A motorist was prepared to meet his maker when he found himself trapped in his Cadillac for 14 hours on a hot, summer day. Cleveland resident Peter Pyros was backing his car out of the driveway in August when suddenly the battery died. Because the electric buttons used to active the door wouldn’t work, he became a prisoner in his own car, reported the Detroit Free Press. He tried shouting for help and pounding on the window, hoping it would break, but to no avail. After more than half a day stuck in the vehicle and barely able to breathe, a curious neighbour discovered Pyros before contacting police. They charged Pyros’ battery long enough so he could let himself out of the car. What Pyros was unaware of is that his car was equipped with a manual door release handle. The only problem was he didn’t know it existed and the owner’s manual was not inside the vehicle. Pyros may be alive but he’s not happy. He’s suing the maker of his car for not making the emergency set easier to locate. Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard. 3. What is the news report mainly about? 4. Why didn’t Pyros use the manual door release handle? An accident caused by battery explosion. A man trapped in his own car. A car maker facing a severe penalty. A motorcycle crashing into a car.

In its natural habitat, the sun bear spends over 80% of its active waking time in daylight. But when disturbed by human activity, that changes dramatically. In areas where people are pushing into the sun bear’s domain, the animals are spending 90% of their waking time after dark, according to a study published in June in the journal Science. The study found that human activity is driving lots of mammals to shift their activity from the day into the dark hours of the night. Human activity of all sorts had an impact, including fatal activity like hunting as well as agriculture and land development, harvesting local natural resources, and even hiking or walking through wild areas. The study authors warn that profound shifts in the natural behaviour patterns of so many species disturb predator-prey dynamics that have evolved over generations, leading to unknown and potentially huge effects on the environment. “We really don’t know,” says lead author Kaitlyn Gaynor of UC Berkeley. “Entire ecosystems might be reshaped by this behaviour.” Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard. 1. What makes sun bears become night owls? 2. What does Kaitlyn Gaynor say about the behaviour pattern shifts of so many species? The melting of the polar iceberg. The illegal hunting of animals. The disturbance of human activity. The pollution in their natural habitat.

W: Now we have Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton Business School with his new book Option B. M: Thank you. I read a study days ago which showed that highly creative adults grew up in families where their parents argued more, not only argued more, but argued reasonably in front of their children. W: As a mom, I just thought that was something you’re never supposed to do. M: Well, the more I read about this research, the more I realized that if you never disagree in front of your kids, they think there’s one right answer to everything, whereas if they see you argue, they realize that there might be multiple perspectives on a problem, and they have to learn to think for themselves. W: I see. Are there any rules for this sort of arguing? M: Yes, there are a few rules for good arguing. One is to argue like you’re right, but listen like you’re wrong. Instead of arguing to win, you can argue to learn. And the key is you have to acknowledge when your opponent has made a good point. W: I think most of us are terrible at hearing criticism. Think about what happens to you physically. Your shoulders start to tense. Your body tightens up. Your heart races. And you just feel like you’re being physically attacked. M: Yes. I have advice on this. And it only takes 23 words: “I am giving you these comments because I have very high expectations of you, and I am confident that you can reach them.” It changes the conversation. Instead of saying “this person is about to attack me,” the person receiving the feedback says “this person is trying to help me.” W: Sounds quite enlightening! Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 12. What did the study the man read show about highly creative adults? 13. What do kids learn from disagreements between their parents? 14. What is the key to good arguing? 15. How would we react physically when we hear criticism? They grew up in highly harmonious families. They grew up in families with fierce arguments. They grew up in families with reasonable arguments. They grew up in relatively stable families.

Are you worried your heart is much older than you are and that you’re on the verge of having a heart attack? Well, a test can estimate the age of your ticker, as well as revealing how long you can expect to live without having a heart attack or a stroke. But a new update to the 16-question tool offers advice and interventions to help lower the vital organ’s age and keep you alive for longer. Produced by NHS Choices and the British Heart Foundation, the Heart Age Tool asks for information about your age, gender, height and weight. It also seeks to know where you live, whether you’re an active smoker and your ethnicity— all factors that impact the risk of having a heart attack or stroke. The free tool-initially launched last year— also searches for information about your cholesterol levels, blood pressure and whether or not you have any other conditions that increase your risk. It is designed to work on people aged 30 or older who have not already been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. The updated tool comes after new research found four in five people have hearts much older than they are due to a poor lifestyle. In the worst cases, men and women in their mid-40s had hearts typical of 60-year-olds, scientists found. A worrying 89% of men below 40 had unhealthy hearts, compared with just 41% of women, researchers discovered. Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard. 16. What do we learn about the Heart Age Tool? 17. Whom does the Heart Age Tool apply to? 18. What can we learn from the end of the talk? It is a recently launched device. It is a portable device. It is a list of 6 questions. It is a list of 16 questions.

