1 . Women and girls already struggle with gender inequality, but when extreme weather damages a community, the UN found that inequalities worsen.

To explore the complex links between gender and climate change, CNN worked with seven women photojournalists to document the challenges women and girls face. This visual project gives a snapshot of the numerous ways climate crisis is changing their lives, but also shows how they are fighting back.

The Center for Girls’ Education runs a series of programs in Nigeria to help girls stay in school. One in every five of the world’s children who are out of school is in Nigeria, according to UNICEF, and it is girls who are impacted the most. More than 10 million children between 5 and 14 years old are absent from classrooms across Nigeria, according to UNICEF. For girls, the statistics are even bleaker: in states in the northeast and northwest of the country, fewer than half attend school.

This education crisis is the result of a tangle of factors, but against the backdrop of these individual factors is the broader context of the climate crisis. Nigeria is growing hotter and dryer, and extreme weather such as flash floods and landslides are becoming fiercer and more frequent. Climate disasters can make schools inaccessible and classrooms unsafe. Communities struggling to cope with extreme weather sometimes turn to their children to help or to earn extra money to support the family. And girls, whose attendance at school is already discouraged in some communities, are often most affected.

There are efforts to support girls’ education and equip them with the resources to cope with a fast-changing climate. The Center for Girls’ Education in the northern Nigerian city of Zaria runs programs to help girls stay in school and offers training on how to cope with the impacts of extreme weather. “I feel when we give the girls education on climate change, how to ease it, it will go a long way in helping the girls in how to support themselves in times of difficulties, and even help them prepare for it,” said Habiba Mohammed, director of the Center for Girls’ Education.

1. What does the underlined phrase “gives a snapshot of” mean in Paragraph 2?

A．Contrasts.

B．Strengthens.

C．Prevents.

D．Reveals.

2. How does Paragraph 3 develop?

A．By listing figures.	B．By making comparison.
C．By giving examples.	D．By drawing conclusions.

3. What contributes to girls’ absence from school in Nigeria?

A．Tense family relationship.	B．Unbearable school pressure.
C．Worsening weather conditions.	D．Inaccessible community resources.

4. What does Habiba Mohammed think of the measures taken to help girls?

A．Costly.	B．Creative.
C．Short-lived.	D．Far-reaching.

2 . Billions of people deal with a nail-biting habit at some point in their lives. Many will go to great lengths to try to stop. And while not all of us are nail-biters, most of us do have a habit we’d like to kick. So what’s the best way to break one?

Research shows that intentions alone often fail to lead to long-term behavior change. This isn't to say you can’t break a habit. Rather, by understanding the basis of habits, you can create better plans for changing them. For example, we know habits are often affected by environments and routines. Lying in bed may cause you to endlessly scroll through your phone, or watching TV on the couch may lead you to grab a sugary snack.

One of the most effective ways to manage behavior is to identify these locations or times of day. Then try to modify them by changing your routine or creating obstacles that make it more difficult to perform the habit in that space. Moving, switching jobs, or even starting a new schedule, are particularly great times to break a habit or build a new one.

One 2005 study tracked university students’ exercising, reading, and TV-watching habits before and after they transferred schools. When students were no longer around old environments and routines, their habits, even the strong ones, significantly changed.

For behaviors like nail-biting, a practice called habit reversal training can be helpful. Developed by psychologists in the 1970s, the aim is to change a habit by replacing it with another one that’s less detrimental. The training requires you to analyze and understand your habit cues, so you can effectively step in at the right times. For example, if you tend to bite your nails at work, keep a fidget toy at your desk in advance. Then, if a stressful email comes in, use the toy when you feel the urge to bite your nails.

Breaking a habit takes time, so remember to give yourself grace and have patience through the process.

1. Why does the author mention “a nail-biting habit” in Para.1?

A．To make a comparison.	B．To make a conclusion.
C．To introduce the topic.	D．To attract readers' attention.

