分科-綜合練習

閱讀時間約 70 分鐘

威威老師的分科綜合練習 (AST Mixed Practice Sets)

前言：如何使用這份練習

這份講義包含 3 套完整的分科測驗模擬試題，每套約 37 題，涵蓋：

  • 綜合測驗 (Cloze)：1 篇，10 題
  • 文意選填 (Contextual Fill-in)：1 篇，10 題
  • 篇章結構 (Text Organization)：1 篇，5 題
  • 閱讀測驗 (Reading Comprehension)：3 篇，共 12 題

難度循序漸進：Set 1（中等）→ Set 2（進階）→ Set 3（實戰等級）。

威威老師高分秘訣

做每一套試題時，嚴格計時。不要一邊查字典一邊做——分科測驗不允許你查字典。做完全部題目後再對答案、查單字、讀詳解。

時間管理指南

題型題數建議時間每題平均時間
綜合測驗 (Cloze)1010 分鐘1 分鐘/題
文意選填 (Contextual Fill-in)1010 分鐘1 分鐘/題
篇章結構 (Text Organization)58 分鐘1.6 分鐘/題
閱讀測驗 (Reading)12 (3篇)30 分鐘10 分鐘/篇
總計3758 分鐘—
檢查時間—5-7 分鐘—
建議總時間—65 分鐘—

真正的分科測驗英文科考試時間為 80 分鐘（含中譯英和作文）。如果你做這份模擬練習花了 65 分鐘，剩下的 15 分鐘可以用來處理非選擇題的構思。熟練之後目標是 55 分鐘完成選擇題。

分數換算表

答對題數 (/37)答對率預估原始分數 (/100)建議等級
35-3795-100%90+頂標 (A+)
32-3486-92%80-89前標 (A)
28-3176-84%70-79均標 (B)
23-2762-73%60-69後標 (C)
18-2249-60%50-59底標 (D)
< 18< 49%< 50需加強

Set 1：中等難度 (Moderate)

Part A：綜合測驗 (Cloze) — 10 題

Passage: The Silent Decline of Insects

In recent decades, scientists have observed a phenomenon so gradual that it has largely escaped public attention: the dramatic (1)_____ in insect populations worldwide. A 2019 global review published in the journal Biological Conservation analyzed 73 studies and concluded that over 40% of insect species are declining, with approximately one-third now (2)_____ with extinction. The rate of insect loss is estimated to be eight times faster than that of mammals, birds, and reptiles.

The causes of this decline are (3), rather than attributable to any single factor. Habitat loss due to agricultural expansion ranks among the most significant drivers. When natural landscapes are (4) into monoculture croplands, the diverse plant communities that insects depend on for food and shelter are destroyed. (5)_____, the widespread use of pesticides—particularly neonicotinoids—has been linked to sharp reductions in bee and butterfly populations. Climate change further compounds the problem by disrupting the delicate timing between insect life cycles and the flowering of plants they pollinate.

The implications of insect decline extend far beyond the insects themselves. Approximately 75% of global food crops depend (6)_____ on animal pollination, primarily by insects. The annual economic value of insect pollination services has been estimated at 577 billion. Beyond agriculture, insects form the foundation of countless food webs; their disappearance (7)_____ through entire ecosystems, threatening birds, amphibians, and freshwater fish that feed on them.

Despite the severity of the crisis, experts emphasize that solutions are (8). Restoring patches of native habitat within agricultural landscapes can create ecological corridors that sustain insect populations. (9) pesticide use through integrated pest management—which combines biological controls, crop rotation, and targeted chemical applications—can significantly reduce harm to beneficial insects. Urban areas can contribute by replacing manicured lawns (10)_____ native wildflower gardens.

The challenge, ultimately, is not a lack of solutions but a lack of urgency. As one entomologist remarked, “Insects are the little things that run the world.” The question is whether we will notice their disappearance before it is too late.

Questions 1-10:

  1. (A) decline (B) incline (C) recession (D) progress

  2. (A) threatened (B) thriving (C) advancing (D) flourishing

  3. (A) singular (B) multifaceted (C) simultaneous (D) isolated

  4. (A) converted (B) preserved (C) elevated (D) examined

  5. (A) Consequently (B) Furthermore (C) Nevertheless (D) Otherwise

  6. (A) at most (B) to some extent (C) at least partly (D) on the contrary

  7. (A) echoes (B) rebounds (C) remains (D) cascades

  8. (A) available (B) inevitable (C) impossible (D) irreversible

  9. (A) Maximizing (B) Intensifying (C) Recommending (D) Reducing

  10. (A) into (B) with (C) for (D) by

Part B：文意選填 (Contextual Fill-in) — 10 題

Passage: The History of Coffee

Coffee is the world’s most popular psychoactive substance, consumed by billions of people daily. Yet its (11)_____ from an obscure Ethiopian bean to a global commodity is a story shaped by empire, religion, and economics.

According to legend, coffee was discovered in the 9th century by an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi, who noticed his goats became unusually (12)_____ after eating red berries from a certain bush. Curious, Kaldi tried the berries himself and experienced a similar burst of energy. He brought the berries to a local monastery, where monks initially (13)_____ them as “the devil’s work” and threw them into the fire. However, the aroma of roasting coffee beans was so enticing that the monks retrieved them, ground them, and brewed the first cups of coffee—discovering it helped them stay (14)_____ during long hours of evening prayer.

From Ethiopia, coffee spread to the Arabian Peninsula, where the world’s first coffeehouses, called qahveh khaneh, appeared in the 15th century. These establishments became centers of social (15), where people gathered to discuss politics, listen to music, and play chess. However, coffee’s role as an intellectual stimulant drew (16) from religious authorities. Some Muslim leaders attempted to ban coffee, arguing that its stimulating effects violated Islamic dietary laws. The bans failed, and coffee’s popularity only grew.

European travelers to the Middle East brought coffee back to their home countries in the 17th century, where it initially met with (17). Some Christians called it the “bitter invention of Satan” until Pope Clement VIII tasted it and, finding it delightful, gave it papal approval. Coffeehouses soon (18) across Europe, earning the nickname “penny universities” because for the price of a cup of coffee—a penny—patrons could engage in (19)_____ conversation and learn from intellectuals, writers, and merchants.

Today, coffee is one of the world’s most traded commodities, second only to crude oil in total value. An estimated 2.25 billion cups are consumed globally each day. The journey of this humble bean from Ethiopian forests to every corner of the globe is a (20)_____ to the power of cultural exchange and, perhaps, humanity’s enduring need for a morning boost.

(A)(B)(C)(D)(E)(F)(G)(H)(I)(J)
awakesuspicionstimulatedexchangedismissedtransformationtestimonysprang upscholarlyinteraction

Part C：篇章結構 (Text Organization) — 5 題

Passage: The Overton Window

(A) The concept was introduced by Joseph P. Overton, a policy analyst at a Michigan think tank, in the mid-1990s. Overton observed that at any given time, only a narrow range of policy options is considered politically acceptable by mainstream politicians and the public. Ideas falling outside this window are dismissed as too radical or unthinkable.

(B) This has led some activist groups to adopt deliberately extreme positions, reasoning that by shifting the boundaries of acceptable discourse, they create space for more moderate reforms. The strategy is not necessarily to achieve the extreme position, but to make what was previously considered radical seem reasonable by comparison.

(C) The Overton Window is a theory of political change that describes how the range of ideas deemed acceptable in public discourse shifts over time. Understanding this concept is essential for anyone seeking to understand why certain policies that were once unthinkable eventually become mainstream—and how those shifts happen.

(D) Importantly, Overton emphasized that the window moves through a specific sequence. An idea must first be thinkable (the outermost boundary) before it can become acceptable, then sensible, then popular, and finally policy. Politicians rarely lead this process; they typically follow public opinion once a sufficient portion of the electorate has been persuaded.

(E) Historical examples illustrate this dynamic vividly. The abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, and same-sex marriage were all once considered radical, even unthinkable ideas. Yet through sustained advocacy, intellectual argument, and gradual shifts in public consciousness, each migrated from the fringe to the mainstream and ultimately became law in many countries.

Questions 21-25:

  1. Which paragraph serves as the introduction, providing a definition and overview of the Overton Window? → _____

  2. Which paragraph explains who developed the concept and the original observation behind it? → _____

  3. Which paragraph explains the sequential process by which ideas move through the window? → _____

  4. Which paragraph provides historical examples that illustrate the theory in practice? → _____

  5. Which paragraph discusses how activists use the theory to advance political change? → _____

Part D：閱讀測驗 (Reading Comprehension) — 12 題

Passage 1: The Four-Day Workweek

字數：約 400 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

The five-day workweek has been the global standard for so long that it is easy to forget it is a relatively recent invention. Henry Ford popularized the 40-hour, five-day schedule in 1926, nearly halving the six-day norm that had dominated industrial economies since the 19th century. Now, almost exactly a century later, a growing movement argues it is time to reduce the workweek again—this time to four days.

