Nick Lee, known as Magic Nick, is a magician. He works on encouraging sick children and their family during their hospital stays. Nick works with a charity (慈善机构) called Spread A Smile. This charity sends artists, including magicians like Nick, to hospitals where kids are fighting against serious illnesses. The goal is to make them happy and help them create good memories when they are going through difficult times.
Before joining Spread A Smile, two of Nick’s relatives were patients in Great Ormond Street Hospital. Nick remembered seeing his nephew’s (侄子) eyes light up with joy when they were visited by the charity’s magicians. This moment became one of his most treasured. It was the first time Nick got to know the charity. And he made up his mind to become a member of it.
Often people who become magicians grow up in families that do magic. However, in Nick’s family, he is the first to perform magic. He started learning magic when he was three and began performing professionally at sixteen. Nick has dyslexia, an illness that makes it difficult for him to read and write. So Nick felt that learning subjects like math and English was a struggle, but he found he was good at magic and decided to keep doing it. Nick’s magic in hospitals has brought joy and comfort (安慰) to many children and their family. In return, he has learnt a lot from their spirit. “Seeing the children’s smiles has given me power.” he says.
1. The goal of Spread A Smile is to ___________.| A．cheer up sick children | B．teach magic to sick children |
| C．raise money for sick children | D．give medical care to sick children |
| A．volunteered at the charity | B．told him about the charity |
| C．knew the magicians of the charity | D．were visited by the charity’s magicians |
| A．introduce the background of the charity | B．list the ways of joining the charity |
| C．introduce why Nick joined the charity | D．list the importance of the charity |
| A．talent | B．difficulty | C．success | D．method |
| A．He began to learn magic at 16. | B．He did badly in magic at first. |
| C．He is from a family with magicians. | D．His magic has influenced the sick kids. |
2 . Long ago, the rains did not fall, and there was a terrible drought (干旱). It was hard to find food, and the animals became hungry and thirsty. Only one tree had fruit. It was a big, beautiful pear tree that grew in the middle of a field. Its roots reached deep into the earth, where they drank from an underground spring. Its pears were plump (饱满的) and juicy. The tree, however, was guarded by a cruel and selfish (自私) Tiger. Although he couldn’t possibly eat all the fruit that the tree provided, Tiger wouldn’t let any of the other animals touch the pears.
The sad animals turned to Rabbit for help. Rabbit helped them form a plan. Then he went to Tiger and said, “Tiger, a great wind is coming. It will be so strong that it will blow everyone off the earth!” While Rabbit talked to Tiger, the birds, which were hidden in the forest, began to flap their wings wildly, creating a strong breeze. Next, other animals beat on the ground and swung through the trees, causing the trees to sway and shake. Tiger believed that the great wind had come, and he was terrified.
“I will tie you down with a rope so the wind cannot blow you away,” Rabbit offered. Tiger agreed, and Rabbit tied him tightly to a tree. Finally, Rabbit called the other animals, who came out of the forest and ate every delicious pear on the tree, laughing at the selfish Tiger who watched helplessly.
1. The animals in the forest grew very hungry after a (an) ________ happened.| A．fire | B．rainstorm | C．earthquake | D．drought |
| A．ate all the pears | B．were afraid of Tiger | C．asked Tiger for help | D．laughed at Tiger |
| A．tie Tiger to a tree | B．create a big wind | C．make Tiger angry | D．hide in the forest |
| A．kind and funny | B．selfish and stupid | C．smart and helpful | D．weak and thankful |
| A．In a report | B．In a poster | C．In a storybook | D．In a diary |
3 . My name is Michael, and I’m an American. This summer, we moved from Chicago to a small city in Wisconsin. My parents’ work changed and they got new jobs in a new hospital here. The move was hard for me. I didn’t use to the life here.
I was nervous about moving from my primary school to middle school in a new place. Everyone would need to know each other, and I’d feel isolated. Mom noticed that I was worried. “Michael, don’t worry,” she said. “You’re outgoing. You’ll make new friends. I’m sure!”
At school, I kept repeating my mother’s words to myself. I tried to be brave and smiled at everyone. Jake, a boy in my class, smiled back and said hello to me. From then on, we two became good friends. He was quiet and didn’t like talking too much. Math was his favorite subject, but I was not good at math. So I decided to ask Jake for help. It turned out that he was such a wonderful boy that I learned a lot from him.
Gradually, I made big progress in math. And I could answer some difficult math questions in classes. Our teacher was amazed at me and he thought it was amazing. I even surprised myself. Next month, Jake and I are going to the Math Museum in the city center. All our friends from the school will also come. I’ve never been out with such a big group of people before!
Moving changed my view on life. There is no need to worry about having no friends. I guess I’ve found my place.
