1 . The Internet is changing our way of life. Here is a report about it.

1. From 2020 to 2022, the number of people in ________ rises the most.

A．reading news

B．paying

C．shopping

D．livestreaming

2. We can know ________ from the passage.

A．most people like to go online on computers

B．Chinese people start to pay with WeChat in 2016

C．robots can help doctors do surgery with 5G in 2022

D．people in China spend about 25.9 hours every week

3. Where might we read the passage?

A．http://life.online.cn

B．http://sports.world.com

C．http://robot.work.com

D．http://traditions.China.cn

2 . The Simpsons

           1     It is the longest-running American television series, with 34 seasons and more than 700 episodes, created by animator Matt Groening in 1987. In the Simpsons family, stay-at-home mom Marge, troublemaker son Bart, and baby Maggie. The Simpsons has been a hit over the years since it started in 1989. People around the world like it.     2     . Even if someone has never seen The Simpsons, they probably know “D’oh!” or“okily dokily do. ”
           3     While it is known mainly for its humor, it has also managed to work heartwarming moments into many stories. The first episode of the series “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”shows how Homer tries hard to provide a good Christmas for his family. He chooses not to tell his wife about not receiving a bonus, looking for low-cost gifts that each family member might like. To earn more money, Homer takes a job as Father Christmas at the mall. His son can’t help but is grateful for what he is doing. The episode nearly won two Emmy Awards, because it is not only funny but touching as well. The touching stories always warm people’s hearts.
     When does The Simpsons come to an end? It is 34 seasons in and it shows no signs of slowing down. “I mentioned that there might be an ending where the last episode, the Simpsons would go back to the first episode, so that the whole series was a continuous loop. “The good thing is that the show runner Mr. Al Jean does not foresee this stress to end the show in the near future.     4    . But no matter when that day eventually comes, the series will undoubtedly live forever with its presence on streaming.
将方框中的句子填入文章空白处。其中有一个为多余选项。
A. How exactly the show will go on is still to be seen.
B. Why does The Simpsons win the hearts of people?
C. However, there are many different voices about it.
D. The Simpsons is a world-famous American cartoon.
E. Especially the language in the show becomes very popular.
符合“Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”剧情的配图为    5    
A. B. C.
请从文本中选择适当的单词，完成以下小结。每空仅限一词。
     Hello, everyone, I’d like to share my favourite cartoon today. It’s called The Simpsons. After it was shown on TV, it soon became a     6    . People of all ages liked it at that time. It shows us the life in a     7     family. Most people like this cartoon not only because of its     8     but also the     9     moments. Till now, it’s still popular. Although it has already had more than 700 episodes, nobody knows when it will     10    . Let’s wait and see!

3 .

NASA is ready to send six little satellites into space, but it will take about three years to reach space. Those satellites can be able to help scientists keep a closer eye on heavy storms, and they develop a task called TROPICS to send the satellites to space. Importantly, the satellites will help us make a big difference in watching coming heavy storms.

       At the moment, NASA’s weather satellites can only check in on a storm every four to six hours. “So we’re missing a lot of what’s happening in the storm,” Bill Blackwell, at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, said. However, the new set of six satellites will allow researchers to check in on a storm about every hour.
       After sending the satellites, scientists will put them in a perfect place to watch the areas where most storms are born, from the center of America to the south of Australia. Each satellite is just under 0. 3 meters long with a powerful machine that’s about as big as a cup of coffee. The small machine can measure heat and light produced from O₂ and H₂O in the air, then the data will be sent to the Earth.
       It will bring many advantages. First, the data measured by the TROPICS satellites will help researchers study better how a storm grows. They can even build a 3 D model of a storm developing with the help of satellites. Also, scientists will know when the storm will come and get people to safety as soon as possible. Just like last year, hundreds of people died because of Storm Ida coming overnight. It won’t happen anymore.
       That makes it all more important to have more eyes over the sky. “The TROPICS team is super excited to send these satellites and get them running,” Bill Blackwell said in NASA statement.
1. The new satellites can ________.

A．watch the coming storms

B．reach space in a short time

C．check in on a storm every minute

D．find a perfect place for themselves

2. These new satellites work by ________.

A．producing O₂ and H₂O in the air

B．collecting different kinds of storms

C．measuring the heat and light of the air

D．making a 3 D model of a storm growing

3. The writer mentioned Storm Ida in Paragraph 4 to show ________.

A．storms will not come any more

B．the new six satellites are important

C．it’s hard to stay away from the storm

D．scientists do much research on satellites

4. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．The Coming Great Future Life

B．TROPICS—A Wonderful Task

C．Little Satellites, Big Difference

D．Say Goodbye to Dangerous Storms

4 .

