Do you care about your neighborhood? Joseph Beer _________ cares about his. When his town went into lockdown（封闭）because of COVID-19, the 15-year-old boy found he had lots of _________ in hand. However, he didn’t spend his time playing video games or watching films. He did something _________ for his neighborhood.

The outdoor areas in Joseph’s neighborhood were “not in good condition”. Some road signs were dirty and some were covered by branches. Seeing this, Joseph _________ to clean the signs and cut the branches.

According to his mom, Joseph would go out in the morning, spend all day going around the neighborhood and _________ things, go home by evening, and do it again the next day. He was tired but happy.

Soon enough, people in his _________ saw his hard work. They shared before-and-after photos of the signs he cleaned online. Many people were _________ by his simple act of kindness. They were so _________ him that they even donated（捐赠）money to him. However, Joseph didn’t spend the money on new clippers（剪具）or even anything for himself. He donated it all to a local bank for families in _________.

Joseph is happy to see a tidy neighborhood. For him, that’s the best payoff of his hard work. It gives him a strong feeling of ____________ and he plans to keep going.

16.

A．hardly

B．probably

C．really

D．suddenly

17.

A．money

B．food

C．problems

D．time

18.

A．meaningful

B．powerful

C．strange

D．popular

19.

A．promised

B．decided

C．managed

D．preferred

20.

A．giving away

B．going over

C．looking at

D．tidying up

21.

A．school

B．family

C．neighborhood

D．country

22.

A．moved

B．bored

C．surprised

D．interested

23.

A．fond of

B．thankful to

C．afraid of

D．worried about

24.

A．need

B．surprise

C．danger

D．silence

25.

A．duty

B．fashion

C．friendship

D．pleasure

They say that “travel is the best teacher” and there is no better example of this idea than the Ming dynasty travel writer and geographer Xu Xiake (1587 — 1641). His book The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake, not only encouraged a love of travelling among Chinese people but provided important scientific information about the country’s land and geography.

Born into a wealthy Jiangyin family, Xu became interested in books about different places at an early age and wanted to travel. When he was 18, however, Xu’s father died and so, it seemed, did his travelling dreams. He now was responsible for the family farm and taking care of his 60-year-old mother as tradition required.

But his mother had different ideas. Understanding her son’s love of travel and valuing the knowledge he could get from such experiences, this modern-thinking woman refused to keep her son at home. She agreed that Xu could travel for three months every year, when there was less farm work.

So at the age of twenty and with his mother’s support, Xu set off for the first time, leaving behind not only his mother but his new wife as well. He would repeat this goodbye each year for most of the next 30 years. During this time, carefully studying the lands he passed through and recording his experiences and many discoveries in a diary. This diary, which once had over 500, would eventually become The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake.

Although rich, Xu avoided comfortable travel, preferring to go almost everywhere on foot. This way he could research the environment in detail and get a true picture of the natural world. Many of his trips were to hard-to-reach mountain areas, robbed and beaten during his journeys.

Sadly Xu became seriously ill during his last and longest journey, a 4-year trip through the Southwest of China. He died in 1641, soon after returning to his hometown for the last time. When his diary was finally printed years after his death, it still made Xu a travelling legend around the world.

29. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The general details of Xu Xiake’s life story.

B．The difficulties Xu Xiake faced in his travels.

C．The important discoveries made by Xu Xiake.

D．The influence of Xu’s book The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake.

30. Which of the following best describes Xu’s mother?

A．Strict but interesting.

B．Kind but uneducated.

C．Helpful and hardworking.

D．Supportive and open-minded.

31. What is true about Xu’s book The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake?

A．It was only made public after Xu died.

B．It made Xu very famous during his lifetime.

C．It was the first travel book ever written in China.

D．It was mainly about the different people of China.

32. What is the correct order for the following events from Xu’s life?
a. He went on his first journey.
b. His book was finally printed.
c. He returned to his hometown for the last time.
d. He developed an interest in books about other places.
e. He started managing the family farm after his father died.

A．a﹣e﹣d﹣c﹣b

B．d﹣e﹣a﹣c﹣b

C．d﹣e﹣a﹣b﹣c

D．e﹣d﹣a﹣b﹣c

How do money problems influence our social life? Do we simply stop going out and enjoying ourselves? And, if we do stop going out, are there any other ways to party?