1. What do Michael’s parents do?| A．Workers. | B．Doctors. |
| C．Teachers. | D．Farmers. |
| A．抱歉的 | B．开心的 |
| C．后悔的 | D．孤立的 |
| A．He is very outgoing like Michael. |
| B．He likes talking to others very much. |
| C．He is one of Michael’s classmates. |
| D．He is not good at math, either. |
| A．Friendly but strict. | B．Kind and helpful. |
| C．Funny and friendly. | D．Serious and strict. |
| A．To tell us how we can make friends with others. |
| B．To introduce an excellent student named Jake. |
| C．To share Michael’s trip to the Math Museum. |
| D．To share how Michael overcame his worries and found his place. |
4 . Trends (潮流) come and go. Many goods that people buy to follow fashion end up in the garbage can. Now, young Chinese people are giving these things a second life. Called “stoopers”, they pick up idle goods and reuse them. They are mainly in big cities.
Chen Jiaorong, 27, is one of them. She started stooping in June 2022 when she found that many people were letting go of things hardly used. After that, she often “hunted treasures” in her free time. She has been walking along the streets in downtown area once or twice a week, looking around and picking up “garbage”. Now, her small apartment holds things redesigned from the idle goods she collected, including tables, chairs and clothing.
“Some say stooping means collecting rubbish,” Chen said. “But for me, it’s about making the best use of things. “That’s why she introduces the trend to others. Sometimes Chen also puts stickers on the goods that she doesn’t need and posts pictures of them on social media, guiding others to pick them up from the streets. The videos she posted online draw much attention and many young people join her.
Huang Xiaohe from Kunming No. 1 High School also loves stooping. The 12-year-old has few chances to go stooping in her city, she often looks for idle goods around school. Then, she cleans and redesigns them, turning them into fun things at home. The cotton from a toy bear dresses a lamp and old facial masks are used to make clothes for her dolls. “I believe that any waste can be turned into treasures,” said Huang.
Nan Zheng, a 35-year-old environmentalist says that stooping is more than the physical act of picking up things from the streets. He created an app called “Grecycle” where people can give away or take unwanted items for free. “We can let more people know about stooping as an interesting and fun thing to do. Gradually, this can also be about helping others.”
Accordingly, if you are active in reducing waste, you might give stooping a try. Stooping is really an action to fight over-buying.
1. What does the underlined word “idle” in Paragraph 1 mean in Chinese?| A．闲置的 | B．珍贵的 | C．耐用的 | D．节能的 |
| A．By picking up garbage in the street. | B．By posting pictures and videos online. |
| C．By selling her goods with stickers. | D．By showing others around her apartment. |
| A．it’s easy to dress dolls at home | B．it’s relaxing to walk around school |
| C．students can also join in the stooping | D．students go stooping a lot in the city |
| A．To support physical exercise. | B．To share unwanted things. |
| C．To collect things for sale. | D．To redesign useless goods. |
| A．To encourage a simple lifestyle. | B．To argue against the trend of stooping. |
| C．To introduce the harm of over-buying. | D．To advise people to protect dress culture. |
5 . For the first thirteen years of my life, I thought science was boring. It was all about memorizing (熟记) facts: the order of the planets, the names of clouds, the parts of a cell. So I decided to become a novelist when I grew up. I spent all my free time reading and writing.
However, everything changed in my first year of middle school. As a person who liked to keep things organized, I fell in love with the periodic table (元素周期表). And it led me to basic physics and chemistry. Science still meant memorizing facts, but suddenly, they were much more interesting facts.
Then I had a problem. I wasn’t that interested in becoming a novelist any more, and I really liked science. But at my school, all the best science students went on to be doctors. I was always afraid of blood. Become a doctor? That was the last thing I wanted to do!
But at the same time, I developed an interest in the environment. A group of students in the year above mine had started an environmental club. Once a week, I went to school extra early in the morning to attend their club meetings.
In the summer of that year, we attended some courses on climate change. The climatologists (气候学家) talked about many different things. I took notes in a tiny notebook as fast as I could. For the first time, I learned about the use of the periodic table. It brought me joy and excitement, and I dreamed of becoming a climatologist myself.
Now, eleven years have passed, and this dream has come true. I’m deeply interested in the climate system. I don’t think my job will ever be boring.
1. What made the writer pay more attention to science?| A．The order of planets. | B．The clouds’ names. |
| C．The parts of a cell. | D．The periodic table. |
| A．It was never too late to try to be a doctor. |
| B．The writer didn’t want to be a doctor at all. |
| C．There was nothing better than being a doctor. |
| D．Being a doctor was the only thing the writer could do. |
① He worked on the climate system. ② He decided to become a novelist.
③ He joined an environmental club. ④ He showed interest in basic science.
| A．②④③① | B．③②①④ | C．④②①③ | D．②③①④ |
| A．The world changes as time goes by. | B．Interest is the key to dreams. |
| C．There is no end to learning. | D．Science searches for truth from facts. |
| A．Why I Fell in Love with Physics | B．What I Had to Give up |
| C．How I Became a Climatologist | D．When I Failed to Be a Novelist |
6 . 
