1 . Francis Kere is the first African to win the Pritzker Prize, known as the Nobel Prize of architecture. However, his
His early reputation came in helping
The result of their hard work was a welcoming structure with a “floating” roof that
In this process, local people learned
Adopted by architects in dozens of countries, his
A.angle | B.welfare | C.journey | D.border |
A.perceived | B.crowded | C.estimated | D.reacted |
A.trick | B.infection | C.qualification | D.experience |
A.integrate | B.chart | C.oppose | D.design |
A.banned | B.encouraged | C.ordered | D.warned |
A.firm | B.soil | C.draft | D.gesture |
A.Moreover | B.Otherwise | C.Therefore | D.However |
A.blocks | B.delays | C.refuses | D.allows |
A.wind | B.fire | C.light | D.air |
A.subscribe to | B.deal with | C.participate in | D.depend on |
A.academic | B.urgent | C.severe | D.practical |
A.challenged | B.declared | C.attracted | D.agreed |
A.denied | B.suspected | C.imagined | D.demonstrated |
A.ignore | B.generate | C.miss | D.lose |
A.innovation | B.fantasy | C.patience | D.expense |
2 . The pandemic has affected nearly all aspects of modern life, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat. There is one thing, however, that has remained almost unchanged: the emojis we send.
According to data from the Unicode Consortium (统一码联盟), nine of the 10 most-used emojis from 2019 also ranked among the top 10 this year. The tears of joy emoji ranked No.1, despite members of Gen Z deeming it uncool.
“It speaks to how many people use emojis. If emojis were a purely Gen Z thing, then you wouldn’t see it so highly ranked,” said Alexander Robertson, an emoji researcher at Google. “Because of the large number of people using emojis, even if one group thinks something is lame, they have to be a really big group to affect these statistics.”
And it makes sense that Gen Z would think that certain emojis aren’t fashionable. It’s part of the “teenager experience of creating a sense of subculture where there’s a right way and a wrong way of behaving.” Plus, there is a range of laughter that can be expressed: There’s light chuckling. There’s acknowledgement laughter, which is just a marker of empathy. Using emojis, such as the skull face (“I’m dead”) or crying face ( uncontrollable tears of laughter), can help to illustrate that range.
“It basically indicates that we have what we need to communicate a broad range of expression, or even very specific concepts,” Mr Robertson said. “You don’t necessarily need a Covid emoji.”
“We did see a rise in the use of the virus emoji. But it wasn’t made remotely into the most-commonly used ones because we still had plenty to laugh about and plenty to cry about, whether it was because of the pandemic or not,” said Lauren Gawne, a senior lecturer in linguistic at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
“Even in the midst of this massive global pandemic that preoccupied so much of our time,” She added. “We still spent a lot of time wishing each other happy birthday or checking or laughing about some new and unexpected elements of this slow-burning weirdness.”
1. Why does the tears of joy emoji ranked No.1 despite the dislike from the Z generation?A.The emoji is a purely Z generation thing. |
B.The Z generation are too young to influence the rank. |
C.Though they dislike it, the Z generation vote for it ultimately. |
D.The Z generation take up a very small portion in emoji users. |
A.the virus emoji | B.a Covid emoji |
C.the use of the virus emoji | D.the rise in the use of the virus emoji |
A.The massive global pandemic has come to an end. |
B.The pandemic has little influence on people’s daily life. |
C.We have a broad range of expression for communication. |
D.Some new and useful emojis are created to replace the virus emoji. |
A.The Pandemic and the Emoji. |
B.Gen Z, the Emoji Generation. |
C.The Emoji of the Year. |
D.The Rise of Virus Emoji |
3 . A Neste fuel station in Finland is currently the only place in the world where you can have your car refueled by a robot. It’s the pilot site chosen by Autofuel, a Danish startup, to test its futuristic refueling system—a robotic arm that can locate a car’s fuel tank door, select the right type of fuel; and operate the pump (加油泵).
“Our technology intends to provide the customers with maximum comfort and safety at gas stations,” Jonas Thor Olsen, CEO of Autofuel, said. “The robotic arm doesn’t need human involvement. It allows them to go to the shop for a coffee or take a short break while the car is refueled.”
Autofuel’s solution consists of a robotic arm housed within the fuel pump, and a series of sensors and cameras designed to keep things running smoothly. Cameras detect the vehicle’s registration number, so the system is able to detect what kind of fuel it requires. Another camera directs the car to stop in a certain area so that the arm can easily reach the fuel tank door. The arm itself then starts to move, opening the door, selecting the right fuel and finally refueling the car.
