It used to be a matter of fact when Peter Pan – a character from James Matthew Barrie’s 1911 book – said: “All children, except one, grow up.”

But this “fact” doesn’t seem to apply to today’s world anymore.

 According to the NPD Group, a US market research company, sales of toys to adults in the UK increased by more than 20 percent in 2016, three times the pace of the children’s toy market itself. These toys ranged from puzzles and Lego building sets to vehicle models and action figures. And more than half of the sales came from millennials – people born between the 1980s and 2000s.

“Adults of the 21st century are channeling (疏导) their inner child, one toy at a time,” commented website Koreaboo. This is also why these adults are sometimes referred to as “kidults”.

According to Frederique Tutt, an analyst at NPD, the motivation of these grown-ups is to escape the stress of today’s fast-paced world. They are driven toward the more immediate pleasures brought by toys than those brought by, say, getting a promotion, which is far less easy to achieve.

“It reminds me of the playful side of life,” Rob Willner, a 25-year-old PhD student in the UK, told The Telegraph when talking about his love for Lego, which he said brings him both comfort and entertainment.

 Despite this, some social scientists see the trend as disturbing. To Frank Furendi, a professor at the University of Kent in the UK, the fact that so many adults are pursuing “the thrills (刺激) of youth” is the evidence that “adulthood has got nothing attractive about it anymore”, he told The New York Times.u “That’s actually quite sad.”

But scientists are probably just worrying too much. According to Canadian comic book artist Todd McFarlane, collecting toys could simply be a way for people to express their individuality (个性).

“It’s just pop culture stuff. It’s stuff that says, ‘I like a little of this and I like a little of that’,” he told ABC News. “[It’s] no big deal.”

So now that over 100 years have passed since Peter Pan, perhaps it’s time to introduce a new “fact”, as stated in the tagline (品牌宣传词) of the UK fashion brand KIDULT: “Growing old is mandatory (强制性的), but growing up is optional.”

21. The author mentions Peter Pan in the text mainly to ______.

 A. show the influence of the character on millennials

 B. explore the similarities Peter Pan and millennials share

 C. lead up to the trend of millennials’ love for toys

 D. analyze what has made many millennials refuse to grow up

22. Why do many adults feel like collecting toys, according to Frederique Tutt?

 A. They find it brings them both comfort and inspiration.

 B. They consider it a way to relieve stress.

 C. They want to make up for the pleasures they missed during childhood.

 D. They usually don’t get along well in their lives and need an emotional outlet.

23. What can we conclude from the article about kidults?

 A. They are well-known for their pursuit of independence and freedom.

 B. Social scientists feel worried about them because they take nothing seriously.

 C. In Todd McFarlane’s eyes, their interest in toys is a way to express their identity.

 D. They refuse to make efforts to become promoted at work as they don’t want to grow up.

Following news of the potential for life on the recently-discovered TRAPPIST-1 system, there may be another competitor ready to take its place.

 With the help of the Cassini spacecraft, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists have picked up the first evidence that chemical reactions are taking place deep below the surface of Enceladus, Saturn’s (土星的) sixth-largest moon. This means that there could be life in Enceladus’ warm underground seas.

 An early study found that liquid oceans exist miles below Enceladus’ surface. But to reveal what is happening down there, scientists must rely on the plumes (股) of water that spray (喷射) through cracks in Enceladus’ icy surface. In October 2015, NASA sent Cassini into a deep dive into one of the plumes.

 Cassini’s findings, published on April 13 in the journal Science, showed that hydrogen (氢) not only exists on Enceladus, but is also responsible for a chemical reaction between hot rocks and water in the ocean beneath its surface.

 This same process on Earth provides energy for entire ecosystems around volcanic vents (火山口). There, tiny creatures are able to survive without sunlight, using hydrogen and carbon dioxide as fuel in a process known as “methanogenesis (甲烷生成)”.

The discovery of this chemical energy source on Enceladus means it could be a very good candidate to host life.

“Confirmation (确认) that the chemical energy for life exists within the ocean of a small moon of Saturn is an important milestone (里程碑) in our search for habitable (可居住的) worlds beyond Earth,” Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA, told the Daily Mail.

 Alien life was once only thought possible on habitable planets within the “Goldilocks zone” – far enough from our sun not to be a fireball, but not so far as to be freezing.

 Research on Enceladus is still in its early stages, but the recent findings have important meanings for future exploration.

“At present, we know of only one genesis (诞生) of life, the one that led to us,” David Rothery, professor of planetary geosciences (行星与地球科学) from the Open University in the UK, told The Telegraph.

“If we knew that life had started independently in two places in our solar system, then we could be pretty confident that life also got started on some of the tens of billions of planets and moons around other stars in our galaxy,” he said.

24. What is the article mainly about?

 A. The connection between the TRAPPIST-1 system and Enceladus.

 B. The potential for life on Saturn’s moon, Enceladus.

 C. The chemical energy source on Enceladus.

 D. Scientists’ constant search for life in the solar system.

 25. Scientists assume that there could be life on Enceladus because ______.

 A. there is evidence of a warm ocean under Enceladus’ surface

 B. hot rocks and water have been discovered on Enceladus

 C. hydrogen discovered on Enceladus could be a chemical energy source

 D. the entire ecosystems of Enceladus are somewhat similar to those of Earth

26. According to David Rothery, the recent findings on Enceladus could mean that ______.

 A. there is only one genesis of life in our galaxy

 B. there could be many habitable planets, but all in the “Goldilocks zone”

 C. it won’t be long before scientists find a habitable planet beyond Earth

     D. alien life could exist on some other planets if it existed on Enceladus

In life, we will succeed and fail often for reasons that are entirely out of our control. For instance, we can be incredibly nice and love someone deeply, and they may not love us back. We can work harder than anyone else in the office and still not be promoted to management. We can eat healthy food, exercise and stay away from alcohol and cigarettes, and still get sick.

