2025-2026学年上海市同济大学第二附属中学高二上学期12月月考英语试题
. Reading Comprehension
Section A (30’)
Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
Why do you pull yourself out of bed every morning to go to work or school What does it take to make you feel like your contribution in those places is truly ____21____ Knowing what ____22____ you can help you find meaning in your work and put forth the effort necessary to reach your goals.
Psychologists have a wide variety of ways of ____23____ and differentiating motivations because people care about so many different things. Psychologists David McClelland identified three main motivations for people: ____24____ (the feeling of success), affiliation (close relationships) and power (the ability to influence the world). Authors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton identified 23 motivations, including creativity, challenge and learning.
Some motivations, such as money, social status and praise, are ____25____; these are the tools bosses typically use to encourage their employees to ____26____. Other motivations, including fun, personal growth and ____27____ like one’s work is significant, come from within the person doing the action. These ideals, called intrinsic motivations, tend to be more reliable than external ones because they represent things that can never be ____28____.
Since a wide variety of motivations exist, it’s important to tell which ones are ____29____ to you. Trying to motivate yourself in a way that doesn’t appeal to you will make it ____30____ to convince yourself to work.
When choosing a career, think about what motivates you and make decisions ____31____. If you are motivated by overcoming challenges, ____32____ a career where you can continually strive to reach a higher level. In some fields, certain motivations may become a duty. ____33____, managers motivated by a desire to please other people may struggle to give negative feedback because they fear hurting team members’ feelings.
People motivated by external rewards sometimes struggle to meet goals they set for themselves that no one else knows about. They can ____34____ this problem by creating external rewards for their personal goals such as finding a friend to hold them accountable.
When you know what motivates you, you will be able to motivate yourself to do the things necessary to succeed. And if you are a ____35____, knowing what motivates your team will enable you to help them do the same.
21. A. realistic B. worthwhile C. sufficient D. constant
22. A. affects B. motivates C. convinces D. challenges
23. A. describing B. gaining C. inspiring D. changing
24. A. responsibility B. creativity C. learning D. achievement
25. A. temporary B. lasting C. external D. understandable
26. A. stop B. relax C. obey D. excel
27. A. smelling B. sounding C. seeming D. feeling
28. A. looked into B. kept up C. taken away D. dealt with
29. A. persuasive B. obvious C. ordinary D. efficient
30. A. important B. difficult C. necessary D. miserable
31. A. regularly B. accordingly C. progressively D. immediately
32. A. look for B. put aside C. take down D. make up
33. A. By contrast B. In addition C. For instance D. To date
34. A. create B. identify C. solve D. consider
35. A. producer B. teacher C. doctor D. leader
Section B (12*2)
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
(A)
Which are you more likely to have with you at any given moment — your cell phone or your wallet Soon you may be able to throw your wallet away and pay for things with a quick wave of your smart phone over an electronic scanner.
In January, Starbucks announced that customers could start using their phones to buy coffee in 6,800 of its stores. This is the first pay-by-phone practice in the U.S., but we’re likely to see more wireless payment alternatives as something called near field communication (NFC) gets into America’s consumer electronics. Last December, some new smart phones which contain an NFC chip were introduced to the public.
Already in use in parts of Asia and Europe, NFC allows shoppers to wave their phones a few inches above a payment terminal — a contact — free system built for speed and convenience. But before NFC becomes widely adopted in the U. S., a few problems need to be worked out, like who will get to collect the profitable transaction (交易) fees. Although some credit card providers have been experimenting with wave-and-pay systems that use NFC enabled credit cards, cell phone service providers may try to muscle their way into the point-of-sale (POS) market. Three big cell phone service providers have formed a joint venture (合资企业) that will go into operation over the next 15 months. Its goal is “to lead the U. S. payments industry from cards to mobile phone.”
The other big NFC issue, apart from how payments will be processed, is security. For instance, what’s to stop a thief from digitally pick pocketing you “We’re still not at the point where an attacker can just brush against you in a crowd and steal all the money out of your phone,” says Jimmy Shah. A mobile security researcher, “Users may also be able to set transaction limits, perhaps requiring a password to be entered for larger purchases.”
Still anxious about this digital-wallet business Keep in mind that if you lose your smart phone, it can be located on a map and remotely disabled. Plus, your phone can be password protected. Your wallet isn’t.
36. What is predicted to happen in the U. S.
A The expansion of cellphone companies.
B The boom of-pay-by-phone business.
C. The disappearance of credit cards.
D. The increase of Starbucks sales.
37. The NFC technology can be used to ________.
A. ensure the safety of shoppers B. collect transaction fees easily
C. make purchase faster and simpler D. improve the quality of cellphones
38. Three cell phone service providers form a joint venture to ________.
A. strengthen their relationship B. get a share in the payments industry
C. sell more cellphones D. test the NFC technology
39. According to the passage, what can users do if they lose their smart phones
A. Stop the functioning of their phones. B. Set up a password.
C. Get all the money out of their phones. D. Cancel large purchases.
(B)
Search engines have changed the way we use the Internet, putting vast sources of information just a few clicks away. But Harvard professor of psychology Line Daniel Wegner’s recent research proves that websites and the Internet are changing much more than technology itself. They are changing the way our memories function. Wegner’s latest study shows that when people have access to search engines, they remember fewer facts and less information because they know they can rely on “search” as a readily available shortcut.
