Ever feel sleepy when it’s time to get up for school? If you think school shouldn’t start so early, you’re not alone. Lots of scientists and doctors agree. That’s why some groups are pushing for later start times.
There’s good news for some students who like to snooze*. California passed a new law. It sets rules. High schools will start at 8:30 am or later. Middle schools will start at 8 am or later. So students might get more minutes of California dreaming.
Research shows that most adolescents need about nine hours of sleep a night. They usually get their best sleep between 11 pm and 8 am. So if students get up at 5 or 6 am, they miss some good sleeping time. Students who don’t get enough sleep can have health problems. They have trouble learning, too. It’s hard to learn when you’re nodding off at your desk!
But some people think starting schools later isn’t so smart. They argue there’s no way to be sure students will get more sleep. After all, the law can’t make students go to bed! And schools that start later finish later. That leaves students with less free time. Like what? Sports, jobs, chores, and homework. And let’s not forget fun!
Maybe another problem is buses! If all schools start near the same time, a district* has to pay for more buses and drivers. That’s one reason so many high schools start very early.
In fact, several schools outside California have a ready set later start times. Seattle Public Schools is an example. High schools there start no earlier than 8:45 am. A new law may soon be passed in Ohio. It would push back start times in that state.
How about you? Like to start school bright and early? Or would you rather snooze till the sun is high in the sky?
1. According to the new law, California high schools may start at__________.| A．6 am | B．7 am | C．8 am | D．9 am |
| A．1 to 5 | B．13 to 18 | C．30 to 40 | D．60 to 70 |
| A．Adolescents sleep best between 11 pm and 6 am. |
| B．The new law can make the students go to bed early. |
| C．Enough sleep helps students learn well and stay healthy. |
| D．Schools in Seattle don’t have a law for later starting time. |
| A．Should students go to school later? | B．Should students go to bed early? |
| C．Should students leave school later? | D．Should students do homework early? |
2 . 
You see a snake while hiking! Your heart is racing, your hands feel like ice, and you breathe faster to take in more air. You are experiencing an important emotion: fear.
Some scientists believe we are born with fear: the fear of falling and loud sounds. But we learn most fear. We are scared of snakes after a certain experience, like being bitten, or seeing other people bitten by a snake. Another way to learn fear is from the spoken words or written notes. We may not know that a snake is scary, until our parents say snakes are dangerous. What’s more, fear can be catching. When we see our friends cry, we will be influenced by them.
But where does fear come from? It starts in a part of the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala receives what we see, hear or smell and finds out how much it stands out to us. It then tells the heart to beat faster and the body to sweat. Another part of the brain called the hippocampus is closely connected with the amygdala. It helps the brain read the possible danger and find out whether the danger is real. Seeing a lion in the wild can cause strong fear, but the sight of the same lion at a zoo only brings us fun and the thought that the lion is cute. This is because the hippocampus is telling us there’s no need to worry about it. So, we feel less afraid when signals from the hippocampus overpower the amygdala.
Actually, no one is fearless. Brave people still feel fear like everyone else—the difference is in how they handle it. People who work in dangerous jobs, like firemen, learn to manage their fear by practicing. In this way, they can act automatically in dangerous situations, although they might be really scared at that time. They are also able to quiet their fear because they believe they have the knowledge to solve the problem.
Fear is a natural human emotion that we all experience. We should learn about it and live with it.
1. How many ways to learn fear are mentioned in the passage?| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．It helps us calm down. | B．It tells our heart to beat faster. |
| C．It records the fear we experience. | D．It collects the information around. |
| A．go over | B．suffer from | C．deal with | D．depend on |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
3 . Come to learn Swedish (瑞典语). It seems challenging, but it could be easier if you are a good English speaker. The two languages have a lot more in common than you think.
The Swedish alphabet (字母表) is almost the same as the English alphabet, but has three more letters：A, Ä and Ö. Although some letters, like O and Ö look alike, they are actually different. Take the Swedish words “lov”and “löv” as an example. The word “lov” can refer to holidays while “löv” translates to “leaves”.
Many words are close in Swedish and English. “Bok” in Swedish is only a one-letter change to “book”, “äpple” is an easy change to “apple”and “man” and “piano” are the same in both languages. However, there are special suffixes (后缀), such as “-en” and “-t”, to stand for “the” in English. For example, “boken” in Swedish means “the book” in English.