The largest trial to date was conducted in the United Kingdom between June and December 2022. Sixty-one companies across diverse sectors—from financial services to fish-and-chip shops—participated in a six-month experiment in which employees worked 80% of their previous hours while maintaining 100% of their pay and productivity targets. The results, published by the think tank Autonomy and researchers from Cambridge University, were striking. Company revenue remained broadly unchanged, rising by an average of 1.4% over the trial period. Employee resignations dropped by 57%, and sick days decreased by 65%. Moreover, 71% of employees reported reduced levels of burnout, and 39% said they were less stressed than when the trial began.

Despite these promising findings, the four-day workweek faces significant obstacles to widespread adoption. The most fundamental is sectoral applicability. While knowledge workers in office-based roles can often achieve the same output in fewer hours through efficiency gains, many occupations—nursing, teaching, retail, hospitality—involve tasks whose output is directly tied to physical presence and time. A nurse cannot nurse more patients per hour without compromising care; a teacher cannot teach two classes simultaneously.

There is also the question of whether productivity gains observed in trials are sustainable. The Hawthorne effect—the tendency for study participants to perform better simply because they are being observed—is well documented in organizational psychology. It is possible that the initial enthusiasm and novelty of a shorter workweek drive temporary efficiency improvements that will fade once the arrangement becomes routine.

Proponents counter that the five-day week faces a similar objection when it was first proposed. Critics in the 1920s warned that reducing working hours would devastate productivity; instead, it coincided with decades of unprecedented economic growth. Whether the four-day week follows the same trajectory depends on whether businesses can fundamentally reorganize work—eliminating unnecessary meetings, streamlining communication, and leveraging technology—rather than simply compressing five days of work into four.

Questions 26-29:

  1. According to the passage, what happened in the 2022 UK trial of the four-day workweek? (A) Company revenues declined because employees worked fewer hours. (B) Employee resignations and sick days both decreased significantly. (C) Most companies decided to permanently adopt the four-day schedule. (D) Productivity targets were lowered to compensate for reduced hours.

  2. The author discusses nursing and teaching in the third paragraph primarily to: (A) Argue that all professions should shift to a four-day workweek (B) Suggest that healthcare workers are more productive than office workers (C) Illustrate the difficulty of applying a four-day model to certain occupations (D) Provide examples of professions that already work four-day schedules

  3. The “Hawthorne effect” is mentioned to suggest that: (A) The trial results may be influenced by participants knowing they are being studied (B) The four-day workweek is scientifically proven to be superior (C) Henry Ford’s original experiments were methodologically flawed (D) Productivity is unrelated to the number of hours worked

  4. What parallel does the passage draw between the 1920s and today? (A) Henry Ford’s innovation faced the same objections that the four-day week now faces. (B) Both periods experienced economic recessions that forced changes to work schedules. (C) Workers in both eras demanded shorter hours but received pay cuts instead. (D) Technological innovation in both periods eliminated the same number of jobs.

Passage 2: The Science of Sleep and Memory

字數：約 420 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

Students have been pulling all-nighters before exams for generations, operating under the intuitive assumption that more study hours equal better performance. Neuroscience now offers a decisive verdict on this strategy: it is counterproductive. Sleep, far from being a passive state of unconsciousness, is when the brain performs some of its most critical cognitive work—consolidating memories, integrating new information with existing knowledge, and clearing metabolic waste products that accumulate during waking hours.

The process of memory consolidation during sleep operates through a dialogue between two brain structures: the hippocampus and the neocortex. During waking hours, the hippocampus acts as a temporary storage buffer, rapidly encoding new experiences and facts. This capacity is finite—the hippocampus can hold only so much information before new input begins to overwrite old memories. During slow-wave sleep (the deep, dreamless stage that dominates the first half of the night), the hippocampus replays the day’s memories and gradually transfers them to the neocortex, the brain’s long-term storage system. This process, known as memory consolidation, strengthens important memories while discarding irrelevant ones.

A 2021 study published in Nature Communications demonstrated the practical implications of this mechanism. Participants who were taught a complex visual categorization task and then allowed to sleep normally showed significantly improved performance the next day, even without additional practice. Those who were sleep-deprived showed no improvement and, in some cases, performed worse than their initial baseline. The sleep group’s improvement correlated directly with the amount of slow-wave sleep they obtained.

REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep), which dominates the second half of the night, serves a different but complementary function. During REM sleep, the brain engages in what neuroscientists call “associative memory processing”—forming novel connections between previously unrelated pieces of information. This is the stage during which creative insights, the kind that seem to arrive “out of nowhere” in the morning, are generated. This explains why a person might go to bed struggling with a problem and wake up with a solution.

The practical prescription from this research is unambiguous: adequate sleep, particularly the night after learning new material, is essential for transforming information from something temporarily known into something permanently understood. For students preparing for high-stakes examinations, the most efficient study strategy may not be studying more, but sleeping more.

Questions 30-33:

  1. According to the passage, what is the primary function of slow-wave sleep in relation to memory? (A) Generating creative insights and novel connections between ideas (B) Transferring memories from the hippocampus to the neocortex for long-term storage (C) Temporarily storing new information in a buffer for immediate recall (D) Eliminating all memories from the previous day to make space for new ones

  2. What did the 2021 study published in Nature Communications find? (A) Sleep-deprived participants performed better due to increased study time. (B) Participants who slept showed improved performance without additional practice. (C) REM sleep was more important than slow-wave sleep for learning. (D) Memory consolidation only occurred after multiple nights of sleep.

  3. The function of REM sleep is described as: (A) Identical to the function of slow-wave sleep (B) Forming novel connections between unrelated pieces of information (C) Encoding new experiences at a rapid rate (D) Removing metabolic waste from brain tissue

  4. What is the author’s main purpose in writing this passage? (A) To describe the biological mechanisms of sleep disorders (B) To persuade students to adopt polyphasic sleep schedules (C) To explain how sleep facilitates learning and why it is important for students (D) To compare different theories of dream interpretation

Passage 3: Vertical Cities — The Future of Urbanization?

字數：約 450 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

By 2050, the United Nations projects that 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, up from 56% today. This demographic shift raises a fundamental spatial question: where will all these people live? The traditional answer—expanding outward, consuming agricultural land and natural habitats in ever-widening suburban rings—is proving environmentally and logistically unsustainable. An alternative vision, championed by a growing cohort of architects and urban planners, proposes building upward rather than outward: the vertical city.

The vertical city concept envisions self-contained urban districts housed within a small number of extremely tall, mixed-use structures. Rather than zoning residential, commercial, and recreational areas into separate districts connected by roads, a vertical city would stack these functions atop one another. Residents would live, work, shop, exercise, and socialize within the same building or interconnected cluster of buildings, drastically reducing the need for transportation. In theory, a vertical city could house 50,000 to 100,000 people on a footprint that a conventional horizontal city would use for 5,000.

The environmental case is compelling. Compact urban forms dramatically reduce per-capita energy consumption by shortening travel distances and enabling efficient district heating and cooling systems. Land spared from development can be restored to ecological uses—carbon-sequestering forests, wetlands that mitigate flooding, and wildlife corridors. Singapore, long a pioneer in urban density management, has demonstrated that high-rise living can coexist with abundant greenery through its “City in a Garden” approach, which mandates that new developments incorporate substantial vegetation at multiple levels.

Critics, however, raise concerns that extend beyond engineering feasibility. Social equity is a primary worry. If vertical cities are developed by private entities, there is a risk they become exclusive enclaves for the wealthy, with essential service workers commuting in from conventional urban peripheries—replicating existing segregation patterns in a new form. The psychological effects of high-density vertical living are also poorly understood. Research on the psychological impacts of skyscraper living is limited and inconclusive; some studies suggest elevated rates of anxiety and social isolation, while others find no significant differences from conventional housing once adequate communal spaces are provided.

Perhaps the most underappreciated limitation is infrastructural. A true vertical city requires not merely tall buildings but entirely reconceived systems for water supply, waste management, emergency evacuation, and vertical transportation. The elevator technology to move tens of thousands of people efficiently within a single structure does not currently exist at the required scale. Materials science must advance to make ultra-tall structures economically viable. These are solvable engineering problems, but solving them requires investment and innovation on a scale that current market incentives do not provide.

Questions 34-37:

  1. According to the passage, what is the primary environmental argument for vertical cities? (A) They use solar panels to generate renewable energy on-site. (B) They reduce per-capita energy use through compact living and shorter travel distances. (C) They eliminate the need for any form of transportation. (D) They can be built entirely from recycled materials.

  2. The passage mentions Singapore primarily to: (A) Warn about the negative psychological effects of high-density living (B) Provide an example of successful integration of density and green space (C) Argue that vertical cities are economically unfeasible in Asian contexts (D) Compare Singapore’s approach unfavorably with other cities

  3. According to the passage, what is one concern about the social impact of vertical cities? (A) They might become exclusive communities for wealthy residents. (B) They would force all residents to adopt communal living arrangements. (C) They would eliminate the possibility of private property ownership. (D) They require residents to abandon all use of personal vehicles.