2. What is the best way to help us control our action?

A．Having intentions alone.	B．Understanding the basis of habits.
C．Making practical plans.	D．Adapting the environments or times.

3. What does the underlined word “detrimental” in Para.5 probably mean ?

A．Harmful.

B．Helpful.

C．Annoying.

D．Time-consuming.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Difficulties in dealing with nail-biting.	B．Significance of habit reversal training.
C．Useful tips on getting rid of a habit.	D．Necessity of having grace and patience.

3 . One thing that’s never in short supply at the beginning of each new year?     1     But many of us fail to stick with our New Year’s resolutions months (or even weeks) after making them. It turns out there are commonly avoided mistakes. That explains why some people always seem to reach their goals while others keep falling short.

    2     If you fail to pick the right habit, you aren’t likely to accomplish the corresponding goal. Say you want to lose some weight this year, forming a habit of running 30 minutes a day may not help you do that if you don’t also form habits related to the foods you eat, because diet affects weight more than exercise.     3     Failure to establish habits that support your goals may cause your resolutions to flop before you begin.

Another common mistake people make when setting goals is becoming overly concerned about the amount of time it will take to form a new habit. There’s no one right answer when it comes to how long new habits should take to form.     4     Some people simply adopt new habits faster than other people and that complex habits usually take longer to form. Consider how easy it is to brush your teeth at night compared to reading a full chapter of a book each day.

So the yearly ritual of resolution setting doesn’t have to be an annual disappointment. Sometimes, the difference between success and failure is simply choosing the right habits and the process you use to go about achieving it. Most importantly, remember to be kind and flexible with yourself and to celebrate any and all progress along the way.     5    

A．Good intentions.

B．Congratulations and best wishes.

C．In other words, you must also readjust your diet.

D．It’s essential to choose a habit you think enjoyable.

E．A common error many people make is not choosing right habits.

F．It depends on what habit you’re trying to develop and who you are.

G．It’s not just the end goal that matters—it’s the journey along the way.

8 . Recently I had the opportunity to reconnect with an old friend, Chris Besse. One of the things I always admired about Chris was the way that he saw education as a mission, not a job. Chris called me last week to tell me he is CEO of a company called EdgeMakers, which is a new company that is bringing one of the missing ingredients(要素)to education: innovation.

I am always calling for changes in the way we educate our children. It is important that we prepare our children for a different economy and a different world. Employers of the future will demand creativity from their employees.

A tech company owned by a friend of mine has grown from a handful of employees to over 100 in the last seven years, and he still has 90 percent of all the employees he hired. He doesn’t pay more than other tech firms. He doesn’t have a Disney-like campus. What he does is pose interesting problems, not get involved in the solutions and allow employees to get to the solution in any way they want. His employees stay because they are motivated and interested.

This is the definition of modern industry and in many ways, the future of education. Successful employers now encourage innovation. Schools should create an innovative environment. But it appears that our current education system has a long way to go to achieve this.

The good news is that some schools are making changes. California and Texas just approved EdgeMakers’ courses for use in their high schools. According to John Kao, founder of EdgeMakers, “Creativity is inside every student, waiting to be freed. But without intentional programs in our schools, creativity is underdeveloped. We cannot allow this to continue, as our society is faced with problems that appear unsolvable unless we innovate to find solutions. Our goal with these courses is to combine students’ natural creativity with purpose, helping them develop as innovators whose work is truly meaningful and makes a difference to issues that matter.”

1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To remember a friend.	B．To bring up a topic.
C．To recommend a course.	D．To explain a phenomenon.

2. What do the author and Chris have similar views on?

A．The future of job searching.	B．The major mission of their company.
C．The role of parents in kids’ development.	D．The importance of innovation in education.

3. How does the author’s friend keep his employees?

A．By offering high salaries.	B．By providing a comfortable workplace.
C．By creating an environment of innovation.	D．By helping them solve problems.

4. Which statement will John Kao agree with?

A．Natural creativity can be enhanced.

