a performance dressed any way they like, and be comfortable any way they like, sitting in that seat ready to enjoy themselves," Greenberg said. “Because it's enjoyable."

H) Greenberg stressed that he doesn't want people to start respecting the music less, and

he's not suggesting that we “dumb down”（简化） the experience. Rather, it’s about opening up“access.”When operas first instituted（设置） subtitles (字幕) during shows, he said, many purists didn't like the idea, believing that the audience should instead study the works before attending. But now it's commonplace（常见的） to find titles on the seatback in front of you--choose a language, sit back, and understand what's going on.

I) Allison Vulgamore, president of the Philadelphia Orchestra, is certainly looking to the

future. She says certain“classics concerts”dedicated to the old masters will always exist, but not every program has to feature Beethoven and Brahms-or even a stage and seats. “We're trying to introduce different kinds of concerts in different ways,” she said.“We are an interactive society now, where people like to learn.”

J) As the Philadelphia Orchestra rebounds from its financial straits, it is also aiming to

experiment, without alienating the loyalists（拥护者）. Vulgamore pointed to Cirque de la Symphonie, a recent offering in which jugglers (玩杂耍的人) and acrobats (杂技演员) interacted with musicians. An upcoming（即将来临的） collaboration with New York City's Ridge Theatre, meanwhile, will feature a “suspended dance installation”and other theatrical elements occurring in conjunction（结合） with an orchestral piece.（管弦乐）

K)The orchestra （乐团）also continues to offer $25 annual memberships to Philadelphia students, who can buy rush tickets to every concert on the schedule. “Students line up for the concerts they want, and we get roughly 300 or 350 kids a night coming to these. They take any of the open seats available, 5 minutes before the concert starts,”Vulgamore said. “It's like the running of the bulls, that energy when the doors open.”

L) Greenberg thinks that youthful energy needs to be harvested（收割）. Conductors don't have to be arrogant （傲慢的）and untouchable--they can be accessible. Perhaps there could even be a “bit of humor”about them, he suggested, and an abandoning of pretension （借口）within the high-art institutions themselves. “On one hand, these organizations are all saying the same thing: we want more general audiences, to break down cultural barriers," he said. “But then they come up with some very snooty (目中无人的) thing that makes you crazy.

M) John Terauds, a critic who has covered （报道）Toronto’s classical music scene extensively（广阔的）, also wants to do away with the stuffiness. He suggested that the warmer an audience is, the better the musicians themselves will respond. “But the producer or organizer has to let everyone know it’s OK,” he said. “It’s OK to enjoy yourself."At the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, for example, conductor Peter Oundjian often stops between pieces, taking a moment to talk about the composer or the music in a very amiable（和蔼可亲的） way. And some nights, Terauds said, “at least a third”of the audience consists of students who have purchased cheaper tickets. On these nights, the energy of the room drastically shifts. It becomes a less intimidating （吓人的）place.

N) Back in February, Terauds wrote on his blog about how going to classical

performances can be intimidating. Certain people “think they have to dress up," he wrote. “They think they have to know something about the music before they go. And, I'm sure, sitting in a seat, trembling in fear that this might be the wrong time to applaud, is also one of the factors."

O) Everyone in the classical world agrees on the need for increased“accessibility,” but

achieving it is often easier said than done. Nowadays, there are unknown, unorthodox opera singers wowing (博得…….的喝彩)viewers on TV programs like“America's Got Talent”and “The Voice”. What can higher institutions（高等艺术机构） do with any of that? And if they appeal （迎合）to these outlets（出路）, do they risk compromising the integrity or the intelligence of the music?

P)Vulgamore seems to understand this. She thinks an organization can have it both ways,

claiming the new while keeping the old. And as she reorganizes the Philadelphia Orchestra, she will attempt to do just that. “The world’s most respected musicians brought together as an orchestra will always exist,” she said. “But it's essential that we be willing to experiment and fail."

36. It was not a rare occurrence that audiences behaved wildly while listening to classical music.

37. Some high-art institutions don't actually mean it when they say they want more general audiences.

38. The theatre was in chaos when an unconventional （非常规的 ）ballet was first put on stage in the capital of France.

39. According to one critic, the audience's warm response would encourage the musicians to do a better job.

40. Many commenters argued for the audience enjoying classical music quietly.

41. What appears on the seatback screen makes it unnecessary for the audience to study the works beforehand.

42. It is generally accepted that there should be no disturbance from the audience during

classical music performance.

43.Higher institutions will be concerned about compromising（危害）the integrity（完整性） of classical music if they have to resort to the television medium.

44. Heavily discounted rush tickets help attract many young students to attend classical concerts.

45. The formalities（礼节） of high-art theatres can intimidate some people attending a performance.

How can one person enjoy good health, while another person looks old before her time? Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years, and recently, it’s becoming clearer and clearer to scientists that the differences between people's rates of aging lie in the complex interactions among genes, social relationships, environments and lifestyles. Even though you were born with a particular set of genes, the way you live can influence how they express themselves. Some lifestyle factors may even turn genes on or shut them off.

Deep within the genetic heart of all our cells are telomeres（染色体终端）, or repeating segments of noncoding DNA that live at the ends of the chromosomes (染色体).They form caps at the ends of the chromosomes and keep the genetic material together. Shortening with each cell division, they help determine how fast a cell ages. When they become too short, the cell stops dividing altogether. This isn't the only reason a cell can age--there are other stresses on cells we don't yet understand very well--but short telomeres are one of the major reasons human cells grow old. We’ve devoted most of our careers to studying telomeres, and one extraordinary discovery from our labs is that telomeres can actually lengthen.