  4. Which of the following is identified as an infrastructural challenge for vertical cities? (A) The lack of demand for high-density urban housing (B) Insufficient elevator technology for moving large populations within a single structure (C) The inability of tall buildings to withstand wind forces (D) Government regulations that prohibit buildings above 50 floors

Set 1 答案與詳解

Part A：綜合測驗 (Cloze) 答案

題號答案詳解
1A”decline” (下降) 符合後文描述的昆蟲數量減少趨勢。(B) incline 是傾向/斜坡；(C) recession 是經濟衰退，不適用於物種數量；(D) progress 是進展，語意相反
2A”threatened with extinction” 是固定搭配，表示「瀕臨滅絕」。(B) thriving = 繁榮；(C) advancing = 前進；(D) flourishing = 興旺，都與語境相反
3B後文列舉多個原因 (habitat loss, pesticides, climate change)，所以是 “multifaceted” (多方面的)。(A) singular = 單一的，與後文矛盾
4A”converted into” 表示「被轉變為」，指自然景觀被轉為單一種植的農田
5B”Furthermore” 表示遞進關係，在提出第一個原因 (habitat loss) 後，補充第二個原因 (pesticides)
6C”depend at least partly on” = 至少部分依賴。約 75% 農作物依賴動物授粉，但不是 100% 完全依賴 (有些可以靠風或自花授粉)
7D”cascades” through ecosystems 是「層層傳遞下去」，描述生態系統中食物鏈效應的連鎖反應
8A後文列舉了解決方案，所以是 “solutions are available” (解決方案是可得的)
9D後文提到 integrated pest management 可以 “reduce harm”，所以是 Reducing pesticide use
10B”replace A with B” 是固定搭配。這裡是 “replacing manicured lawns with native wildflower gardens”

Part B：文意選填 答案

題號答案字詞詳解
11Ftransformation從 obscure bean 到 global commodity，這是轉變 (transformation)
12Cstimulated山羊吃了咖啡果後變得 energetic，是被「刺激」的狀態
13Edismissed僧侶最初把咖啡果當作 “the devil’s work”，dismissed as = 當作…而不予理會
14Aawake喝咖啡幫助僧侶在長時間晚禱中保持清醒
15Iinteraction咖啡館成為 social interaction 的中心，人們在此社交
16Bsuspicion宗教權威對咖啡的刺激效應產生懷疑 (suspicion)
17Bsuspicion歐洲初次接觸咖啡時也抱有懷疑態度 (有些人說是 “Satan’s invention”)
18Hsprang upsprang up = 迅速出現，描述咖啡館在歐洲如雨後春筍般出現
19Jscholarly咖啡館被稱為 “penny universities” 因為可以進行 scholarly (學術性) 對話
20Gtestimonya testimony to = 對…的證明/見證

Part C：篇章結構 答案

題號答案詳解
21CC 提供 Overton Window 的定義和概述，是全文的引言
22AA 說明這個概念由 Joseph Overton 提出，解釋他觀察到的現象
23DD 解釋概念移動的序列：thinkable → acceptable → sensible → popular → policy
24EE 提供廢奴、婦女投票權、同性婚姻等歷史例子來說明理論
25BB 討論社運分子刻意採取極端立場以擴大討論範圍的策略

正確順序：C → A → D → E → B

Part D：閱讀測驗 答案

題號答案詳解
26B細節題。第二段：Employee resignations dropped by 57%, sick days decreased by 65%
27C修辭目的題。護理和教學的例子用來說明某些職業的產出與「實體存在」掛鉤，難以適用四天制
28A細節題。Hawthorne effect 是指研究參與者因為知道自己被觀察而表現更好
29A細節/推論題。最後一段指出 1920 年代的批評者警告減少工時會摧毀生產力，但結果相反
30B細節題。第二段：hippocampus replays memories and transfers them to the neocortex for long-term storage
31B細節題。第三段：睡眠組在沒有額外練習的情況下第二天表現顯著改善
32B細節題。第四段：REM sleep engages in “associative memory processing”—forming novel connections
33C主旨題。全文解釋睡眠如何幫助學習和記憶，意在說服學生重視睡眠
34B細節題。第三段：Compact urban forms dramatically reduce per-capita energy consumption by shortening travel distances
35B修辭目的題。新加坡用來說明高密度居住可以與豐富綠化共存
36A細節題。第四段：私營開發的垂直城市可能成為富裕階層的專屬社區
37B細節題。最後一段：目前的電梯技術不足以在單一建築內高效移動數萬人

Set 1 詞彙筆記

字詞詞性中文
phenomenonn.現象
extinctionn.滅絕
monoculturen.單一種植
neonicotinoidsn.新菸鹼類殺蟲劑
pollinationn.授粉
cascadev.層層傳遞/連鎖發生
integratev.整合
entomologistn.昆蟲學家
commodityn.商品
monasteryn.修道院
papaladj.教宗的
consolidationn.鞏固、整合
hippocampusn.海馬迴
neocortexn.新皮質
metabolicadj.新陳代謝的
demographicadj.人口統計的
sequestrationn.封存（碳封存）
communaladj.公共的、共用的
infrastructuraladj.基礎建設的

Set 2：進階難度 (Challenging)

Part A：綜合測驗 (Cloze) — 10 題

Passage: The Fermi Paradox

The universe contains approximately 200 billion trillion stars, many of which are orbited by planets. Given the (38)_____ scale of the cosmos and the apparent ease with which life emerged on Earth—appearing almost as soon as the planet cooled sufficiently for liquid water—it seems statistically improbable that humanity is alone. The question of why we have not (39)_____ evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations, despite the vastness of space and time, is known as the Fermi Paradox.

Named for physicist Enrico Fermi, who first articulated the apparent contradiction during a casual lunch conversation in 1950, the paradox has (40)_____ dozens of proposed resolutions. These fall broadly into two categories: explanations that suggest intelligent life is extraordinarily rare, and those that suggest it exists but remains (41)_____ to us.

The “rare Earth” hypothesis, championed by paleontologist Peter Ward and astronomer Donald Brownlee, argues that the conditions that produced complex life on Earth are (42)_____ improbable. Even if microbial life is common, they contend, the leap to multicellular organisms—which took over 2 billion years on Earth—may require an exceptionally specific convergence of factors: a stable planetary orbit, a large moon to stabilize axial tilt, plate tectonics to recycle nutrients, and a Jupiter-like gas giant to shield the inner solar system from comet impacts.

The “Great Filter” theory proposes a more (43)_____ possibility: that a barrier exists somewhere along the path from non-life to interstellar colonization that almost no civilization survives. If the filter lies in our past—meaning we have already passed through it—humanity may be exceptionally rare or even unique in the cosmos. If the filter lies in our future—for example, the tendency for technologically advanced civilizations to destroy themselves (44)_____ nuclear war, climate collapse, or engineered pandemics—then our prospects are considerably darker.

Alternative explanations reject the premise that we have not detected alien life. Some theorists argue that advanced civilizations may (45)_____ pursue detectable activities, preferring digital rather than physical expansion. Others propose the “zoo hypothesis”—that advanced civilizations have agreed to observe Earth without interference, much as humans might observe a wildlife preserve. (46)_____ compelling these ideas may be, they remain unfalsifiable by their very nature: the absence of evidence, in this case, is entirely consistent with the hypothesis.

Perhaps the most sobering resolution is that we are looking for the wrong (47)_____ altogether. Our search for extraterrestrial intelligence, dominated by radio astronomy, assumes civilizations communicate using electromagnetic waves. An advanced civilization might use technologies as incomprehensible to us as the Internet would be to a medieval scholar.

Questions 38-47:

  1. (A) minuscule (B) staggering (C) negligible (D) moderate

  2. (A) fabricated (B) encountered (C) concealed (D) simulated

  3. (A) dismissed (B) eliminated (C) prompted (D) suppressed

  4. (A) visible (B) hostile (C) transparent (D) undetectable

  5. (A) scarcely (B) trivially (C) profoundly (D) superficially

  6. (A) optimistic (B) mundane (C) reassuring (D) unsettling

  7. (A) through (B) alongside (C) despite (D) beyond

  8. (A) eagerly (B) deliberately (C) inadvertently (D) permanently

  9. (A) Whatever (B) As much as (C) However (D) Provided that

  10. (A) signals (B) planets (C) predictions (D) conclusions

Part B：文意選填 (Contextual Fill-in) — 10 題

Passage: The Placebo Effect — More Than Just Imagination

For centuries, the placebo effect was dismissed as a nuisance variable in medical research—something to be (48)_____ for rather than studied in its own right. Patients who improved after taking sugar pills were assumed to be either (49)_____ their symptoms or recovering naturally. However, decades of rigorous research have revealed that the placebo effect is a genuine neurobiological phenomenon with measurable physiological mechanisms.