B．Intentional teaching should be avoided in schools.

C．EdgeMakers’ courses have proved to be efficient.

D．We should pay less attention to unsolvable problems.

9 . When drawing scientists. U. S. children now depict (描画) female scientists more often than ever, according to new Northwestern University research, which has analyzed five decades of “Draw-A-Scientist” studies conducted since the 1960s.

This change suggests that children’s stereotypes (刻板印象) linking science with men have weakened over time, said the researchers, consistent with more women becoming scientists and children’s media depicting more female scientists on television shows and other media.

In the first study, conducted between 1968 and 1979, less than one percent of 5,000 children drew an image resembling a woman when asked to draw a scientist. Almost all their artwork depicted men working with laboratory equipment, often with lab coats, glasses and facial hair.

But in later studies (1988 to 2019), 28 percent of children drew a female scientist, on average. In addition, both girls and boys drew female scientists more often over time, though girls overall drew female scientists much more often than boys.

“Our results suggest that children’s stereotypes change as women’s and men’s roles change in society.” said study lead author David Miller. “Children still draw more male than female scientists, but that is expected because women remain a minority in several science fields.”

The researchers also studied how children form stereotypes about scientists across child development. The results suggested children did not associate science with men until grade school; around age 5, they drew roughly equal percentages of male and female scientists. During elementary and middle school, the tendency to draw male scientists increased strongly with age. Older children were also more likely to draw scientists with lab coats and glasses, suggesting that children learn other stereotypes as they mature.

“These changes across children’s age likely reflect that children’s exposure to male scientists accumulates during development, even in recent years.” said Miller.

“To build on cultural changes, teachers and parents should present children with multiple examples of female scientists across many contexts such as science courses, television shows and informal conversations,” Miller said.

1. What is the change in children drawing scientists?

A．Children draw more male scientists.

B．Children draw more female scientists.

C．Girls draw more scientists than boys.

D．Children draw more female than male scientists.

2. What does Miller think of children drawing more male scientists than female scientists?

A．It’s not surprising.	B．It’s not reasonable.
C．It’s unexpected.	D．It’s not acceptable.

3. What does paragraph 6 mainly talk about?

A．How children develop their drawings.

B．How children’s stereotypes change with age.

C．Why children draw more male scientists.

D．What scientists look like in children’s drawings.

4. According to Miller, how can we make children draw more female scientists?

A．By encouraging children to attend science courses.

B．By encouraging children to become scientists in the future.

C．By giving children an example of drawing female scientists.

D．By making female scientists known to children in various situations.

10 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

When Donald Crouch first encountered Jim in his English class in rural Michigan, he saw an unhappy boy, who’d gone deep into a cocoon (茧) of silence.

Donald might have assumed that Jim was bored or uninterested or even backward. Certainly, he appeared to be all of those things.

But there was something in the young boy that lit up whenever the subject turned to poetry. It was unnoticeable, but Donald could see a shift in the boy ‘s attitude--a quiet but unmistakable enthusiasm that accompanied any discussion of Chaucer, Shakespeare, or Tennyson. A twinkle in his eyes would appear whenever Donald lectured on matters of English verse, something which proved to be most appealing to the otherwise disappointed teacher. Although Jim was interested in all manners of poetry, he seemed particularly excited when Donald would discuss Walt Whitman, that greatest of American poets.

One day Donald kept Jim after school and learned that Jim stuttered ( 口吃). Donald understood that Jim had accepted the written word because the spoken word had escaped him. The next day, Donald told the pupils to write a poem. Jim turned his assignment in, and Donald was surprised by how good it was.

The teacher read the assignment over and over again in disbelief and, truth be told, with a little bit of envy; how could a student from the middle of nowhere come up with something like this? He turned his head once again to the boy and began to have an idea.

Donald had noticed earlier that Jim’s stutter disappeared whenever he quoted his favorite poets out loud .

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The whole class turned their attention to Jim.

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