The whole thing looks great in promotional videos, but after one of them recently became popular online, people brought up a few concerns. First of all, in order for the entire process to work, one needs to have their vehicle registered with Autofuel. That’s information many people have no inclination to share for something as small as refueling. Also, the speed at which the robotic arm operates worries a lot of people as it appears to move much slower than a human.
With robots and AI becoming such a big part of our lives lately, it’s easy to imagine solutions like Autofuel becoming mainstream in the near future. But any new innovation has to be tested and improved over and over again.
1. What is a robotic arm’s promotional advantage concerning car refueling?A.It moves faster than a human. | B.It doesn’t need car registration. |
C.It can park cars automatically. | D.It requires no human assistance. |
A.Opportunity. | B.Permission. | C.Willingness. | D.Ability. |
A.It is well accepted. | B.It is far from perfect. |
C.Its structure is strange. | D.Its function is meaningless. |
A.This Robotic Arm Will Refuel Your Car | B.An Innovation Has Been Improved Greatly |
C.Some Negative Views on a Refueling Solution | D.A More Efficient Assistant at the Train Station |
Many of us know that eating late
The researchers looked at the eating habits of five women and eleven men between the
5 . Imagine being able to pop to your local park and pick some tomatoes, potatoes or even bananas to take home for dinner. Sounds too good to be true, right? For residents (居民) of Andernach, German, it’s not just a dream — it’s their reality.
In 2010, Andernach began its edible (可食用的) city project that hadn’t been carried out before, planting 101 varieties of tomatoes in public green spaces around the city center. Its 30,000 residents are free to help themselves to whatever grows, as are any other visitors. The town’s motto of sorts is “Picking is encouraged — help yourself!” Every year a new type of plant is highlighted. In 2011, 100 types of beans were planted, while 2012 saw the introduction of 20 onion varieties. And it has become the phenomenon of the city.
It’s a community effort, as local citizens are encouraged to help plant and maintain the gardens. This offers an opportunity to socialize as well as to learn about planting, cultivating and harvesting food.
An Andernach resident spoke to DW,“I often drop by to pick some herbs that I’m missing at home. Everything is easily accessible. There aren’t any fences. You just take what you need. The only thing is that you have to be quick once the fruits are ripe or they’ll all be gone!”
Andernach may have been the first in German, but it isn’t the only edible city. It’s part of the Edible Cities Network, a project funded by European Union to connect green urban foot initiatives (方案) around the world. Other cities include Carthage in Tunisia, Havana in Cuba and Sempeter-Vrtojba in Slovenia. In February 2022, the first Edible Cities Network Conference took place. Dr Ina Saumel, principal investigator of the Edible Cities Network, called it “a unique opportunity to invite researchers of edible city solutions and practitioners all together.”
Ultimately, the Edible Cities Network aims to give people “greener, more edible and, above all, more livable cities.” It is a response to the pressures of global climate change, and a significant cause full of hope.
1. What can residents do in public green spaces according to the edible city project?A.Sell the produce they grow there. | B.Learn something about dealing with people and planting. |
C.Cook whatever plant as they like. | D.Pay to pick some vegetables and fruits there. |
A.Creative and popular. | B.Conventional and costly. |
C.Common and fundamental. | D.Rare and unacceptable. |
A.Andernach is the only city to carry it out. | B.European Union originally established it. |
C.It helps combine theories with practices. | D.It invites people to share meals together. |
A.To help residents relieve their pressure. | B.To involve residents in urban planting. |
C.To increase the produce supply in cities. | D.To create environmentally friendly cities. |
6 . “While extroverts (性格外向者) often make great first impressions with their outgoing manner and lively personalities in interviews, that value and reputation at work diminish (削减) over time.” says Corinne Bender, an associate professor of management.
“Extroverts disappoint us over time when they’re part of a team,” Bender says. “On a team you’re expected to work hard and contribute a lot. But they’re often poor listeners, and they don’t cooperate.”
“On the other hand, introverts (性格内向者) work hard on a team because they care what others think of them. They don’t want to be seen as not pulling their weight or contributing 100%,” Bender says.
So while companies may be attracted to hiring extroverts because they impress managers greatly in job interviews, bosses also may want to consider whether the extrovert they are considering will be a valuable team player, Bender says.
Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins, two writers, agree and say managers should recognize the strengths of introverted employees, such as their ability to put themselves in others’ shoes.