Norm Pethrick, a 36-year-old man in Australia’s northern city Darwin, was praised on Thursday for jumping onto a crocodile’s back to save his wife Wendy at Litchfield National Park, a popular tourist spot southwest of Darwin, a local newspaper reported. Ms. Pethrick was standing on a river bank Wednesday afternoon when the saltwater crocodile attacked her, locking its jaws on both her legs as it tried to drag her underwater. Norm Pethrick, who with his wife had been collecting water, immediately went to help her. He jumped onto the back, poked the eyes of the crocodile and finally got his wife free. Ms. Pethrick was later taken to Royal Darwin Hospital for a medical treatment. The doctors said she was suffering eight puncture wounds in her right leg, a puncture wound in her left leg and a serious cut to one of her fingers. “This could have been a fatal and tragic situation,” said the general manager of Royal Darwin Hospital, Dr. Len Notaras, according to a local report. He said Ms. Pethrick was saved by her husband’s “quick and diligent actions.” Dr. Notaras also said she would remain in hospital for three to four days and have an operation to clean the wounds, which are easy to get infected because of bacteria on the teeth of the crocodile. Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard. 19. What is the accident? 20. What was Ms. Pethrick doing when the accident happened? 21. How were Ms. Pethrick’s wounds? Animal attack. Tourist conflict. Ship wreck. Road accident.

E-commerce is often blamed for the woes of brick-and-mortar retailers. But on Thursday, Sears’ CEO Eddie Lampert cast blame on the company’s retirees— specifically, pension plan payouts— for draining company coffers. The statements came in a blog post by Lampert in which he outlined that since 2005, Sears has contributed over $4.5 billion to its pension fund. “Had the company been able to employ those billions of dollars in its operations, we would have been in a better position to compete with other large retail companies, many of which don’t have large pension plans, and thus have not been required to allocate billions of dollars to these liabilities,” he wrote. One way Sears has stayed buoyant in recent years: partnerships with Amazon. At the end of August, Sears announced it would expand the pilot program that enables Sears to install and balance automobile tires that consumers purchase through Amazon. The deal seems like a win-win for both retailers, as well as customers. Amazon shoppers who buy tires, including Sears’ Die-Hard brand, can ship the tires to a nearby Sears Auto Centre for installation. Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard. 5. Why did Sears’ CEO Eddie Lampert cast blame on the company’s retirees? 6. How much has Sears contributed to its pension fund since 2005? 7. What would Sears do next? Because they are not content with the pension plans. Because they all support e-commerce. Because they consume too much capital of the company. Because they keep partnerships with Amazon.

W: Hi, Steven. What’s up? M: I am planning a summer vacation, trying to coordinate schedules with friends and family, but maybe there’s another way, even a better way, to take a vacation. W: What do you mean? M: I mean maybe I should travel alone this time. Nowadays, people are travelling alone in record numbers. W: There are many places that people have longed to go. But I often hear them say they have nobody to go with. M: True. I should travel alone. Last year, my editor sent me to Paris to explore the city by myself. That was the assignment. On my own, thousands of miles from home, I could slow down. I began to really enjoy all of the marvelous, everyday things I miss when talking with or looking after companions. W: Sounds to me so amazing. By travelling alone, we are able to zero in on details because there is no one to distract us, no one to tell us to hurry along, to stop lingering on some shopping centres to buy things you don’t want. M: Definitely. And you have the freedom to pursue your particular interests. You can develop your aesthetic sense at your own pace. You can explore art and design shops, places that may inspire a new hobby or a creative endeavor. W: Alone, we can be reflective, like the day I took myself to a tea ceremony in Tokyo. We can step outside our comfort zone. Alone, we can climb a hill on an autumn afternoon, and consider how we are living our life and how we want to live it in the future- a process that can get inhibited when other people are around. M: Indeed. Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 8. What is the man busy with? 9. What does the man say about his assignment in Paris? 10. Why is travelling alone so beneficial according to the speakers? 11. What does the woman say about her trip in Tokyo? Planning his academic study for summer vacation. Arranging a party with his friends and family. Planning a summer vacation. Thinking about travelling to Paris.

Billionaire Bill Gates has made a $100 million investment to help researchers find a cure for Alzheimer’s. The brain disease causes people to slowly lose their memory and mental abilities as they grow old. Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, said he has given $50 million to the Dementia Discovery Fund. The London-based fund aims to bring business and government together to seek treatments for the brain-wasting disease. Another $50 million will go to start-up groups working in Alzheimer’s research, Gates said. The money is a personal donation and not from his charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “The disease is a huge problem, a growing problem, and the scale of the tragedy— even for the people who stay alive— is very high,” Gates told the Reuters news agency. Despite many years of research, scientists have not found a treatment that can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. Current drugs can do no more than ease some of the effects. But Gates said he is hopeful that treatments can be found, even if they might still be more than 10 years away. Gates’ usual health focus is on helping fight infectious diseases in poorer countries. He said Alzheimer’s became his mission partly for personal reasons, and partly because it has been so difficult to find effective treatment. Some men in his family have suffered from Alzheimer’s, he said. In a blog post about the investments, Gates wrote, “I know how awful it is to watch people you love struggle as the disease robs them of their mental capacity. It feels a lot like you’re experiencing a gradual death of the person that you knew.” Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard. 22. What does the Dementia Discovery Fund aim to do? 23. How much did Bill Gates give to start-up groups working in Alzheimer’s research? 24. What does the speaker say about the research on Alzheimer’s? 25. What is Gates’ usual health focus on? Find private funds to help those with brain-wasting disease. Call on medical research groups to help those with brain-wasting disease. Call on the government to help those with brain-wasting disease. Unite business and government together to help those with brain-wasting disease.