When you meet a strange Chinese character (汉字) what will you do? Surely, the most reliable way is to look it up in Xinhua Dictionary.

Since its birth in 1953, Xinhua Dictionary has been a must-have book in schools across China. More than 567 million copies had been sold by 2016. So it was even recognized by the Guinness World Records as the “most popular dictionary” that year.

Small as the dictionary is, it means a lot to China. The dictionary was given the name Xinhua by the chief editor Wei Jiangong, and it carried the hope of a country reborn. In 1949, around 80% of China’s population wasn’t able to get education (教育). It was Xinhua Dictionary that had reduced the number to 52% by 1964. To make it easier for illiterate people to understand, the earliest copies had many pictures.

Thanks to Xinhua Dictionary, many Chinese got new chances in their life. Mo Yan, the 69-year-old Nobel Laureate, once mentioned the dictionary in his speech. He said that he was lucky to have a copy of the dictionary after dropping out from school. He learned most of Chinese characters from it, and that helped him write novels and enter a college later.

This important dictionary has also recorded the development of the language and society. It is revised (修订) every five to ten years. Recent copies have included many new explanations. The character “晒” (to dry something in the sun), for example, now has a second meaning: to share. In a way, the dictionary hasn’t just explained characters; it has reflected (反映) the way Chinese people think.

1. When did Xinhua Dictionary first come out?

A．In 1949.

B．In 1953.

C．In 1964.

D．In 2016.

2. What does the underlined phrase “illiterate people” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．People who are bad at maths.	B．People who can’t draw or sing.
C．People who are too old to see.	D．People who can’t read or write.

3. Why does the writer use the example of Mo Yan in Paragraph 4?

A．To share a speech about the dictionary.	B．To offer advice on using the dictionary.
C．To show the influence of the dictionary.	D．To explain the development of the dictionary.

4. Which part of a magazine is the passage probably taken from?

A．Nature.

B．People.

C．Culture.

D．Business.

5 .

In a noisy restaurant, you can still hear your friend’s voice clearly. You talk happily without paying attention to others’ conversations. That’s because selective (选择性的) attention is helping you.

Selective attention is an amazing ability in our brain. It allows people to choose and focus on (专注于) something in the environment. At the same time, it can filter out (过滤) unnecessary information, so people can focus on one conversation in a crowded place. But how does selective attention work? Researchers from Columbia University did an experiment to study it. The result shows that the brain is selective about the sounds it hears. When a person listens to someone talking, their brain waves (波) change to pick out the features of the speaker’s voice and filter out other voices.

To further understand how selective attention works, the researchers studied two parts of the brain’s listening centre: Heschl’s gyrus (HG) and the superior temporal gyrus (STG). Information from the ears reaches HG first, passes through it and arrives at STG later. In the study, they found the following facts: in HG area, every voice is treated the same way. That is to say, HG doesn’t prefer one voice or another. But in STG area, it’s possible to choose one speaker’s voice and make it louder. The whole process (过程) only takes 150 milliseconds and it happens immediately to a listener. As a result, people can focus on one voice when there are many other conversations around.

“Today’s study is quite important. We want to better understand how the brain helps us to hear so well, as well as create technologies that help people,” said Dr. Mesgarani, the leader of the researchers. With the help of the finding, speech recognition technologies have been improved. The researchers have already developed a new kind of hearing aid that can help collect information more correctly. It could make one speaker’s voice louder over another. They also plan to study more about HG and STG activity in situations that have more speakers.

1. What can selective attention help people do according to the passage?

A．Choose where to talk.	B．Hear more in a conversation
C．Forget unnecessary information.	D．Focus on one voice in a noisy place.

2. Which picture shows the process in the listening centre?

A．

B．

C．

D．

3. What will the researchers most probably study in the future?

A．How to improve listening	B．How the listening centre works.
C．How to make a better hearing aid.	D．How HG and STG protect each other.

4. What’s the best title for the passage?

A．A Great Ability in Brain	B．A New Study on Technologies
C．A Key to Reducing Noise	D．A Way to Make Conversation

6 .

Nobody can say no to a flower world in the real life. That’s why more and more people come to the Huazhao Festival to enjoy the beautiful and busy party in spring.

The Huazhao Festival is the birthday of all flowers and it happens on the 2nd, 12th or 15th day of February of the Chinese lunar calendar (农历). People started to celebrate the birthday of flowers before the Qin Dynasty and it became a festival during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, it was one of the three important celebrations all over China.