Scientists have learned that several thought patterns appear to be unhealthy for telomeres, and one of them is cynical（愤世嫉俗的） hostility.（敌意） Cynical hostility is defined by high anger and frequent thoughts that other people cannot be trusted. Someone with hostility doesn't just think, “I hate to stand in long lines"; they think, “Others deliberately sped up and beat me to my rightful position in the line!”--and then get violently（极端的） agitated.（激动的） People who score high on measures of cynical hostility tend to get more heart disease, metabolic （新陈代谢）disease and often die at younger ages. They also have shorter telomeres. In a study of British civil servants, men who scored high on measures of cynical hostility had shorter telomeres than men whose hostility scores were low. The most hostile men were 30% more likely to have short telomeres.

What this means: aging is a dynamic process that could possibly be accelerated or slowed--and, in some aspects, even reversed. To an extent, it has surprised us and the rest of the scientific community（科学界） that telomeres do not simply carry out the commands issued by your genetic code. Your telomeres are listening to you. The foods you eat, your response to challenges, the amount of exercise you get, and many other factors appear to influence your telomeres and can prevent premature（过早的） aging at the cellular level. One of the keys to enjoying good health is simply doing your part to foster healthy cell renewal（恢复）.

46. What have scientists come to know better today?

A) Why people age at different rates.

B) How genes influence the aging process.

C) How various genes express themselves in aging.

D) Why people have long been concerned about aging.

47. Why are some lifestyle factors considered extremely important?

A) They may shorten the process of cell division.

B) They may determine how genes function.

C) They may affect the lifespan of telomeres.

D) They may account for the stresses on cells

48. What have the author and his colleagues discovered about telomeres?

A) Their number affects the growth of cells.

B) Their length determines the quality of life.

C) Their shortening process can be reversed （逆转的）

D) Their health impacts the division of cells

49.What have scientists learned about cynical hostility?

A) It may lead to confrontational（对抗的） thought patterns.

B) It may produce an adverse effect on telomeres.

C) It may cause people to lose their temper frequently.

D) It may stir up agitation among those in long lines.

50. What do we learn from the last paragraph about the process of aging?

A) It may vary from individual to individual.

B) It challenges scientists to explore further.

C) It depends on one’s genetic code.

D) It may be controlled to a degree.

ABCBD

Scientists have created by accident an enzyme (酶) that breaks down plastic drinks bottles. The breakthrough could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis by enabling for the first time the full recycling of bottles

The new research was spurred by the discovery in 2016 of the first bacterium that had naturally evolved to eat plastic at a waste dump in Japan. Scientists have now revealed the detailed structure of the crucial enzyme produced by the bug.

An international team then adjusted the enzyme to see how it had evolved, but tests showed they had accidentally made the molecule（分子） even better at breaking down the plastic used for drinks bottles. “What actually turned out was we improved the enzyme, which was a bit of a shock,” said head researcher Prof. McGeehan, at the University of Portsmouth UK

Currently, the enzyme takes a few days to start breaking down the plastic, far faster than the centuries it takes in the oceans, but the researchers are optimistic this can be speeded up even further and become a viable large-scale process.

“What we are hoping to do is use this enzyme to turn this plastic back into its original components, so we can literally recycle it back to plastic,” said McGeehan. “It means we won't need to dig up any more oil and, fundamentally, it should reduce the amount of plastic in the environment.”

About 1 million plastic bottles are sold each minute around the globe and, with just14% recycled, many end up in the oceans where they have polluted even the remotest parts, harming marine life and potentially people who eat sea food. “Plastic is incredibly resistant to degradation（抗降解）,” said McGeehan. “It is one of these wonder materials that has been made a little bit too well.”

Currently those bottles that are recycled can only be turned into opaque fibres for clothing or carpets, while the new enzyme indicates a way to recycle old clear plastic bottles back into new clear plastic bottle.

“You are always up against the fact oil is cheap, so plastic is cheap," said McGeehan“It is so easy for manufacturers to generate more of that stuff, rather than even try to recycle, but I believe there is a public interest here: perception is changing so much that companies are starting to look at how they can properly recycle these bottles.”

Prof. Adisa Azapagic, at the University of Manchester in the UK, agreed the enzyme could be useful but added: “A full life-cycle assessment would be needed to ensure that the technology does not solve one environmental problem--waste--at the expense of others, including additional greenhouse gas emissions."

51. What do we learn from the passage about an enzyme scientists have created?

A) It was identified during a lab experiment accident.

B) It may make full recycling of plastic bottles a reality

C) It was a breakthrough made with persistent efforts

D) It may initiate a radical reform in plastic industry.

52. What does the passage say about the bug that produces the important enzyme?

A) It has a natural ability to consume plastics.

B) It is a bacterium that reproduces（繁殖率） at a high rate.

C) It is essential to the recycling of plastic bottles

D) It has a chemical structure unknown to scientists.

53. By adjusting the enzyme produced by the bug, the scientists

A) made it more effective by chance

B) discovered an extraordinary chemical

C) altered its basic molecular composition

D) found its evolutionary process sped up

54.What does Prof. McGeehan say about the recycling of plastic bottles?

A) Manufacturers are implementing （实施）it on an increasingly larger scale.

B) It generates huge business opportunities for plastic manufacturers.

C) It has aroused persistent interest among the general public

D) Manufacturers are beginning to explore ways of doing it.

55.What is Prof. Adisa Azapagic's advice concerning the application of the enzyme?

A) Developing technologies to address greenhouse gas emissions

B) Considering the extra cost involved in producing the enzyme.

C) Assessing its possible negative impact on the environment.

D) Studying the full life cycle of the enzyme as the first step.

BAADC