The most extensively documented mechanism involves the brain’s endogenous opioid system. When a patient expects pain (50), the brain releases its own pain-killing chemicals—endorphins and enkephalins—that bind to the same receptors targeted by morphine and other opioid drugs. Brain imaging studies have confirmed that placebo-induced pain reduction correlates with (51) activity in pain-processing regions such as the anterior cingulate cortex and the thalamus.

Intriguingly, the placebo effect is not limited to pain. Placebo treatments have been shown to influence immune function, hormone (52)_____, and even motor performance in Parkinson’s disease patients. In the latter case, placebo-induced dopamine release in the brain’s reward centers has been directly observed.

The power of the effect depends (53)_____ on contextual factors. The perceived cost of a treatment, the confidence and empathy of the healthcare provider, and even the color and branding of pills significantly influence outcomes. A 2015 study found that patients who were told their medication was expensive reported greater pain relief than those who believed it was cheap—even when both groups received identical placebos.

These findings raise profound ethical questions. Is it (54)_____ for doctors to prescribe placebos? The prevailing ethical consensus holds that deceptive placebo use—telling a patient they are receiving real medication when they are not—violates the principle of informed consent. However, “open-label placebos,” in which patients are told explicitly that they are taking placebos, have demonstrated (55)_____ efficacy in treating conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and chronic back pain. This challenges the assumption that deception is necessary for the placebo effect to work.

The implications extend beyond medicine into the (56)_____ of everyday life. If expectation alone can produce measurable physiological changes, then the beliefs we hold about our health, our capabilities, and our potential may be self-fulfilling in ways that are only beginning to be understood. The placebo effect, once a scientific embarrassment, now stands as a (57)_____ of the profound connection between mind and body.

(A)(B)(C)(D)(E)(F)(G)(H)(I)(J)
reducedreliefcontrolledsecretionimaginingrealmreminderdeceptiveheavilysurprising

Part C：篇章結構 (Text Organization) — 5 題

Passage: The Streisand Effect

(A) The Streisand Effect has become increasingly relevant in the digital age, when information can spread globally within hours. Corporations, politicians, and celebrities who attempt to suppress negative information through legal threats, cease-and-desist letters, or content removal requests frequently find that their efforts backfire spectacularly, drawing far more attention to the material they sought to hide than it would have received otherwise.

(B) In 2003, singer and actress Barbra Streisand sued a photographer for $50 million after an aerial photograph of her Malibu mansion appeared among thousands of other coastal images in a publicly available collection documenting California coastal erosion. Before the lawsuit, the image had been downloaded only six times, four of which were by Streisand’s own lawyers. After the lawsuit became public, the image was viewed over 420,000 times within a single month.

(C) The Streisand Effect describes a counterintuitive phenomenon in which attempts to censor, hide, or suppress information result in the unintended consequence of publicizing that information far more widely. The term was coined in 2005 by Mike Masnick, founder of the technology blog Techdirt, following the incident that gave the effect its name.

(D) The underlying mechanism is psychological. Human beings are naturally curious about forbidden or restricted information—a tendency psychologists term “reactance.” When people perceive that their freedom to access information is being threatened or restricted, they experience an instinctive motivation to seek out that information precisely because it is prohibited. This reaction is particularly strong in cultures that place a high value on individual autonomy and freedom of expression.

(E) The practical lesson for anyone facing unwanted publicity is clear: the most effective response is often no response at all. Legal action, public denials, and content removal requests frequently generate the very attention they seek to avoid. Understanding the Streisand Effect requires accepting a counterintuitive truth: in an interconnected world, the only reliable way to prevent information from spreading is to ensure there is nothing to suppress.

Questions 58-62:

  1. Which paragraph defines the Streisand Effect and explains who coined the term? → _____

  2. Which paragraph recounts the original incident that gave the effect its name? → _____

  3. Which paragraph explains the psychological mechanism behind the effect? → _____

  4. Which paragraph discusses the effect’s relevance in the modern digital landscape? → _____

  5. Which paragraph provides a practical lesson or takeaway from understanding the effect? → _____

Part D：閱讀測驗 (Reading Comprehension) — 12 題

Passage 1: The Economics of Organ Donation

字數：約 460 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

Every year, thousands of patients die while waiting for organ transplants—not because the medical technology to save them does not exist, but because too few organs are donated to meet the demand. In the United States alone, approximately 17 people die each day awaiting a transplant, while over 100,000 remain on waiting lists. This persistent shortage has prompted economists and ethicists to propose a solution that challenges deeply held moral intuitions: compensating organ donors.

The current system in virtually every country relies entirely on altruism. People donate organs either while living (typically a kidney or a portion of the liver) or after death, motivated by nothing more than the desire to help others. This system, while ethically admirable, has proven structurally incapable of meeting demand. Despite decades of public awareness campaigns and legislative efforts to streamline the donation process, the gap between the number of organs needed and the number donated continues to widen.

Proponents of compensation argue that financial incentives would dramatically increase the supply of organs, saving tens of thousands of lives annually. They point to the fundamental economic insight that when the price of a good is fixed at zero by law, shortages are inevitable. Iran provides the only real-world example of a legal, regulated market for kidneys. Since implementing its system in 1988, Iran has eliminated its kidney transplant waiting list entirely. Critics, however, note that the Iranian model operates within a specific cultural and religious context and that its outcomes—particularly regarding the long-term health of compensated donors—have not been independently verified to international standards.

The ethical objections to organ markets are substantial. The most forceful concern is exploitation. Financial desperation, critics argue, is not meaningfully different from physical coercion; a person who sells a kidney to escape crushing debt has not made a truly free choice. There is also the concern that legal organ markets would disproportionately affect the poor, creating a system in which the wealthy purchase organs from the economically vulnerable—a form of biological inequality that many find fundamentally incompatible with human dignity.

A middle-ground proposal that has gained traction is “reciprocal altruism” or “priority systems.” Under such arrangements, individuals who commit to becoming organ donors receive priority access to organs should they ever need one. Israel implemented such a system in 2008, giving transplant priority to individuals who are registered donors themselves or whose family members have donated. The result was a significant increase in donor registration rates without the ethical complications of direct payment. This model suggests that structural incentives need not be financial to be effective—and that the design of the choice architecture, rather than the motivation behind individual decisions, may be the most powerful lever for solving the organ shortage.

Questions 63-66:

  1. According to the passage, what is the primary reason for the persistent shortage of organs for transplant? (A) Medical technology for transplants is still underdeveloped and unreliable. (B) The altruism-based system cannot meet the structural demand for organs. (C) Too few people are medically eligible to become organ donors. (D) Governments lack the funds to maintain organ transplant programs.

  2. What is the role of the Iranian example in the passage? (A) It serves as the only real-world case of a legal, regulated kidney market that eliminated waiting lists. (B) It demonstrates that all organ markets inevitably lead to exploitation. (C) It proves that compensation systems are universally superior to altruistic donation. (D) It shows that religious and cultural factors are irrelevant to organ donation policy.

  3. What is the main ethical concern about compensated organ donation discussed in the passage? (A) Organ transplants are too expensive for most healthcare systems. (B) Financial desperation may push poor people into medically harmful choices. (C) Religious authorities universally prohibit the sale of human organs. (D) Compensated donors would not receive adequate medical follow-up care.

  4. According to the passage, what was the result of Israel’s priority system? (A) It completely eliminated the need for deceased organ donors. (B) It significantly increased the rate of organ donor registration. (C) It reduced the quality of organs available for transplantation. (D) It was abandoned after ethical criticism from religious groups.

Passage 2: The Decline of Third Places

字數：約 430 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

In his 1989 book The Great Good Place, sociologist Ray Oldenburg introduced a concept that has since become a staple of urban studies: the “third place.” Distinct from the first place (home) and the second place (work), third places are informal public gathering spots—cafes, barbershops, parks, community centers, pubs—where people from diverse backgrounds mingle on neutral ground. Oldenburg argued that these spaces are essential to the health of democratic societies because they foster the casual, repeated interactions across social boundaries that build trust and a sense of shared community.

A growing body of evidence suggests that third places are in decline across the developed world, and that their erosion carries significant social costs. The causes are multiple and interlocking. The rise of digital entertainment means that people spend more leisure time at home streaming content, gaming, and scrolling through social media rather than frequenting physical gathering places. The consolidation of retail into big-box stores and e-commerce platforms has shuttered the small, independently owned shops that once served as neighborhood anchors. Urban planning in many post-war suburbs was designed around automobile access rather than walkable community centers, producing residential zones that lack any natural gathering points at all.

The consequences of third-place decline are becoming increasingly visible. Political polarization, many social scientists now argue, is exacerbated by the fact that people who disagree with one another rarely encounter each other in relaxed, non-adversarial settings. When your only interactions with political opponents occur through the distorting lens of social media or cable news, they remain abstractions rather than three-dimensional human beings. Trust in institutions—government, media, science—has declined in parallel with the decline of spaces where people from different walks of life build relationships through shared, low-stakes activities.