The Huazhao Festival is rich in customs (习俗). Young people wear Hanfu, a kind of traditional Chinese clothes and have outings. The festival is in early spring, so it’s such a great time to have an outing to enjoy the spring time. Girls put colorful paper-cuts on the flower stems (花茎). They hope they can be as young and beautiful as flowers. Also, people in different places of China plant flowers. They think that flowers planted on that day can grow well. At the festival, the flower fair (集市) is the most popular. There are lots of fun activities in the fair, such as making flower cakes and playing music.

The Huazhao Festival is an exciting party to see the beautiful spring and it also helps people learn more about Chinese traditions. It’s really a wonderful celebration that you can’t miss.

1. What can we learn about the Huazhao Festival from the passage?

A．It started in the Qin Dynasty.	B．It’s on the same day every year.
C．It’s a celebration for flowers.	D．It becomes important in the world.

2. What do people do at the Huazhao Festival?

A．They cut flower stems.	B．They make traditional clothes Hanfu.
C．They put paper-cuts on flower cakes.	D．They join in activities of the flower fair.

3. Why does the writer write the passage?

A．To tell the long history of the festival.	B．To show a special Chinese festival in spring.
C．To show different flowers at the festival.	D．To tell the meaning of celebrating the festival.

7 . If you visit Wuppertal, Germany, make sure you take the Schwebebahn. It’s a railway that runs for 13 kilometres and carries over 80, 000 passengers (乘客) every day.

The Schwebebahn travels in a very different way. Its 24-metre-long train doesn’t run on the track (轨道), but under it. The track is 12 metres above the river, so as the train goes over the city. Passengers can enjoy the exciting sights freely.

The Schwebebahn didn’t come easy. In the 1880s, the traffic in Wuppertal was so busy that the government had to develop a new way of travelling. At that time, a man named Eugen Langen was trying a railway under the track to carry products for his company. It was successful so later Eugen put this idea into the Schwebebahn. In that way, the space above the River Wupper got fully used. It turned out to be a very good choice. The Schwebebahn gives special travel experiences to passengers. Its stations are as beautiful as art museums, so passengers won’t be bored while waiting in the stations. A classical train also offers all kinds of services, such as food and drinks. What’s more, people can book this train to have parties or even get married in the air! They will never forget this one-hour journey in the air.

Now the Schwebebahn is more than a railway for Wuppertal. It is a symbol of the city.

1. How does the Schwebebahn travel according to the passage?

A．

B．

C．

D．

2. What does “this idea” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Making products for a company.	B．Using the space above the river.
C．Building a railway under the track.	D．Carrying things for the government.

3. What special experience can passengers have?

A．They can enjoy a party on the train.

B．They can visit the art museums on the train.

C．They can take a two-hour journey in the air.

D．They can cook food when waiting in the station.

4. Why does the writer write this passage?

A．To show the important stations of Wuppertal.

B．To introduce the facts about the Schwebebahn.

C．To share a riding experience in the Schwebebahn.

D．To tell why Wuppertal needed a new way of travelling.

8 . Imagine turning on the GPS and seeing an image of your car from above. As the car drives, the map follows along in real time, alerting you to any traffic, walkers, animals, or other things nearby. Routes and names of roads appear over the livestream. It’s like the map has come to life. The special map is called the live map.

This type of map isn’t available yet. But it could be soon. In 2014, the Worldview-3 satellite was sent into space. Even though it moves around Earth at more than 370 miles (600 km) away, it can catch images of objects on Earth that are just 10 inches (25 cm) across. For example, it can recognize a smartphone held in your hand. It can tell what types of cars are traveling down a road. But it can’t identify your face or read the cars’ license plate numbers... at least not openly.

According to some reports, some other US spy satellites can take even sharper images, with a resolution of up to around 4 inches (10 cm). But US law doesn’t allow making these super-sharp pictures public. But the idea that anybody might be able to spy on the entire Earth in such detail may seem uneasy. Ray Purdy of University College London told CNN that he was worried about what this could mean for privacy. “Most satellites are commercially owned, so if you have money you can buy that image. It means anyone can spy on anyone,” he said.

However, live and detailed maps of Earth’s surface could aid humanity in amazing ways. Satellite images can help professors follow storms as they form and record their paths. At high detail, live maps of a disaster area could quickly show the people in need of help as well as the safest routes in or out. Higher detail may make it possible to catch people who are fishing or hunting illegally. The images could also make it easier for farmers to watch over their crops.

Do you wish everyone could make use of high-detail live maps of Earth’s surface?