 The bottom line is that life is not fair.

 That is a tough pill to swallow for many of us. As a result, some people shut down after being hit by even one unfair blow from life. They can’t handle the fact that our efforts don’t always get the results that we expect. But if we let life’s unfairness defeat us, we will never receive the beautiful blessings (幸事) that life has in store for us.

 For example, my first marriage ended in divorce. To me, it felt very unfair. I had worked hard to be a good wife and mother. However, no matter what I did, I could not make the relationship work.

 I could have been shut down by that experience. I could have decided that if one person didn’t appreciate me as a wife, then no one would. I could have given up. But I knew that I wanted to be married. I knew that I wanted to experience traditional family life. So I didn’t let one seemingly unfair experience stop me from believing that I could one day be happily married. And then one day, I met this kind, thoughtful, generous man with whom I now have a wonderful friendship and marriage. But that wouldn’t have happened if I had decided to give up after one failed marriage.

 What I’ve learned over the years is that we can do all the things that deserve a good outcome, but get bad things in return instead.

 When we are faced with life’s seeming unfairness, our faith needs to jump in. When life doesn’t go according to plan, we have to let go of the outcome that we are looking forward to and keep trying, working hard and doing the right thing. Please don’t be discouraged. Accept that life is neither fair nor straightforward. And by knowing that if we remain confident, we can drive our unfair experiences away and use them for our benefit.

27. We can learn from the first three paragraphs that ______.

 A. life doesn’t often turn out the way we expect

 B. the author thinks life should reward us for our efforts

 C. unsatisfactory results simply mean your effort is not enough

 D. people should focus on the process rather than the outcomes

28. The author wrote about her unsuccessful marriage to ______.

 A. complain about the unfairness of her life and marriage

 B. tell readers how she met her second husband and became happily married

 C. express how proud she is for not being shut down by a blow from life

 D. show that we need to have faith and continue working for our goals

29. When we encounter unfairness in life, the author suggests we ______.

 a. do nothing but accept them

 b. be confident with ourselves

 c. keep doing what we should do

 d. find out what has gone wrong

  A. ab   B. ad      C. bc         D. cd

30. The author wrote the article mainly to ______.

 A. share her experiences of unfairness in life

 B. tell us how to deal with life’s seeming unfairness

 C. tell us that life has beautiful blessings in store for us

 D. explain why life seems neither fair nor straightforward

Things You Should Quit Doing to be Successful

Would you like to be successful? But what are you willing to do in order to reach your goal?  31   If you want it bad enough, you will get it. When you are productive, you efficiently finish various tasks and achieve better results. However, there are many bad habits that successful people will try to avoid to reach their desired success.

They don’t do without first learning. The greatest thing about learning is the benefit that we receive in all aspects of our lives. If we stop learning, then the only thing we can do is settle with what we already know; if we settle for that, then there is no way to expand our minds.  32  Since our minds require learning for expansion, we must never stop seeking new knowledge.

They don’t work in their comfort zone. What is your comfort zone? Your comfort zone is defined as “A psychological state in which a person feels familiar, at ease, in control, and experiences low anxiety.” When you get outside of your comfort zone, it doesn’t mean that you should strive for a constant state of anxiety and stress.  33  

 34  Social networks are great for staying in touch with family and friends. However, when chatting, posting, sharing, and looking at various funny photos, we waste hours just scrolling through pages. Usually, before we fall asleep, we decide to check if there is something new in the news feed and end up falling asleep very late at night. You then feel tired in the morning and incapable of doing anything that demands focus and hard work.

They don’t hang around negative people. Negative people are very harmful to be around when it comes to achieving success.  35  When you are around negative people enough, you start to see things negatively and you begin to lose sight of your dream. If that happens, life will reward you with negative outcomes to deal with.

A. They don’t fear asking for advice.

B. Expansion is essential on the path to success!

C. They don’t spend a lot of time on social networks.

D. Success is not something that happens by accident.

E. Getting lost in small things causes us to miss out on the overall views.

F. Success is more about a person’s way of thinking than anything else.

G. It simply means that, in order to grow, you should try new things and expand your horizons.

One day, a father and his son were walking with their horse. An old man saw them and said, “You  56  (suppose) to ride a horse, not to walk it!” The father then put his son on the horse. 

Soon they passed a group of people,  57  said, “That’s a lazy boy! He gets to ride the horse while his father walks.” The father decided to take his son off and get on the horse himself.  58  they kept going, they came upon two  59  (passer-by). One said, “You are a  60  (self) man! Your son has to walk while you get to ride!” The man then reached down and put his son on the horse with him.  61  a while, they entered a town. Everyone started to laugh at them,  62  (say), “You are too heavy for that horse!” The father and his son didn’t know what  63  (do).

Finally, they decided to carry the horse. When they came to a bridge, the horse  64  (fall) to the water. “If you try to please  65  ,” the father told his son, “in the end, you will please no one.” Then they went home.