Wegner believes the new findings show that the Internet has become part of a transactive memory source, a method by which our brains divide information. Transactive memory exists in many forms, as when a husband relies on his wife to remember a relative’s birthday. You don’t have to remember everything in the world yourself. You just have to remember who knows it. Now computers and technology are becoming virtual extensions of our memory.
Wegner conducted several experiments to demonstrate the phenomenon, using various forms of memory recall to test reliance on computers. In one experiment, participants demonstrated that they were more likely to think of computer terms like “Yahoo” or “Google” after being asked a set of difficult trivia questions. In another experiment, participants typed some statements into a computer and they were told the statements would be saved in specific folders. Next, they were asked to recall the statements. Finally, they were given cues to the wording and asked to name the folders where the statements were stored. The participants proved better able to recall the folder locations than the statements themselves.
Wegner admits that questions remain about whether dependence on computers will affect memories negatively: “Nobody knows now what the effects of these tools are on logical thinking.” Students who have trouble remembering distinct facts, for example, may struggle to employ those facts in critical thinking. But he believes that the situation overall is beneficial, comparing dependence on computers to dependence on a mechanical hand or other prosthetic device.
And even though we may not be using our memories to recall distinct facts, we are still using them to consider where the facts are located and how to access them. “We still have to remember things,” Wegner explains. “We’re just remembering a different range of things.” He believes his study will lead to further research into understanding computer dependence, and looks forward to tracing the extent of human interdependence with the computer world — pinpointing the “movable dividing line between us and our computers in cyber networks.”
40. Which of the following statements can be the best idea of the passage
A. Relying on technology has weakened our critical thinking.
B. People heavily depend on computer for storing information.
C. Human’s capacity for memory is much weaker than it was before.
D. Computers and technology are reshaping the functions of our brain.
41. The example of remembering a relative’s birthday (in the 2nd paragraph) is used to ________.
A. show that people who are closely related tend to have shared memories
B. demonstrate how people initially developed external sources of memory
C. illustrate the concept of a transactive memory source using a familiar situation
D. emphasize the effectiveness and accuracy of transactive memory sources
42. From the experiment we know that when asked to provide facts that are not familiar to them, people tend to ________.
A. think of specific information sources B. type into computer and remember them
C recall them from their deep memories D. link the unfamiliar facts to their experiences
43. Which of the following can be inferred from the last paragraph
A. The more we rely on computer, the weaker our memory becomes.
B. Reliance on computers does not necessarily reduce human memory.
C. Computers have helped people to understand the memory system better.
D. Researches should be done to reveal the side effect of computer dependence.
(C)
Why Monday Is the Most Misunderstood Day
When the Boomtown Rats, an Irish band, released “Don’t Like Mondays” in 1979, the song became an instant hit. The inspiration behind it was the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego that year. The 16-year-old perpetrator listed “not liking Mondays” as her main reason for firing 36 shots, killing two adults and injuring eight children and a police officer. This is not, though, why the song resonated with millions of people around the world. ____44____ What many do recognize all too well is the difficulty of summoning the energy to get out or bed on Monday mornings in order to face the week ahead.
Many bosses argue that starting off the week in person in the office creates good energy. They think that the initial meeting in the office can boost morale and encourage teamwork, which is essential for a productive work environment. ____45____.
A paper published in 2021 by the Journal of Applied Psychology provides some insight into this debate. The study found that people tend to be more ill-mannered on Mondays possibly due to the transition from a relaxed weekend to a busy work schedule, and grow more courteous and more engaged with their work as the week unfolds and employees settle into their routines.
Another paper from 2015 by Yun Tae Hwang and Amy Kang published in the Medical Journal of Australia goes so far as to diagnose a new condition, Mondayitis. ____46____ These symptoms typically appear on the first working day after a period off work, which could be a weekend or a longer holiday. They can lead sufferers to call in sick, decide to work from home or, if they do show up in the office, come across as detached and unavailable. So much for good energy.
____47____ Some Americans now complain of “Sunday scaries”, when pre-Monday dread sets in as the weekend draws to a close. Both conditions can be aggravated by a weekend hangover, a looming deadline or painful memories. They are likely to be particularly acute among the nearly half of American workers who, according to a poll from 2022 conducted by UKG, an HR-software company, hate their jobs.
A. Most of them are in all likelihood unaware of its tragic origins.
B. Mondayitis appears to be contagious, infecting other days of the week.
C. While this approach is favored by some, plenty of employees beg to differ.
D. They are highly motivated in all walks of life, and even somewhat workaholic.
E. The condition is not just a figment of the imagination but has real physiological effects.
F. It is defined as “a systemic illness with symptoms including fatigue irritability or light-headedness”.