For young people, the loss of third places may be particularly consequential. Throughout history, adolescents and young adults have used informal public spaces—soda fountains, record stores, skate parks—to develop social identities independent of family supervision and school hierarchies. Today’s teenagers, in many communities, have essentially no third places that are not commercialized and supervised. Their social lives are conducted almost entirely in first places (home, often in isolation on devices), second places (school, where interactions are heavily structured), or digital third places (social media platforms whose architectures are designed by profit-maximizing corporations, not by the communities that use them).

Solutions exist but require intentional effort. Some cities have invested in “social infrastructure”—libraries redesigned as community hubs, public plazas with programmed activities, subsidized community centers. Private initiatives include “third-place cafes” that deliberately limit Wi-Fi access to encourage conversation and neighborhood co-working spaces that foster professional and social connections simultaneously. What these efforts share is a recognition that third places do not emerge automatically from market forces or urban growth; they must be deliberately designed and actively maintained.

Questions 67-70:

  1. According to Oldenburg’s definition in the passage, what is a “third place”? (A) Any location where people go for entertainment purposes (B) An informal public gathering spot that is neither home nor work (C) A commercial establishment designed for customer transactions (D) An outdoor recreational area maintained by the government

  2. According to the passage, which of the following is a cause of the decline of third places? (A) Increased government funding for public libraries (B) The rise of digital entertainment and e-commerce (C) Growing political polarization across all demographic groups (D) A cultural shift toward more face-to-face interaction

  3. The author suggests that the decline of third places contributes to political polarization because: (A) People who disagree rarely meet in relaxed, non-adversarial settings. (B) Political parties have deliberately destroyed community gathering spaces. (C) Third places were historically funded by politically partisan organizations. (D) Social media algorithms are designed to promote moderate viewpoints.

  4. What distinction does the passage draw between digital and physical third places for teenagers? (A) Physical third places are more commercialized than digital ones. (B) Digital third places are designed by profit-maximizing corporations rather than communities. (C) Teenagers prefer digital third places to physical ones for all social activities. (D) There is no meaningful difference between the two types of third places.

Passage 3: Rewilding — Letting Nature Take the Lead

字數：约 480 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

For much of the twentieth century, conservation was conceived primarily as a defensive enterprise: designate a patch of land as a protected area, fence it off from human interference, and hope that the species within it survive. Rewilding represents a more ambitious and controversial paradigm—one that seeks not merely to preserve what remains but to actively restore ecosystems to a wilder, more biodiverse state by reintroducing keystone species and, where possible, stepping back to let natural processes take over.

The most celebrated example of rewilding is the reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, after a 70-year absence. The ecological effects cascaded through the entire ecosystem in what ecologists call a “trophic cascade.” The wolves reduced elk populations, which had overbrowsed young willow and aspen trees. As the trees recovered, beavers returned to build dams in the newly wooded streams. The dams created ponds that attracted amphibians, fish, and waterfowl. Even the physical geography of the park changed: stabilized riverbanks reduced erosion, and the rivers themselves began to meander less. What began with 14 wolves transformed the landscape in ways that decades of direct human management had failed to achieve.

The Yellowstone success has inspired rewilding projects worldwide. In the Netherlands, the Oostvaardersplassen reserve introduced Heck cattle, Konik horses, and red deer to recreate the grazing dynamics of Pleistocene Europe. In Scotland, conservation groups are campaigning for the reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx, absent for over 1,300 years. In Siberia, Russian scientists are collaborating with international researchers on “Pleistocene Park,” an audacious project that seeks to restore the mammoth steppe ecosystem by introducing large herbivores to prevent the thawing of carbon-rich permafrost.

However, rewilding is not without its detractors. Farmers in regions where large predators have been reintroduced report livestock losses, creating conflicts between conservation goals and rural livelihoods. In areas of Scotland proposed for lynx reintroduction, sheep farmers have expressed alarm, despite evidence from European reintroductions suggesting that lynx predation on sheep is minimal. These conflicts are fundamentally about who bears the costs and who reaps the benefits of conservation—questions that ecological science alone cannot resolve.

There is also a philosophical critique. Some scholars argue that rewilding rests on a problematic notion of a “pristine” baseline—an idealized vision of nature before human interference. But ecosystems have never been static; they have continuously changed in response to climate shifts, species migrations, and, for tens of thousands of years, deliberate management by Indigenous peoples. The question of which historical state to restore is not a factual one but a value judgment. Do we restore the ecosystem of 500 years ago? 5,000? 50,000? Each answer implies a different ethical stance about what nature “should” look like.

Despite these controversies, rewilding has fundamentally changed the conservation conversation. It has shifted the goal from merely preventing loss to actively fostering recovery. In an era of accelerating biodiversity decline and climate disruption, the optimism inherent in rewilding—the conviction that ecosystems can heal if given the chance—offers a compelling alternative to narratives of inevitable ecological doom.

Questions 71-74:

  1. According to the passage, what is meant by a “trophic cascade”? (A) A chain of ecological effects caused by the introduction of a keystone species (B) The gradual extinction of species at the top of the food chain (C) A management technique that involves fencing off protected areas (D) The migration of large predators from one ecosystem to another

  2. What is the primary objection raised by farmers to predator reintroduction? (A) Predators spread diseases that affect livestock health. (B) The cost of compensating farmers for livestock losses is too high for governments. (C) Livestock losses create conflicts between conservation and rural livelihoods. (D) Predators compete with farmers for access to water resources.

  3. What is the philosophical critique of rewilding discussed in the passage? (A) Rewilding is too expensive to implement on a meaningful scale. (B) The notion of a “pristine” baseline is problematic because ecosystems have never been static. (C) Rewilding prioritizes animal welfare over human needs. (D) Indigenous peoples universally oppose the reintroduction of extinct species.

  4. What does the author suggest is rewilding’s most significant contribution to conservation? (A) It has completely solved the problem of global biodiversity loss. (B) It has shifted the conservation goal from preventing loss to actively fostering recovery. (C) It has eliminated all conflicts between conservationists and rural communities. (D) It has proven that human management of ecosystems is unnecessary.

Set 2 答案與詳解

Part A：綜合測驗 (Cloze) 答案

題號答案詳解
38B”staggering” (驚人的、巨大的) 形容宇宙的尺度。(A) minuscule = 極小的；(C) negligible = 微不足道的
39B”encountered evidence” = 遇到證據。為什麼我們還沒遇到地外文明的證據？
40C”prompted dozens of proposed resolutions” = 引發了數十種解釋方案
41D”remains undetectable” = 仍然無法被偵測到。對比第一類解釋 (rare) vs 第二類 (exist but we can’t detect them)
42C”profoundly improbable” = 極度不可能。(A) scarcely = 幾乎不，雙重否定會有歧義；(B) trivially = 瑣碎地
43DGreat Filter 如果在我們未來，後果是 “unsettling” (令人不安的)
44A”destroy themselves through nuclear war” = 透過核戰自我毀滅
45B”deliberately pursue detectable activities” — 他們刻意迴避可被偵測的活動（所以才沒被發現）
46C”However compelling these ideas may be” = 無論這些想法多麼引人入勝（However + adj. = 無論多麼…）
47A”looking for the wrong signals” — 我們可能在尋找錯誤的信號（不一定是電磁波）

Part B：文意選填 答案

題號答案字詞詳解
48Ccontrolled”controlled for” = 在實驗中被控制（作為干擾變數被排除）
49Eimagining病人被認為是「在想像」他們有改善
50Brelief”pain relief” = 疼痛緩解
51Areduced腦部造影確認安慰劑效應對應 pain-processing 區域的「減少」活動
52Dsecretionhormone secretion = 荷爾蒙分泌
53Iheavily”depends heavily on” = 很大程度上取決於
54Hdeceptive欺騙病人給他們安慰劑，是不誠實的 (deceptive)
55Jsurprisingopen-label placebos 仍然有效，這是 “surprising” (令人驚訝的)
56Frealm”the realm of everyday life” = 日常生活的領域
57Gremindera reminder of = 對…的提醒/證明

Part C：篇章結構 答案

題號答案詳解
58CC 定義 Streisand Effect，說明由 Mike Masnick 於 2005 年創詞
59BB 講述 Barbra Streisand 的官司事件——被下載 6 次，官司後暴增到 420,000 次
60DD 解釋心理機制：reactance (心理抗拒) — 越被禁止越想看
61AA 討論數位時代中此效應的相關性——資訊可在數小時內全球傳播
62EE 給出實際教訓：最有效的回應往往是沒有回應