Another similarity is the word order. It’s often possible to directly translate sentences between the two languages. One big difference is that Swedish always puts the verb (动词) in the second place of a sentence. Although in English sentences, words like “always” or “hardly” often appear in the second place, Swedish is very strict about that verb-second rule and will put them after the verb.
There are many reasons that make Swedish hard, but with your English learning experience, you’ll find it easier.
1. Which sign below is written in Swedish?A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Piano. | B．Pianos. | C．The piano. | D．A piano. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．To introduce the history of Swedish. |
| B．To show Swedish is not so difficult to learn. |
| C．To tell the writer’s own Swedish learning experience. |
| D．To explain the difference between English and Swedish. |
4 . Most people are lucky to grow up with caring parents. However, many of them have trouble finding the way to spend time with parents. Why not try these ideas below?
Plan a family meal.
If you live nearby, a weekly get-together around the table is a perfect choice. It can be at your place or theirs, or in famous restaurants. Take the chance to chat about daily happenings.
Make a weekly phone call.
For those who live far from their parents, there is no possibility of usual visits in person. But your parents will be glad to hear your voice, so try to call them at least once a week. They will be even happier if this could be a video call.
Ask for parents’ advice.
No matter what problem you may be having, it’s a safe bet that your parents have been through it before. So talk about the problem with them, and if they make it clearer for you, it might be the best few minutes you ever spent.
Share relaxation time.
That is, spend time together doing something you both enjoy. A shopping trip or a film night could satisfy your mother. Sometimes fathers and sons could enjoy golf or fishing together.
 Eat together.·Get together to have a ·Talk about what has happened recently. ·If it isn’t possible to visit them, make sure they can hear your voice or see your face on the phone. Problem: People don’t know how to spend time with parents.  Turn to your parents for advice.·Your parents are more experienced in problems. ·Talking with them may make the problem  Share fun activities.·Do things you both enjoy, such as seeing a What other ideas do you have? |
5 . Smart transportation is leading to the birth of new apps for smart cities in China. In recent years, technology companies have worked hard to speed up the use of robotaxis and Baidu is one of the pioneers.
In June 2019, Baidu started to test its driverless robotaxis in certain areas in Changsha. In 2020, its Apollo Go robotaxis, also known as “Luobo Kuaipao” in Chinese, officially began its service in certain areas in Changsha, Cangzhou and Beijing, with a safety officer sitting in the driver seat who would monitor (监视) the drive and deal with accidents. In March 2022, Beijing allowed Baidu to test fully driverless robotaxis on certain roads, which meant a further step forward. In June 2023, Baidu carried out its driverless taxi service in Shenzhen across an area of 188 km2 from 7 am to 10 pm daily.
Booking a ride on Apollo Go is as simple as a few taps on your phone screen. Passengers just need to tell the app Apollo Go or Baidu Map where they are and where to go. Then, a car will appear. With sensors (传感器) and cameras all over the car, a computer takes full control of the drive. A screen on the back seat shows customers the information of the ride and how the robotaxi “looks” at the space around to see other cars, humans, and anything else that might get in its way.
“The robotaxi goes at about the same speed, providing a good riding experience,” a user posted online. By September 2023, the number of orders has reached four million. The user satisfaction rating for the Apollo Go app has reached 4. 9 out of 5 and 97.12% of the reviews are five-star ratings. So far, Apollo Go robotaxi service has covered 11 cities and by 2025, it plans to test its robotaxis in other 65 cities.
However, safety is the key in the development of driverless robotaxis. Didi and AutoX both had cases (事例) when the safety officer inside had to take over control of the drive. In the future, Apollo Go and the other companies should take more time to improve the system in order to provide comfortable and safe rides.
1. What is Baidu working on according to the passage?| A．Driverless taxis. | B．Robot taxi drivers. |
| C．Taxi Safety apps. | D．Maps for robotaxis. |
| A．The risk of Apollo Go. | B．The future of Apollo Go. |
| C．The advantages of Apollo Go. | D．The development of Apollo Go. |
| A．By telling a story. | B．By doing experiments. |
| C．By listing numbers. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．People in Shenzhen could take a ride even at midnight in June 2023. |
| B．Internet safety officers monitored the taxis instead of sitting in them in 2020. |
| C．Passengers sitting on the back seats can know about their rides from a screen. |
| D．It provides safer service than Didi and AutoX, and will be the most popular app. |
6 . Moon’s Reservoirs
How much water is there on the Moon? This is a question we have tried to answer for many years. A group of scientists from China and the UK found that the Moon may have water “reservoirs (水库)”, according to Nature Geoscience.