Last Christmas, Yorkshire Bank, UK did a survey to see how people were planning to celebrate the festive season when they had not much money to spend. They found that eight out of ten Britons preferred an invitation to a house party to a night out in a bar or club.

So, the question is, how can we throw a party without spending all our money? Easy just read our “hot tips”:

Hot Tip #1 — Careful planning

“It’s all in the planning,” claim party experts. If you plan the number of guests and the menu with prices in mind, it won’t be expensive. Remember, less is more — the fewer guests you invite the lower your costs will be. Equally, if you hold the party in your own home, if you buy a few candles and simple decorations, you’ll be able to create a bar scene in your own front room.

Hot Tip #2 — Shop intelligently

One of the biggest costs is the food and drink. If you shop efficiently, you will spend less money on them. In big supermarkets, you often have “three for the price of two” food offers. You can also pick up alcohol (酒), people won’t require a three course meal — a simple spread of crisps, olives and dips (调味酱).

Hot Tip #3一Caring is sharing

Don’t be scared to ask your guests to bring something. If you invite close friends, they’ll be happy to contribute. For example, you could ask someone to bring some snacks and someone else to bring cups. After all, the idea is to get your nearest and dearest together in honour of friendship and good times.

So what are you waiting for? Find an excuse to celebrate and start sending out those invitations. But remember, save yourself some money, get creative and don’t do everything yourself.

33. The survey was done to find out ________.

A．where people could shop efficiently on Christmas

B．what stopped people going out and having fun

C．how people without much money celebrated Christmas

D．why Britons wanted to have a night out in a bar or club

34. Yorkshire Bank surveyed 1000 people, how many of them preferred a house party?

A．8.

B．18.

C．80.

D．800.

35. According to the hot tips, what should we do for a party with less money?

A．Invite as many friends as you can.

B．Ask a friend to bring some snacks.

C．Prepare a three-course meal.

D．Find an excuse to ask for help.

36. In which part of a newspaper can we probably find this article?

A．Advice page.

B．Shopping tips.

C．Sports and Health.

D．Fashion and Life.

The popular TV program Readers has prompted more people in China to practice reading aloud in booths（亭）set up in big cities across the country.

As the latest TV show to help people’s love for literature recover, the CCTV program Readers invites people from all walks of life to read aloud their favorite poems, essays and books, or even personal letters they wrote to their loved ones. Just as the weekly show has been well-received, its reading booths which are equipped with professional recording devices and cameras have also become instant hits.

A crowd of more than 200 people were pictured lining up outside the Shanghai Library at 11 am on March 4—the first day of the booth’s opening to the public in Shanghai. The deadline for registrations（注册）was brought forward to 2 p.m. instead of the scheduled 5: 30 p.m., as the number of waiting readers continued to grow. Some waited more than nine hours for a tryout（试用）in the booth, according to library management.

“There is an old photo in the late 1970s capturing people lining up outside the Shanghai Library before it opens. If that was a spring of reading in Shanghai, now I think another spring has arrived again,” library manager Zhou Deming, told The Paper.

The reading booth is the only one of its kind in the city of economic center at the moment, but more are expected to be put into use in the coming months, according to the library’s website.

The program has also led to boots in other cities including Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Xi’an to appeal to more people to read and share their life stories.

With the recent boom of culture themed TV shows such as Readers and Chinese Poetry Congress, some are optimistic that this will help the country love literature and reading again in general.

37. What does the underlined word “hits” in the passage mean?

A．Popularity.

B．Program.

C．Interest.

D．Topic.

38. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The booth in Shanghai opened on March 4 at 11 a.m.

B．If you registered at 5 p.m. that day, you couldn’t get in.

C．There was even a photo of the booth opening day in Shanghai.

D．There’ll be more and more reading booths in the future.

39. The CCTV program Readers aims to ________.

A．teach people what to read

B．attract people’s attention to CCTV

C．invite people to read aloud in the booth

D．arouse people’s interest in reading

40. The passage mainly tells that ________.

A．many people line up to read aloud in reading booths

B．more reading booths will be set up in the future

C．Readers has become popular all over China

D．Readers has attracted more people to read aloud in reading booths