正確順序：C → B → D → A → E

Part D：閱讀測驗 答案

題號答案詳解
63B細節題。第二段：The altruism-based system has proven structurally incapable of meeting demand
64A修辭目的題。伊朗是唯一有 regulated kidney market 的現實案例，且確實消滅了等待名單
65B細節題。第四段：Financial desperation 可能導致窮人做出有害健康的選擇
66B細節題。最後一段：Israel’s system resulted in “a significant increase in donor registration rates”
67B細節題。第一段：third places 是 “informal public gathering spots” that are 既不是家也不是工作場所
68B細節題。第二段：digital entertainment and e-commerce 是 third places 衰退的原因之一
69A細節題。第三段：political polarization is exacerbated by the fact that opponents rarely encounter each other in relaxed settings
70B細節題。第四段：digital third places whose “architectures are designed by profit-maximizing corporations”
71A詞彙猜測題。第二段描述 wolf introduction 產生的一連串生態連鎖效應，這就是 trophic cascade
72C細節題。第四段：Farmers report livestock losses, creating conflicts between conservation and rural livelihoods
73B細節題。第五段：生態系統從未靜止，“pristine baseline” 是有問題的概念
74B細節/主旨題。最後一段：It has shifted the goal from merely preventing loss to actively fostering recovery

Set 2 詞彙筆記

字詞詞性中文
staggeringadj.驚人的
extraterrestrialadj.地球外的
articulatev.清楚表達
paradoxn.悖論、矛盾
paleontologistn.古生物學家
convergencen.匯聚、收斂
interstellaradj.星際的
unfalsifiableadj.不可證偽的
endogenousadj.內生的
opioidn./adj.類鴉片(藥物)
endorphinn.腦內啡
placebon.安慰劑
irritable bowel syndromen.腸躁症
altruismn.利他主義
exploitationn.剝削
coercionn.強迫
reciprocaladj.互惠的
polarizationn.兩極化
exacerbationn.加劇
trophic cascaden.營養級串聯 (生態學)
permafrostn.永凍土
keystone speciesn.關鍵物種
paradigmn.範式、典範

Set 3：實戰等級 (Exam-Level)

Part A：綜合測驗 (Cloze) — 10 題

Passage: The Banality of Evil

The concept of the “banality of evil” was introduced by political theorist Hannah Arendt in her 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Arendt covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi bureaucrat responsible for organizing the logistics of the Holocaust, expecting to encounter a monster. (75)_____, she found an unremarkable, mediocre man who insisted he had merely been “following orders” and performing his bureaucratic duties to the best of his ability.

Arendt’s controversial thesis was not that Eichmann’s actions were banal—they were, (76)_____ any reasonable standard, monstrous. Rather, she argued that Eichmann himself was not a sadistic ideologue driven by deep-seated hatred. He was, in her (77), a thoughtless functionary who had substituted bureaucratic procedure for moral reasoning. His evil lay not in malevolent intent but in his complete (78) to think from the standpoint of others—what Arendt called “the inability to think.”

This analysis proved deeply (79)_____ to many. Critics accused Arendt of minimizing Eichmann’s culpability and even of “blaming the victim” by suggesting that Jewish leaders who cooperated with the Nazis bore some responsibility. The controversy has never fully subsided. (80), subsequent historical research has complicated Arendt’s portrait. Historians have demonstrated that Eichmann was more ideologically committed to Nazism than Arendt acknowledged, and that he actively (81) in the destruction of evidence as the war turned against Germany—behavior inconsistent with the image of a passive bureaucrat.

Despite these historical challenges, the concept of the banality of evil has (82)_____ beyond its original context to become a powerful analytical tool. It has been applied to understand how ordinary people participate in corporate fraud, environmental destruction, and institutional abuse—not because they harbor deep malice, but because they (83)_____ their actions from their consequences through organizational structures that fragment responsibility. When a loan officer approves mortgages she knows will fail, or an engineer signs off on a safety feature he knows is inadequate, the mechanism is similar: the bureaucratic apparatus (84)_____ the individual from the full moral weight of their decisions.

The enduring value of Arendt’s concept lies not in its accuracy as a biography of one man but in the uncomfortable question it forces us to confront: under the right (or wrong) circumstances, what would stop us from doing the same?

Questions 75-84:

  1. (A) Indeed (B) Instead (C) Otherwise (D) Moreover

  2. (A) by (B) under (C) beyond (D) within

  3. (A) assessment (B) suspicion (C) defense (D) objection

  4. (A) failure (B) willingness (C) determination (D) ambition

  5. (A) comforting (B) validating (C) unsettling (D) amusing

  6. (A) Furthermore (B) Nevertheless (C) In addition (D) Similarly

  7. (A) delighted (B) confessed (C) participated (D) surrendered

  8. (A) diminished (B) collapsed (C) endured (D) retreated

  9. (A) embrace (B) distance (C) acknowledge (D) confront

  10. (A) shields (B) exposes (C) reminds (D) convicts

Part B：文意選填 (Contextual Fill-in) — 10 題

Passage: The Paradox of Choice

In 2000, psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper conducted an experiment that would become one of the most (85)_____ findings in behavioral economics. They set up a display of gourmet jams in an upscale supermarket. On some days, the display offered 24 varieties; on other days, it offered only 6. The larger display attracted more attention—60% of passing shoppers stopped to look, compared to 40% for the smaller display. However, when it came to actually (86)_____ a purchase, the results reversed dramatically. Among those who saw 24 varieties, only 3% bought a jar. Among those who saw 6 varieties, 30% made a purchase.

This experiment (87)_____ what psychologist Barry Schwartz later termed “the paradox of choice”: while some choice is essential for autonomy and well-being, excessive choice can lead to paralysis, (88), and regret. When options are few, people can evaluate each one thoroughly and feel satisfied with their decision. When options are abundant, the cognitive demands of comparison become (89), and the awareness of all the alternatives not chosen diminishes satisfaction with whatever is ultimately selected.

Schwartz identified several mechanisms by which choice abundance undermines well-being. First, it increases the opportunity cost of every decision. When you choose one restaurant from five options, you forgo four alternatives. When you choose from fifty, you forgo forty-nine—and the (90)_____ sense of what you are missing grows proportionally. Second, it raises expectations to unrealistic levels. With so many options available, people believe there must be a “perfect” choice, and they are (91)_____ disappointed when their selection falls short of this imagined ideal. Third, abundant choice encourages self-blame. When options are few and your choice turns out poorly, you can reasonably (92)_____ the outcome to external circumstances. When options are abundant, you have only yourself to blame for choosing badly.

The implications extend well beyond jam purchases. College students facing hundreds of possible majors, professionals navigating dozens of career paths, and singles scrolling through thousands of potential partners on dating apps are all (93)_____ to the same dynamics. The proliferation of choice, far from being an unambiguous good, may be contributing to rising rates of anxiety, indecision, and dissatisfaction in precisely those domains where freedom is greatest.

The solution, Schwartz argues, is not to eliminate choice but to adopt the mindset of a “satisficer”—someone who looks for “good enough” rather than “perfect.” Satisficers set clear (94)_____ for what constitutes an acceptable outcome, choose the first option that meets those criteria, and stop searching. This approach runs counter to the cultural imperative to maximize every decision, but the evidence suggests it leads to greater contentment and less regret.

(A)(B)(C)(D)(E)(F)(G)(H)(I)(J)
makingencapsulatedcriteriainevitablycitedsubjectattributeoverwhelmingdissatisfactionnagging

Part C：篇章結構 (Text Organization) — 5 題

Passage: The Dunning-Kruger Effect

(A) The Dunning-Kruger Effect refers to a cognitive bias in which individuals with limited knowledge or competence in a domain overestimate their ability, while those with genuine expertise tend to underestimate theirs. The effect was formally identified in a 1999 paper by Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger.

(B) Dunning and Kruger’s experiments consistently demonstrated this asymmetry. In one study, participants who scored in the bottom 12th percentile on tests of grammar and logical reasoning estimated that their performance would fall in the 62nd percentile. Meanwhile, participants in the top quartile slightly underestimated their relative standing. The irony is twofold: poor performers lack not only competence but also the metacognitive ability to recognize their incompetence, while high performers assume that tasks they find straightforward must be equally easy for others.

(C) In contemporary life, the Dunning-Kruger Effect helps explain why social media is saturated with confident misinformation, why amateur investors believe they can outperform professional fund managers, and why political commentators with no relevant expertise feel qualified to pronounce on complex policy questions. The democratization of platforms for public speech has created an environment in which confidence is often mistaken for competence, and volume for validity.

(D) The implications for education are significant. Students who perform poorly on exams routinely overestimate their preparedness, which makes them less likely to engage in the very remedial study that would improve their performance. Effective education, in Dunning and Kruger’s view, must include not merely the transmission of knowledge but the cultivation of metacognitive skills—teaching students to accurately assess their own understanding and identify the gaps in their knowledge.

(E) This finding carries an unsettling implication: the knowledge required to perform competently in a domain is essentially the same knowledge required to evaluate competence in that domain. A person who does not understand logical fallacies cannot reliably judge whether an argument is logically sound. As a result, incompetence, paradoxically, shields itself from detection by the incompetent individual.

