【推荐2】Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word: for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

The major dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster has chosen pandemic as the 2020 word of the year. Merriam-Webster said its decision was based on the “extremely high numbers” of people who had looked up pandemic in its online dictionary in 2020. The word showed     1     major year-over-year increase in internet traffic, the company said.

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on Mar 11. The Merriam-Webster Learners’ Dictionary defines pandemic as an occurrence     2     a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world.

Searches for pandemic on the Merriam-Webster website rose more than 115,000 percent on March 11 compared to a year     3     (early). The dictionary’s choice of pandemic should not come as a shock to     4    , said Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster.

Sokolowski noted that pandemic has roots in Latin and Greek. It is a combination of “pan,”     5     (mean) for all, and “demos,” for people or population. Pandemic dates to the mid-1600s,     6     it was used widely for “universal.” Around that time, it also began appearing in medical literature after the plagues of the Middle Ages, he said.

The huge increase in interest did not appear to be only among searchers who did not know the meaning of the word. Many people were also hunting for more details about pandemic or were seeking for inspiration     7     (help) ease their minds, he added. Merriam-Webster acted quickly to add new information on words       8     (relate) to pandemic. The dictionary already had “coronavirus” for many years. But it added “COVID-19” about a month after that term was officially created in February.

    9     we recently reported, other dictionaries also chose COVID-19-related terms as their 2020 word of the year. Britain’s Cambridge Dictionary chose “quarantine.” It said searches for the word increased in March, when many countries ordered public restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19. Collins Dictionary, another British publisher, chose “lockdown.” It said the word represents a uniting experience for people across the world. Under lockdown in 2020. Collins said “normal public life     10     (suspend)” and “we see few people, and fewer places.” It added that lockdown is now seen as “a public health measure.”

【推荐3】阅读下面短文，在空白处填入一个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

One year, and now another. It’s still not the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. How do you feel when     1     (talk) about the pandemic? 

Many studies     2     (carry) out looking into the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in the past three years.     3     (surprising), experts have found that there are more people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders than they imagined during this period, reported CNBC. 

    4     study published in February found that in 2020, there were 76 million new cases of anxiety disorders and 53 million new cases of major depressive disorders all over the world. Besides, the study found that those     5     had a higher chance of being affected were women and younger people.

According to Valentine Raiteri, a psychiatrist (精神科医生) working in New York, one of the main     6     (reason) for these mental illnesses is the loss of daily social communication. Raiteri told CNBC that many of his patients are still working remotely with many feeling “disconnected and     7     (lose)”.

Since going outside becomes     8     (convenient) due to the pandemic than before, people are unable to share big moments like weddings or final moments     9     family, friends and loved ones. Alex Desatnik, a psychologist in the UK working with adults and children, told CNBC that he believes it will take “at least a generation”     10     (recover) the damage to many young people.

【推荐1】阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Silk Road derives (获得） its name from the profit-making trade in silk that     1     (carry) out along its length beginning during the Han Dynasty in China. The Silk Road trade played a significant role in the development of Eastern and Western civilizations, opening long-distance political and economic relations.

Though silk was the major item     2     (trade) from China, many other goods and ideas were exchanged, including religions, philosophies, scientific discoveries in astronomy and mathematics, and technologies like paper-making, printing and gunpowder.     3    , the Silk Road was a route not only for culture as well as economic trade among the civilizations that used it. Many artistic influences were also spread via the Silk Road, particularly through Central Asia,     4    Hellenistic (希腊风格的），Iranian, Indian and Chinese influences could intermix. Buddhist art represents one of the most vivid examples of this interaction. The     5     (mix) of Greek and Indian elements can be found in later Buddhist art in China and throughout countries on the Silk Road.

In     6     present day, trade takes places on the Silk Road on land and on its sea routes. There are several projects under the name of “New Silk Road”     7     (expand) the transport infrastructure in the area of the historic trade routes. The best known is     8    (probable) the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. In June 2014,UNESCO listed the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor (走廊） of the Silk Road     9     a World Heritage Site. The UNWTO has been working since 1993 to develop     10     （sustain) international tourism along the route with the goal of promoting peace and understanding.

【推荐3】阅读下面短文，在空白处填入一个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

For centuries, people have kept large amounts of cash at home during difficult times. But in the coronavirus crisis, things are different. These metal coins and paper bills can be     1     source of worry rather than hope.

    2    (touch) by thousands of people, these objects could be a way for the coronavirus     3    (spread). Some countries have suggested that their citizens     4    (stop) using them altogether.

Zachary Cohle, an economics professor, said, “In many areas, cash was already beginning to disappear due to the risk of     5    (rob), the ease of Internet ordering, and the ubiquity (普遍存在) of cell phones.”

Sweden, Finland, Norway, Canada and others have slowly reduced cash use to the point     6     using it in large amounts seems unusual. Britain and Australia are expected to become     7    (cash) countries. In China, cash use     8    (drop) because of electronic payment services over the past ten years.

However, cash use is still common in places like West and Central Africa, for they don’t have reliable access     9     the Internet. In Lebanon, as the economy worsened late last year, the central bank said people withdrew an estimated $3 billion and saved     10     at home.