Over a large amount of years, asteroids (小行星) have hit the Moon, causing the soil to melt and fly into space. It is then cooled down and falls back to the Moon, forming beads (珠子) of glass. The Chang’e-5 probe, which returned to the Earth on December 17, 2020, brought back a total of 1,731 grams of rocks and soil from the Moon, including glass beads, reported Xinhua.
The international research team looked into 32 glass beads. They found that about one ton of glass beads may contain 0.5 kilograms of “water”. “This ‘water’ wasn’t a liquid but instead took the form of hydrogen (氢) in the glass beads, which can easily be turned into the water we can use,” one of the study authors told Science and Technology Daily.
Researchers estimated that the water contained in the glass beads could probably reach to as much as 270 trillion kilograms. “It’s a lot more than we thought,” the author added.
The study said the hydrogen in the glass beads may come from the Sun as part of solar winds. The glass beads have many small holes which can absorb (吸收) hydrogen from the wind.
This finding would be a “really big deal” for space exploration, as humans plan to settle on. the Moon in the future, a space scientist told ABC News.
1. How did the glass beads on the Moon form?① The Moon soil falls back to the Moon. ② The Moon soil cools down.
③ The Moon soil flies into space. ④Asteroids hit the Moon.
⑤ The Moon soil melts.
| A．⑥④③②① | B．②③④①⑥ | C．④②⑤③① | D．④⑤③②① |
| A．There is water inside the beads. | B．The beads are actually water drops. |
| C．There is 0.5kg of water from the beads. | D．The beads have material that can be turned into water. |
| A．证明 | B．担心 | C．估计 | D．解释 |
| A．how solar winds form | B．how the study was done |
| C．why there is hydrogen in the beads | D．what else the study has found |
7 . Predicting (预测) something in the future seems as if it would need supernatural powers—which doesn’t sound very scientific! But there’s no magic here. Instead, scientists who study the weather use special tools to help make their predictions.
Weather science is called meteorology. That may sound as if it’s about studying meteors (流星), but it’s not. The name comes from an ancient Greek word and means “the study of things that are up high.” And, to study those high-up things, scientists put tools up there to help. Now let’s see how these tools are used to help predict the weather.
First of all, a small tool called the weather station is connected to a weather balloon. And then scientists send both the weather station and the weather balloon high into the sky. There, the weather station takes important information about the things like air pressure and temperature. What’s happening way up there can influence what happens in our part of the sky.
After that, the weather stations on the ground throughout the world give correct, real-time information, which help scientists see how the weather is changing from moment to moment. At the same time, the satellites (卫星), both far above our atmosphere and within it, are other tools that also collect facts or important information for weather scientists. After receiving information from weather stations and satellites, radar (雷达) shows rainfall and where it’s moving, as well as wind speed and direction.
Finally, all the information is sent into supercomputers, which can tell what might most probably happen next (according to what has happened under those conditions before).
Scientists combine all of this with their own knowledge and experience to let you know what kind of weather might be on the way. Since a change in any factor (因素) can change the final result, weather predictions are more precise for upcoming hours and days, rather than weeks. That’s why scientists need to change their predictions often-and can’t tell you today whether it will rain when you’re at camp in July!
1. The writer thinks predicting the weather ______.| A．needs supernatural powers | B．is all about studying meteors |
| C．requires some special tools | D．was popular in ancient Greece |
①The information like temperature is recorded.
②Supercomputers tell what is going to happen.
③Radar tells information about rainfall and wind.
④The weather station is connected to a weather balloon.
| A．①④③② | B．①③④② | C．④②③① | D．④①③② |
| A．cheaper | B．safer | C．more exact | D．more convenient |
| A．How do satellites help predict the weather? | B．How do scientists know about the weather? |
| C．How does nature tell secrets about the weather? | D．How does the weather station influence the weather? |
8 . ①It’s known that green tea is a symbol of Chinese culture. Also, it helps to improve health in so many ways that some people think of it as a kind of medicine. Perhaps that is why the Chinese have been using it for more than 4,000 years to treat all kinds of medical problems. Today, scientists know that there are catechin, caffeine, vitamin C and theanine in green tea that are good for health.
②Catechin is helpful for lowering (降低) cancer (癌症) risk. It protects the body from cancer-causing substances (物质) and slows the growth of cancer. Besides fighting cancer, catechin prevents serious health problems like heart disease.