“These team members are often easygoing, which can make them exceptional mentors (良师益友) to more junior staff or particularly good sounding boards when you interact with them in one-on-one situations,” Su says.
“Managers must try to help introverts find their voice,” Wilkins says. “Help them see that speaking up is not about self-promotion or being in conflict but rather about offering the team key insights, making better decisions or increasing the efficiency for all.”
What about those extroverts who never seem to be at a loss for words? Should managers cut them off? Managers definitely should weigh in on how an extrovert is affecting others. Wilkins suggests saying something in private to make adjustments.
1. What do we know about outgoing people according to Bender?A.They are often good listeners. |
B.They tend to perform well in interviews. |
C.They often make great contributions. |
D.They are often good at cooperating. |
A.Doing their full share of work. |
B.Making good choices. |
C.Trusting others. |
D.Trying to share their thoughts. |
A.Critical. | B.Approving. | C.Doubtful. | D.Indifferent. |
A.Promote more introverts. |
B.Learn to work more efficiently. |
C.Avoid conflict among employees. |
D.Encourage introverts to speak up. |
7 . ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot (聊天机器人) programme that responds to user prompts, has gone viral in social networks in recent weeks. Its
There’s nothing
Using ChatGPT too much raises the question of whether content produced by it can be truly trusted. A human author is
No one knows what will happen to such technologies if the software engineers of the future will themselves be software programs. “Human supervision (监督) and
A.attempt | B.popularity | C.purpose | D.solution |
A.level | B.quality | C.focus | D.goal |
A.harmful | B.positive | C.new | D.obvious |
A.creative | B.general | C.simple | D.incredible |
A.transformed | B.impressed | C.increased | D.limited |
A.In brief | B.As a result | C.Even so | D.Generally speaking |
A.fact | B.routine | C.law | D.details |
A.have | B.lack | C.expect | D.improve |
A.answer | B.provide | C.handle | D.collect |
A.experimental | B.risky | C.unnecessary | D.reliable |
A.scared of | B.open to | C.pleased with | D.responsible for |
A.awareness | B.innovation | C.emotion | D.curiosity |
A.fitting in | B.hanging on | C.making sense | D.achieving goals |
A.refused | B.blamed | C.ignored | D.contributed |
A.civilization | B.control | C.loss | D.pressure |
8 . Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, 创伤后应激障碍) is a mental disorder that develops among people who have experienced or observed traumatic things such as wars, disasters or other violent events. At the heart of PTSD is a memory that cannot be controlled. It can affect the everyday lives of its sufferers in forms such as flashbacks, nightmares and anxiety.
A new study done by researchers from Yale University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City suggests that patients with PTSD process their traumatic memories differently than regular memories.
The researchers did brain scans of 28 PTSD patients. I hey asked the patients to listen to recorded narrations of their own memories. Some of the recorded memories were neutral, some were simply “sad”, and some were traumatic.
They found that when the patients listened to the sad memories, the hippocampus (海马体), which is responsible for forming memories, was activatea. But when they listened to the traumatic memories, a different area, called the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC. 后扣带回皮质), was engaged. The PCC is not a memory region. Instead, it regulates internal experiences, such as daydreaming.
The more severe PTSD symptoms are, the more active the PCC is. “The brain doesn’t look like it’s in a state of memory; it looks like it is a state of present experience.” Daniela Schiller, one of the authors of the study, told The New York Times. “That means people with PTSD feel as though they’re experiencing the traumatic event again in the present moment, rather than thinking back on it like atypical memory.”
The new finding might hold hope for new PTSD therapies (治疗). Future therapies are expected to focus on helping PTSD patients return their traumatic memories to the hippocampus so that they can treat them as regular and non-disruptive (非破坏性的) memories. Changing the ways of thinking could help the brain reduce the feeling of immediate threat caused by trauma, according to Ilan HarRaz-Rotem, one of the paper’s authors.
1. What is the core issue regarding PTSD according to the text?A.An uncontrollable memory. | B.Brain damage. |
C.Anxiety disorders. | D.Nightmares. |
A.Their hippocampus was closed. |
B.Their internal experiences were blocked. |
C.Their PCC area became active. |
D.Their regular memory function improved. |
A.memory recall | B.daydreaming |
C.current experience | D.boredom |
A.Controlling the hippocampus. |
B.Removing the feeling of threat. |
C.Normalizing their traumatic memories. |
D.Changing their brain structure. |
9 . When colds and flu hit, many people automatically turn to over-the-counter (OTC) medicines to push through and treat their symptoms. Although these medicines are easily accessible and widely used, it might come as a surprise to many people to learn that they are not risk-free. A study estimated that every year, 26,735 people went to the emergency room for adverse (不利的) events related to OTC cold and cough medicines.