Henry was a poor university student, but he wanted to buy a car. “If I can buy one really cheap that works,” he thought, “I will save money on bus tickets. Then I can spend more in the restaurants I like.”
He spent a day searching for the cheapest car in the second-hand car yards. Finally he found one for $250. The car was really old and the paint was badly peeled, but it worked. “It’s got a good engine,” the salesman said, “and the gearbox is OK. Forget everything else.”
Henry bought the car and drove it out of the car yard. Everything was wrong with it except for the engine and gearbox, which worked very well “As long as they work,” Henry thought, “nothing else matters.”
Unluckily, a few days later, while he was driving back home, a police car stopped him. A young policewoman got out and walked around Henry’s car. She looked at it in surprise. She wrote down a long list of the things wrong with the car. Then she looked inside the car.
“Does your speedometer work?” she asked. Henry shook his head.
“It is against the law, sir” she said, “not to know how fast you are travelling.”
Henry smiled. “Oh, but I do know how fast it is,” he said. “Up to 30 miles an hour, the doors shake. Between 31 and 50 miles an hour, the whole car shakes. Over 50 mils an hour, I shake”
Hearing this, the policewoman impounded (扣押) Henry’s car and he was fined (罚款) $500.
1. The car Henry bought was ________.| A．cheap | B．new | C．safe | D．pretty |
| A．his university | B．a restaurant | C．a car yard | D．his home |
| A．the gearbox could work well | B．the car had too many problems |
| C．she couldn’t see the speedometer | D．Henry knew how fast he drove |
| A．25 | B．35 | C．45 | D．55 |
| A．Seeing is believing. | B．Money isn’t everything |
| C．Risk big for small ones. | D．Use it or lose it. |
7 . 
On a video online, fish-shaped lanterns move in the air as if they are swimming in the water. A group of teenagers in Shenzhen Yangang Middle School brought life to the fish lanterns with built-in AI system.
“The fish-lantern dance is a long-standing tradition in Shenzhen. Dancers carry lanterns and try to make them move like real fish in their performance, and this calls for lots of practice,” says Jiang Jiahan, one of the lantern’s inventors. So his team wants to lower the threshold with an AI-driven fish lantern that can move on its own, so that more people can take part in the traditional performance art.
Tan Wenbo, another inventor, explains that a sensor (传感器) on the head of a lantern will identify (识别) different pictures on the screen and give the result to a circuit board (电路板). The board, connected with two small motors (发动机) on the lantern’s head and tail, will drive the paper fish to perform different moves. According to Jiang, the rules of the moves follow the habits of real fish. “If a fish sees its food, it may dance more often in excitement. If it finds a good place to hide among, it feels relaxed and will move lower.”
“The old lantern model was made of card paper, but it weighed too much,” Jiang says. Then he made the latest lanterns with xuan paper (a classic paper used for Chinese painting) and iron wiring (接线).
Jiang says this experience makes him want to learn more about AI in the future. So does Tan.
1. Paragraph 1 mentions the ________ of inventing the AI-fish lanterns.| A．time | B．team | C．process | D．cost |
| A．to perform the fish-lantern dance | B．to learn about the lantern history |
| C．to study the habits of real fish | D．to build the AI system |
| A．The sensor with wires | B．The screen with pictures |
| C．The board with motors | D．The paper with paintings |
| A．card paper and Chinese paintings | B．card paper and iron wiring |
| C．xuan paper and Chinese paintings | D．xuan paper and iron wiring |
| A．The AI system works outside the lanterns. |
| B．The fish-lantern dance has a short history. |
| C．AI makes the lantern move follow the habits of fish. |
| D．The old lantern model was paper-making and light. |
8 . Arsh Pal had a big dream when he started selling his artworks at the age of eight. He wanted to raise $1,000 for charities (慈善机构).
Now, five years later, the American boy has far surpassed his plan. Arsh has sold 500 paintings and brought in $15,000. Almost every dollar of this income (收入) has gone to charities.
When Arsh was a little boy, his parents introduced him to many activities. The boy, however, was interested in none of them. Things changed when he got a watercolor set (水彩套装) for his eighth birthday. Arsh began to spend all his free time in front of an easel (画架). “That was how I started painting.” he said.
Soon, Arsh finished many paintings. They took up a lot of space in his room. The boy decided to give them away to his friends. Around the same time, Arsh visited a nursing home (养老院). The experience made him think about selling his artworks to help other people.
So he began his money raising project. He sells his paintings at local art shows, restaurants and libraries, as well as on the Internet. Small pieces have been sold for $10 each. Larger ones (about 150cm tall and wide) have been sold for more than $800 each.