③Caffeine causes the heart to beat faster. That’s why it was once thought that caffeine was not very healthy, but studies suggest that there are also good reasons for drinking caffeine. Specifically, caffeine has to do with a lower risk for Parkinson’s disease and liver (肝脏) disease. Yet, caffeine also has some weaknesses. It can influence sleep and make people nervous, so experts advise teenagers not to have more than 100 ml of caffeine a day. This is about the caffeine of a small cup of coffee.
④Vitamin C is something that the human body cannot make enough by itself. So we have to get it through food and drink. The vitamin may play a role in improving physical conditions to colds and the flu. Also, it helps people to get well more quickly from those illnesses.
⑤Theanine is another healthy substance found in tea. It has been shown to lower stress, both mental and physical, and increase mind abilities. It is also used for preventing some brain diseases.
⑥As you can see, green tea has many good values. Drinking it may help you stay healthy. Of course, as with any healthy substance, it is important to check if there are any bad influence as well.
| A．Because it’s delicious for us to drink. | B．Because it helps to deal with illnesses. |
| C．Because it’s a symbol of Chinese culture. | D．Because it’s made into different drinks. |
| A．It lowers cancer risk. | B．It makes the heart to beat faster. |
| C．It lowers liver disease risk. | D．It makes people less stressed. |
| A．Tea can take the place of medicine. | B．We should drink as much tea as possible. |
| C．Tea has some bad influence on our health. | D．Drinking tea may help people to stay in health. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
9 . 阅读下面材料，从A-D中选出与1-4图片相对应的广告技巧，并回答第5题。
Every day we see ads on TV, in magazines, on websites, on the street, and on our computer screens. Are you an ad detective? Can you understand the messages advertisers send you? To be an ad detective, it is useful to know how ads work. Let’s look at some typical advertising techniques.
A. Group pressure: An ad shows lots of people, each with their own cell phone.
Message: Everyone has a cell phone. You need one, too!
B. Testimonials: A famous pianist says he uses a certain brand of pianos.
Message: You’ll be good at playing the piano too if you buy this brand of pianos. Or because a famous pianist uses this piano, and you can trust the product.
C. Repetition: These ads mention the product many times and say wonderful things about it.
Message: You need to remember the product.
D. Time pressure: These ads use expressions like “Buy now! Half price this week.”
Message: You should buy the product quickly before you miss a great opportunity.
Ads are interesting, but you can make better decisions about what to buy when you know these techniques!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Which advertising technique do you think is the most useful? Why? (No more than 20 words)
10 . Dragon Head-raising Day is celebrated on the second day of the second Chinese lunar month to show respect to Dragon King and wish good weather for a big harvest. It is considered the start of spring and farming.
After the cold winter, spring comes and animals are awake, but because of the winter, the weather is dry and farming needs water. The story goes that after this day, the Dragon King who controls clouds and rains would wake from his winter sleep and bring rainfall for the crops.
On that day, there are lots of traditional celebration activities. First, in the early morning when it’s still dark, families go to a river or a well with lanterns to get water and then carry it back home. Then they light candles, burn incense sticks (香柱) and offer a sacrifice (祭品). This ritual is named Yintianlong (lead the field dragon). People believe the actions can bring wealth and health to their homes.
The most well-known tradition on the day is having a haircut. It’s a sign of good luck and energy in the whole year. However, it is very bad luck to get a haircut during the first lunar month.
Eating “dragon” food is another important part of celebrations. Chinese are best at connecting certain food with luck so food eaten on this day also gets special names. Noodles which are long and thin are called “dragon beard (long xu).” Dumplings are called “dragon ears (long er).” Spring rolls are “dragon scales (long lin)”, and people call popcorn “dragon seeds (long zi)”.
Those celebration activities may be different in the south and the north, and some activities are remained to nowadays, while some are just kept in the past. But the wish for a good year ahead is the same despite the change of time or space.
1. What do Chinese people think of the Dragon King?| A．It creates spring winds. | B．It controls the animals for farming. |
| C．It brings rains for lands. | D．It wakes after the first rain in spring. |
| A．A set of actions. | B．A kind of sacrifices. |
| C．The name of a dragon. | D．The word of greetings. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．To introduce the traditions of Dragon Head-raising Day. |
| B．To compare different traditions of the south and the north. |
| C．To explain the importance of “dragon” in Chinese culture. |
| D．To share experiences of celebrating Dragon Head-raising Day. |