When two or more drugs are used together, their interactions can sometimes produce unexpected harmful effects. Physicians are typically knowledgeable about potential drug interactions, so it is very important for patients to ask their healthcare providers which OTC medicines are safe for them to use.
It is important to read the package ingredients of OTC medicines closely to avoid duplication of doses (剂量重复). Cold medicines are typically made up of multiple ingredients. A person who takes a single-ingredient medicine paired with one of these multi-ingredient medicines can receive an unsafe dose of that ingredient.
While everyone could potentially experience adverse effects from cold and flu medicines, some groups — including older adults, children and pregnant women — may be at greater risk. Older people who are using prescribed drugs to treat multiple health conditions may have a higher risk of drug interactions because of the higher number of medicines being used at the same time to treat different conditions. The aging body is not as expert at absorbing, distributing and clearing medicines as younger bodies are. This can put older adults at higher risk for an overdose and drug-to-drug interactions with some medicines.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not recommend giving cold medicines to children under age 4. Because of a variety of factors, young children have a higher risk of an accidental overdose and adverse events that could lead to death.
1. What does the author advise patients to do in Paragraph 2?A.To ask for suggestions from doctors. | B.To buy medicines from hospitals. |
C.To read the package ingredients of drugs. | D.To take drugs as early as possible. |
A.To provide a medical choice for people who catch a cold. |
B.To show cold medicines are more likely to cause bad effects. |
C.To explain OTC medicines often have more than one ingredient. |
D.To stress the importance of learning about medicines’ ingredients. |
A.They can’t cope with aging positively. | B.Their body can’t handle medicines easily. |
C.They are more easily affected by diseases. | D.Their desire for health makes them unwise. |
A.Say No to OTC Drugs | B.Tips on Taking OTC Drugs |
C.OTC Medicines May Not Be Safe | D.How to Deal with an OTC Drug Overdose |
10 . When you have to cancel your Thanksgiving plans due to the spread of the COVID-19, you may find yourself craving companionship as much as that pumpkin pie. That’s because parts of the brain respond to loneliness much like they react to hunger, according to a study in Nature Neuroscience.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology scanned the brains of 40 healthy, social young adults after 10 hours of either fasting (禁食) or social isolation (隔离). They found that after being alone, participants’ neurological responses to social signals were similar to hungry people reacting to food — that is, certain areas of the brain linked to desire were turned on to start working.
For an isolated person, a picture of people laughing together caused the same areas of the brain to light up as when a hungry person looked at a big plate of pasta.
“Just like hunger is an unpleasant sensation that motivates us to seek out food and thirst motivates us to seek out water, loneliness is a biological need that motivates us to reconnect to others,” Holt-Lunstad told Insider.
Researchers were surprised to find that people who were prevented from socializing became much more focused on that need, and less reactive to hunger. As their loneliness increased, they became less responsive to images of food.
These latest findings suggest that the relationship between food and loneliness might be more complicated than we thought, despite the popular opinion of stress-eating to cope with social isolation. More research is needed to understand the complex ways people deal with loneliness.
Studies like this can help scientists understand how the brain processes loneliness, and possibly reduce the negative consequences. However, although loneliness may be similar to hunger, fixing it isn’t as easy as serving someone a hearty dinner because people are unique and they need varying levels of social interactions to meet their needs.
1. The underlined word “craving” in the first paragraph can be replaced by .A.avoiding | B.desiring | C.preferring | D.ignoring |
A.to find their brain responses to both loneliness and hunger |
B.to provide explanations for their feeling lonely and hungry |
C.to find how loneliness can have a negative impact on health |
D.after they have been hungry and socially isolated for 10 hours |
A.Hunger is an unpleasant sensation. |
B.Hunger and thirst motivate us to feed ourselves. |
C.Socializing is supposed to be basic human need as it is. |
D.The effects of loneliness on health are comparable to other factors. |
A.Loneliness may be fixed just as hunger is satisfied. |
B.Situations of loneliness are complicated and hard to cope with. |
C.Scientists have understood how the brain processes loneliness. |
D.Loneliness is such a common and serious problem that we all have to suffer. |