“I can’t stress enough how amazing he is,” said Jolene Schaver, one of Arsh’s neighbors. “It’s hard to believe that this is being done by a child.” The woman has five of Arsh’s paintings hanging in her home.
Arsh has a gift for art, but it is his big heart that is a real gift for others.
1. Arsh raised $15,000 for charities at the age of _______.| A．five | B．ten | C．thirteen | D．fifteen |
| A．he started going to school | B．he had his eighth birthday |
| C．he took part in many activities | D．he visited the nursing home |
| A．People loved Arsh’s works of art. |
| B．Most of Arsh’s works were sold to the schools. |
| C．Arsh donated 10 percent of his income to charities. |
| D．Arsh sold his paintings because they took up too much space. |
| A．Quiet. | B．Friendly. | C．Honest. | D．Humorous. |
| A．Rome wasn’t built in one day. | B．One tree can’t make a forest. |
| C．The best value is to help others. | D．One is never too old to learn. |
9 . Rachel Louise Carson was born on May 27th, 1907 in Pennsylvania. She grew up on a farm where she learned about nature and animals. Rachel loved reading and writing stories when she was young. At a very early age, she wanted to be a writer some day. Her story first appeared in a children’s magazine when she was ten years old. Rachel attended Pennsylvania College where she majored in (主修) biology.
Her first book, Under the Sea Wind came out in 1941. In 1948, Miss Carson began working on The Sea Around Us. She collected information from more than one thousand places to write The Sea Around Us. When the book came out in 1951, it won the National Book Award. In 1955, she published (出版) another book The Edge of the Sea.
Rachel Carson’s most famous book, Silent Spring came out in 1962. She spent four years collecting research materials and writing the book. She named it Silent Spring referring to birds’ deaths due to pesticides (由于杀虫剂). In this book, she pointed out that the use of some kinds of pesticides like DDT, would cause, the number of birds to decline because it would kill them as well. Finally, in November 1969, the United States government decided that the use of DDT must stop in two years.
In 1964, Carson died of cancer. In 1972, the United States noticed that DDT could no longer be used. Today, thanks to Rachel Carson, many more people care about the environment. They work to protect it. Rachel Carson has been regarded as a great environmentalist and writer. She is remembered by the world.
1. Carson’s story was first known to children ________.| A．at the age of ten | B．during the period of college |
| C．in the early 1950s | D．after her death |
| A．Under the Sea Wind. | B．The Sea Around Us. |
| C．The Edge of the Sea. | D．Silent Spring. |
| A．Spring is full of peace. |
| B．Spring is a soundless season. |
| C．Birds are not active in this season. |
| D．Birds’ deaths were caused by pesticides. |
| A．持平 | B．减少 | C．波动 | D．增加 |
| A．Carson’s books | B．Carson’s hobbies |
| C．Carson’s achievements | D．Carson’s dreams |
10 . 
“Running at night allows you to look inside yourself.” says Zhou Yuan. He is the founder of DarkRunners, a running club in Shanghai.
Zhou recalls that late night in 2008, while he was watching a movie at home, he felt like going out for a run all of a sudden.
After he ran all the way to the Nanpu Bridge, he felt quite refreshed.
In 2009, Zhou started DarkRunners. Over the years, more and more people joined the club. Today, it has more than 9, 000 members of all ages and from all walks of life. The youngest is 8 years old and the oldest is 72.
The club is not just about running. It’s also a place for people to make new friends. Nicole Chen, one of the members, said, “Sometimes we also go camping, boating or do other sports together.”
Zhou has designed many running routes (路线) for the members. The routes are mainly in downtown (市中心的) areas, such as Yongkang Road and Xujiahui Park. But sometimes, he and other members use traffic lights to run random (随机的) routes. When the light ahead is green, they will run forward. When it is red, they will turn right or left to avoid stops. This brings surprises to their runs.
“You never know what scenery is waiting for you around the next comer.” Zhou said, “Once, we ran in an old alley (巷子) near the City God Temple. We saw some elderly people siting on doorsteps. The wind was blowing gently and the streetlights were dim (朦胧的). It was so peaceful!”
1. What is Darkrunners in the text?| A．A running club. | B．A boating club. |
| C．An old people’s club. | D．A camping club. |
| A．nervous | B．surprised | C．peaceful | D．pleasant |
| A．Stop and wait. | B．Run forward | C．Make a turn. | D．Go backward. |
①look inside themselves
②make new friends
③enjoy the scenery
④visit the elderly people
⑤find a peaceful life
| A．①②③④ | B．①②③⑤ | C．①②④⑤ | D．①③④⑤ |
| A．Old people show no interest in night running. |
| B．Nicole Chen is the founder of the DarkRunners. |
| C．The DarkRunners members can also do other sports. |
| D．The night runners always run the designed routes. |