Questions 95-99:

  1. Which paragraph introduces and defines the Dunning-Kruger Effect? → _____

  2. Which paragraph describes the experimental evidence that established the effect? → _____

  3. Which paragraph explains why incompetence prevents individuals from recognizing their own incompetence? → _____

  4. Which paragraph discusses the effect’s implications for teaching and learning? → _____

  5. Which paragraph applies the concept to contemporary phenomena such as social media and political commentary? → _____

Part D：閱讀測驗 (Reading Comprehension) — 12 題

Passage 1: The Impact of Microplastics on Human Health

字數：約 470 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

In 2022, researchers made a discovery that, though widely anticipated by the scientific community, nevertheless carried the force of a revelation: microplastics were detected in human blood for the first time. The study, published in Environment International, found plastic particles in 77% of blood samples drawn from 22 healthy adult volunteers. Half the samples contained PET plastic, commonly used in beverage bottles; a third contained polystyrene, used in food packaging; and a quarter contained polyethylene, the material in plastic bags. Microplastics have since been identified in human lung tissue, placental tissue, breast milk, and even in the plaque lining arterial walls.

The presence of microplastics in the human body raises urgent questions about health effects that science is only beginning to investigate. Laboratory studies using human cell cultures have documented several mechanisms of harm. Microplastic particles can induce oxidative stress—a chemical imbalance that damages proteins, lipids, and DNA, and is implicated in cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disorders. They can trigger inflammatory responses, as the immune system recognizes the particles as foreign bodies and mounts an attack that can damage surrounding tissues. Some plastics contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, which interfere with hormone signaling and have been linked to reproductive disorders, metabolic dysfunction, and developmental abnormalities.

A 2024 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine provided the strongest evidence yet of a direct link between microplastics and human disease. Researchers analyzed arterial plaque removed from 304 patients undergoing surgery for blocked carotid arteries. They found micro- and nanoplastics in the plaque of 58% of patients. Over a 34-month follow-up period, patients with microplastics in their plaque were 4.5 times more likely to experience a heart attack, stroke, or death from any cause than those without detectable plastics—even after controlling for age, sex, and established cardiovascular risk factors.

The scale of the exposure problem is staggering. Global plastic production has doubled roughly every 15 years since the 1950s, reaching over 460 million tons annually. Less than 10% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled. The remainder has been incinerated, landfilled, or released into the environment, where it breaks down into progressively smaller particles without chemically degrading. A 2023 study estimated that the average person ingests between 0.1 and 5 grams of plastic per week—roughly the weight of a credit card—through food, water, and airborne dust.

Regulatory responses have been slow to materialize. The European Union has restricted the use of intentionally added microplastics in cosmetics, detergents, and agricultural products, and is negotiating the world’s first comprehensive plastics treaty. However, these measures address only a fraction of the problem. The vast majority of microplastics originate from the degradation of macroplastics—bags, bottles, packaging, textiles—that continue to be produced at accelerating rates. Without fundamental changes to plastic production and waste management, the human body’s burden of plastic will likely continue to grow, with health consequences that future generations will inherit.

Questions 100-103:

  1. According to the passage, what did the 2022 study published in Environment International discover? (A) Microplastics were found in the arterial plaque of heart surgery patients. (B) Plastic particles were detected in human blood for the first time. (C) The average person ingests up to 5 grams of plastic per week. (D) Microplastics were the primary cause of cardiovascular disease.

  2. According to the passage, which of the following is a mechanism by which microplastics may cause harm? (A) They directly block blood flow in major arteries. (B) They induce oxidative stress that damages cellular structures. (C) They replace essential nutrients absorbed by the digestive system. (D) They dissolve into non-toxic compounds within 24 hours.

  3. What did the 2024 New England Journal of Medicine study find? (A) Microplastics were present in all human blood samples tested. (B) Patients with microplastics in arterial plaque had significantly higher rates of adverse cardiovascular events. (C) Recycling programs have successfully eliminated microplastic contamination. (D) Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are the only dangerous component of plastics.

  4. The author suggests that current regulatory measures are insufficient because: (A) They focus only on intentionally added microplastics, not the degradation of macroplastics. (B) No country has attempted to regulate plastic production or usage. (C) Scientists have not yet proven that microplastics cause any health problems. (D) The cosmetics industry has successfully lobbied against all regulatory proposals.

Passage 2: Linguistic Relativity — Does Language Shape Thought?

字數：約 450 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

The question of whether the language we speak shapes the way we think has captivated philosophers, linguists, and psychologists for centuries. The strongest version of this idea—known as linguistic determinism—holds that language determines thought, such that speakers of different languages inhabit fundamentally different cognitive worlds. This view was most famously associated with Benjamin Lee Whorf, a fire prevention engineer turned linguist, who argued in the 1930s that Hopi, a Native American language, lacked words for time and therefore its speakers experienced time differently from English speakers.

Whorf’s claims were later largely discredited. Linguistic anthropologists demonstrated that Hopi does, in fact, have sophisticated ways of discussing time, and that Whorf’s analysis was based on a superficial understanding of the language. The deterministic hypothesis fell out of favor in linguistics for decades, replaced by the view that all human languages share a deep universal grammar and that thought precedes and shapes language, not the reverse.

In recent years, however, a more nuanced position has re-emerged, known as linguistic relativity or the “weak” Whorfian hypothesis: language does not determine thought, but it does influence it in specific, measurable ways. A growing body of experimental evidence supports this view.

One of the most robust findings concerns spatial cognition. Languages differ in how they describe spatial relationships. English tends to use egocentric coordinates (left, right, in front, behind), while languages such as Guugu Yimithirr, spoken in northern Australia, use absolute cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). Research has shown that speakers of such languages develop an exceptional internal compass. Even when placed in unfamiliar indoor environments with no visual access to the outside, they can reliably point to cardinal directions. This ability is not innate—it is cultivated by a language that requires constant attention to geospatial orientation.

Color perception provides another domain of evidence. Languages divide the color spectrum differently. Russian, for instance, has distinct basic color terms for lighter blue (goluboy) and darker blue (siniy), whereas English subsumes both under a single term. Experiments using reaction-time measures have found that Russian speakers are faster at discriminating between shades that straddle the goluboy/siniy boundary than between equally spaced shades within a single category. English speakers show no such advantage. This suggests that the categorical distinctions encoded in language can, to some extent, influence perceptual processing.

The practical significance of linguistic relativity remains debated. No one seriously argues that language acts as a “prison” for thought, preventing speakers from entertaining concepts their language lacks words for. The constraints, to the extent they exist, are subtle and can be overcome through deliberate effort. But the evidence does suggest that language serves as a habitual guide to attention, training its speakers, over a lifetime of use, to notice certain distinctions more readily than others. In this sense, the language we speak may not determine our thoughts, but it certainly shapes what we are likely to think about.

Questions 104-107:

  1. According to the passage, which of the following describes the current scholarly view of linguistic relativity? (A) Language completely determines how all humans think. (B) Language has no influence whatsoever on cognitive processes. (C) Language does not determine thought but influences it in specific, measurable ways. (D) The question has been definitively resolved in favor of Whorf’s original claims.

  2. What does the example of Guugu Yimithirr speakers illustrate? (A) All languages describe spatial relationships in exactly the same way. (B) Language can cultivate exceptional abilities, such as reliable cardinal direction sense. (C) Indigenous languages are inferior to European languages in spatial reasoning. (D) Spatial cognition is entirely genetic and unaffected by language.

  3. According to the passage, Russian speakers are faster at discriminating between certain shades of blue. What is the likely explanation? (A) Russians have genetically superior color vision. (B) The existence of distinct basic color terms for light and dark blue facilitates perceptual discrimination. (C) All Russian children receive specialized color training in primary school. (D) The experiment’s methodology was flawed and the result cannot be trusted.

  4. The author’s conclusion about linguistic relativity can best be summarized as: (A) Language is a prison that prevents speakers from thinking outside their linguistic categories. (B) Language serves as a habitual guide to attention, shaping what speakers are likely to notice. (C) The entire concept has been debunked and should be abandoned by researchers. (D) Language and thought are completely independent cognitive systems.

Passage 3: Solar Geoengineering — A Moral Hazard?

字數：约 500 字 | 建議時間：10 分鐘

As global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise despite decades of international negotiations, a once-fringe idea has crept toward the mainstream of climate policy discussions: solar geoengineering. Also known as solar radiation management (SRM), this approach would attempt to cool the planet by reflecting a small fraction of incoming sunlight back into space. The most widely discussed method involves injecting reflective sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere, mimicking the cooling effect observed after large volcanic eruptions. In 1991, Mount Pinatubo’s eruption injected 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, lowering global average temperatures by approximately 0.5 degrees Celsius for over a year.

The appeal of solar geoengineering is straightforward. It is, in principle, fast, relatively inexpensive (estimated at $2-8 billion annually for a full-scale deployment), and capable of reducing global temperatures within months—a timeline utterly unattainable through emissions reductions alone. For a world that has failed for thirty years to bend the emissions curve downward, this is an alluring prospect.