1. A live map can ________.

A．take control of your cars	B．get animals out of the way
C．warn you of walkers nearby	D．come to life when turned on

2. Which of the statements is TRUE about the Worldview-3 satellite?

A．It flies around Earth 600 km every hour.	B．It can take pictures of things about 25 cm wide.
C．It can read plate numbers of the cars on the road.	D．It began to work in space more than 10 years ago.

3. The underlined word “sharper” probably means ________.

A．clearer

B．longer

C．quicker

D．simpler

4. How does the author introduce the live map in Paragraph 3 and 4?

A．By comparing the new live map with the old map.

B．By introducing its advantages and people’s worries.

C．By showing different experiences of using the live map.

D．By interviewing a professor in University College London.

9 . Solving climate change may bring unexpected benefits. There is a special exhibition - Our Future Planet in London Science Museum. It is about carbon capture (碳捕集), the new technology of getting greenhouse gases (温室气体) from the atmosphere and emissions from factories.

The exhibition shows bottles, tubes, pens and yoga mats made from carbon as well as models of the carbon capture machines that can provide this carbon. They include the Lackner artificial tree which mirrors the actions of living plants by breathing in carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) and exhaling oxygen (呼出氧气). It was built by Klaus Lackner. The device is amazing, but its structure is complicated and the usage is limited (限制的). Besides, there also are the Swiss Climework’s carbon extractor system and a carbon capture device developed at Aberdeen University. All can remove carbon from air to be used for alcohol or other products.

To help protect the planet from the effects of Global Warming, we have to do more than only stop carbon dioxide getting into the atmosphere. We also need to find ways to remove carbon dioxide after it has been put there. Simply planting trees and plants will not be enough to solve the problem. Firstly, the machine can be fitted to gas and coal- burning power stations and factories and then used to hold back the carbon dioxide they would emit (排放). The technology can also be used to recapture carbon dioxide that had already been in the air.

But the exhibition also makes it clear that even moderately large groups of these devices now can remove only a few tens of tonnes of carbon a year- compared with the 50 billion tonnes that cars and factories add to the atmosphere every year. So, it’s urgent (紧急的) to develop and use these new technologies on a large scale (规模) to make a real difference in fighting climate change. Using these on a large scale will be very hard.

However, there is still a hopeful route. It is like the mobile phone. Twenty years ago, they were expensive and difficult to use but have been improved upon relentlessly (不停地). These gas- harvesting machines can be improved upon quickly by generations, so that they will be cheaper and more efficient in the future. If we don’t do something like that we will be in real trouble.

1. In the exhibition Our Future Planet, visitors can ________.

A．book some latest carbon capture machines

B．learn a new technology about carbon capture

C．solve the problem of global warming by carbon capture

D．see carbon capture producing bottles in special shapes

2. The carbon capture machines ________.

A．look like living plants	B．remove carbon from the air
C．collect carbon dioxide in the air	D．reduce coal burning in power stations

3. Which sentences show the latest development of carbon capture?
① The carbon capture machines have a simpler structure now.
② The carbon capture machines are widely fitted in factories now.
③ The carbon capture machines can remove a few tonnes of carbon a year.
④ Fighting climate change is in need of much more carbon capture machines.

A．①②

B．①③

C．③④

D．②④

4. We can infer the writer’s opinion of the carbon capture is that ________.

A．the technology of carbon capture is hard to develop

B．the technology of carbon capture is useless to develop

C．the carbon capture machines will be cheaper than mobile phones

D．the carbon capture machines will be improved quickly like mobile phones

10 .

Big moments of the past 25 years

Hong Kong came back to China 25 years ago. There were many important moments.

1997

Hong Kong was returned to China. The “one country, two systems” policy started.

2003

Individual visits began. Before that, people from the mainland could only visit Hong Kong in groups.

2005

Hong Kong Disneyland opened in September. It is China’s first Disney theme park.

The city held the equestrian sports as part of Beijing Summer Olympics.

2012

Hong Kong high school graduates could study at some universities on the mainland. They just need to offer their local grades.

2018

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opened in October. People can drive from Hong Kong to Zhuhai in just 45 minutes.

2022

The government decided to improve Hong Kong International Airport. It will welcome 0.2 billion visitors every year in the future.

1. When did an individual from the mainland start to visit Hong Kong?

A．In 1997.

B．In 2003

C．In 2005.

D．In 2008.

2. What happened in Hong Kong in 2018?

A．China’s first Disneyland park opened there.

B．Hong Kong held sports for Beijing Olympics.

C．Hong Kong people could go to Zhuhai more easily.

D．People started to use Hong Kong International Airport.

3. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．It tells great developments of Hong Kong.	B．It describes beautiful parks in Hong Kong.
C．It shows important buildings in Hong Kong.	D．It talks about famous people of Hong Kong.