Yet the risks are profound and, in critical respects, unknowable without real-world testing that would itself constitute a form of deployment. Climate models consistently predict that solar geoengineering, while reducing global average temperatures, would alter precipitation patterns in ways that could devastate agriculture in monsoon-dependent regions of Asia and Africa. The termination shock—the rapid warming that would occur if a deployed SRM system were suddenly halted, whether by technical failure, political conflict, or terrorist attack—could be catastrophic, compressing decades of warming into a period so brief that ecosystems and human societies would be unable to adapt.

The deepest objection to solar geoengineering, however, is not technical but moral. It is what philosophers and economists call a “moral hazard”—the danger that the mere availability of a technological backstop will reduce the motivation to address the root cause of the problem. If policymakers and the public believe that a technological fix exists, the already-insufficient political will to decarbonize the global economy could erode further. It is far easier to invest in a silver bullet than to undertake the painful work of restructuring energy systems, transportation networks, and agricultural practices.

This argument, however, faces a compelling counterpoint. The world has had decades to reduce emissions through conventional means and has manifestly failed to do so. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have risen from 315 parts per million in 1958 to over 420 today. Annual emissions, far from declining, are still increasing. In this context, refusing to research solar geoengineering on moral hazard grounds amounts to betting the future on political will that has not materialized and shows no signs of doing so. As one climate scientist put it, “We are at the point where we must choose between a bad option and a worse one.”

Most climate scientists and policy experts have converged on a middle position: solar geoengineering should be researched but not deployed, with strict governance frameworks established in advance. The argument is that knowledge is better than ignorance, and that understanding the risks and mechanisms of solar geoengineering will put the international community in a better position to make informed decisions if climate conditions continue to deteriorate. Whether the world can research a technology without eventually using it—and whether governance can keep pace with capability—is among the most consequential open questions in climate policy.

Questions 108-111:

  1. According to the passage, what is the primary appeal of solar geoengineering? (A) It addresses the root causes of climate change by eliminating carbon emissions. (B) It is fast, relatively inexpensive, and could cool the planet within months. (C) It has already been proven safe through extensive real-world testing. (D) It redistributes rainfall evenly across all regions of the world.

  2. The “termination shock” refers to: (A) The political backlash that would occur if a government attempted to deploy SRM (B) The rapid warming that would occur if an SRM system were suddenly stopped (C) The initial cooling effect when sulfates are first injected into the stratosphere (D) The economic disruption caused by transitioning away from fossil fuels

  3. What is the “moral hazard” argument against solar geoengineering? (A) Geoengineering technologies are too expensive for developing countries. (B) The availability of a technological solution may reduce motivation to reduce emissions. (C) SRM violates international treaties on atmospheric modification. (D) Scientists who research SRM may face professional consequences.

  4. What position have most climate scientists converged on regarding solar geoengineering? (A) It should be deployed immediately at full scale to prevent further warming. (B) It should be banned permanently and never researched under any circumstances. (C) It should be researched but not deployed, with strict governance frameworks. (D) It should be developed exclusively by private corporations without government oversight.

Set 3 答案與詳解

Part A：綜合測驗 (Cloze) 答案

題號答案詳解
75B”Instead” 表示轉折——Arendt 原本期待看到 monster，反而看到了一個平庸的人
76A”by any reasonable standard” = 以任何合理的標準來看（固定用法）
77A”in her assessment” = 在她的評估中。41-45 題要考慮上下文一致性
78A”failure to think” = 無法思考，對應後文 “inability to think”
79C很多人覺得這個觀點 “unsettling” (令人不安的)，因為看似在 minimising Eichmann 的罪行
80B”Nevertheless” 連接：雖然爭議從未完全平息，但後續的研究更複雜化了 Arendt 的描述
81C”participated in the destruction of evidence” = 參與銷毀證據
82C”endured” = 持續存在 (Despite historical challenges, the concept has endured)
83B”distance their actions from their consequences” = 將行動與後果拉開距離
84A”shields the individual from the full moral weight” = 保護個人不受完全的道德重量

Part B：文意選填 答案

題號答案字詞詳解
85Ecitedone of the most cited findings = 最常被引用的研究發現之一
86Amaking”making a purchase” = 進行購買行為
87Bencapsulatedencapsulated = 概括/精準描述了 Schwartz 後來提出的概念
88Ddissatisfactionparalysis, dissatisfaction, and regret = 麻痺、不滿、後悔（三個並列的負面結果）
89Hoverwhelming選項過多時，比較的認知需求變得 overwhelming
90Jnaggingnagging sense of what you are missing = 揮之不去的不安感
91Finevitablyinevitably disappointed = 不可避免地感到失望
92Gattributeattribute the outcome to external circumstances = 將結果歸因於外在環境
93Isubjectare subject to the same dynamics = 受同樣的動態影響
94Ccriteriasatisficers set clear criteria = 設定明確標準

Part C：篇章結構 答案

題號答案詳解
95AA 定義 Dunning-Kruger Effect 並說明由誰提出
96BB 描述 Dunning 和 Kruger 的實驗（bottom 12% 估計自己在 62%）
97EE 解釋為何無能者無法認識自己的無能——評估能力所需的知識與執行能力所需的知識相同
98DD 討論對教育的啟示——需要培養 metacognitive skills
99CC 應用到當代現象：社群媒體的錯誤資訊、業餘投資者等

正確順序：A → B → E → D → C

Part D：閱讀測驗 答案

題號答案詳解
100B細節題。第一段：“microplastics were detected in human blood for the first time”
101B細節題。第二段：“Microplastic particles can induce oxidative stress” 且描述它會損害 cellular structures
102B細節題。第三段：58% 患者有 microplastics，且心血管不良事件風險是 4.5 倍
103A細節題。最後一段：法規只處理 intentionally added microplastics，而大部分來自 macroplastic 的降解
104C細節題。第三段：“language does not determine thought, but it does influence it in specific, measurable ways”
105B修辭目的題。Guugu Yimithirr 的例子用來說明語言可以培養出非凡的方向感
106B推論/細節題。俄語有不同基本顏色詞區分淺藍和深藍，這使得 speakers 在兩個類別邊界的顏色區辨更快
107B主旨/態度題。最後一段：作者總結說語言是 habitual guide to attention
108B細節題。第二段：“fast, relatively inexpensive…capable of reducing global temperatures within months”
109B詞彙猜測題。第三段破折號後直接定義：“the rapid warming that would occur if a deployed SRM system were suddenly halted”
110B細節題。第四段：“the danger that the mere availability of a technological backstop will reduce the motivation to address the root cause”
111C細節題。最後一段：“solar geoengineering should be researched but not deployed, with strict governance frameworks established in advance”

Set 3 詞彙筆記

字詞詞性中文
banalityn.平庸、平凡
bureaucratn.官僚
sadisticadj.虐待狂的
ideologuen.空想家、理論家
functionaryn.公務員、官員
malevolentadj.惡意的
culpabilityn.有罪、應受譴責
subsidedv.平息、減退
analyticaladj.分析的
apparatusn.機構、體制
gourmetadj.美食的
paralysisn.癱瘓、麻痺
satisficern.滿足者（滿足於夠好的人）
cognitive biasn.認知偏誤
metacognitiveadj.後設認知的
percentilen.百分位數
particlen.微粒
oxidative stressn.氧化壓力
endocrineadj.內分泌的
phthalatesn.鄰苯二甲酸酯
arterialadj.動脈的
sulfate aerosoln.硫酸鹽氣溶膠
stratospheren.平流層
monsoonn.季風
moral hazardn.道德風險
decarbonizev.去碳化

學習進度追蹤表

日期Set答對題數答對率弱項題型下次目標
/Set 1/37%
/Set 1 (重做)/37%
/Set 2/37%
/Set 2 (重做)/37%
/Set 3/37%
/Set 3 (重做)/37%

威威老師高分秘訣 — 終極練習建議

這三套模擬試題的設計原則是「做一套、檢討一套、再做下一套」。不要一口氣做完三套再來看答案——你會浪費寶貴的學習機會。正確的做法是：

  1. 第一天：計時做 Set 1 → 對答案 → 讀詳解 → 記錄錯題
  2. 第二天：重做 Set 1 的錯題 → 確保完全理解 → 做 Set 2
  3. 第三天：對 Set 2 答案 → 讀詳解 → 記錄錯題
  4. 第四天：重做 Set 2 錯題 → 做 Set 3
  5. 第五天：對 Set 3 答案 → 讀詳解 → 總結所有錯題的 pattern

如果你發現某個題型總是錯——例如篇章結構或態度題——就回去翻對應的攻略講義（分科-閱讀攻略）把那個題型的策略重新學一遍。

記住：錯誤是你最好的老師。每一個你檢討過的錯題，在正式考場上都可能幫你多拿一題。

關係圖譜

反向連結