2 .

①Memory is the ability (能力) to remember things. A good memory can help us do better in school, such as language-learning. A few people are born with amazing memories, but most people need to improve their memories by practising. Here are some secrets (秘密) about memories.

②We can still remember things happened in our childhood (童年) but not those last week. In fact, if the things have strong connections with our feelings in our mind, we can remember them longer. When things happen for the first time, children often have strong feelings. Also, parents tell us the interesting or funny stories from our childhood again and again. As a result, we remember them much better.

③It’s natural for common people to forget the new words which they learnt yesterday. Hermann Ebbinghaus wrote a book called Memory and showed a famous forgetting carve. According to him, the quickest loss (失去) of memory happens during the first two days after learning. That means going over what we’ve learned during this time can help us very well to remember the information.

④A 15-year-old sometimes forgets things, but that doesn’t mean his or her memory is getting worse. Our memory gets the top at the age of 25. At that point, we can remember over 12,000 pieces of information in a minute. But after this age, the brain (大脑) starts to get smaller. By middle age, our memory is much worse than when we were young.

1. Why is it easier to remember things in our childhood?
a. Because they were special.       b. Because we got strong feelings from them.
c. Because they were helpful.       d. Because we heard them many times.

A．ad

B．bd

C．ac

D．bc

2. Which is the right picture for Hermann Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve?

A．	B．
C．	D．

3. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．A person has his or her best memory at the age of 25.

B．A fifteen-year-old’s memory is worse than a middle-aged man’s.

C．A person’s memory gets worse only because the brain gets smaller.

D．A child usually remembers over 12,000 pieces of information in a minute.

4. How is the passage organized?

A．

B．

C．

D．

4 .

①A Turkish proverb says. “The more languages you know, the more people you are!” There are about 35 languages spoken in Turkey, but 90% of the people speak Turkish.

②Turkish uses an alphabet that is not strange to many English speakers, but when you look at Turkish spelling, you may find it so difficult. There are 29 letters in the Turkish alphabet and six of them—c, g. t, ō, s and ü—aren’t in the English alphabet. For example, all those marks in a word like gūnes gōzlügü (“sunglasses”) can really daunt you!

③But luckily, Turkish pronunciation isn’t always as hard as it seems. In Turkish, each letter is pronounced only one way. So it can become quite easy to pronounce a new Turkish word.

④Turkish is an agglutinative language. That means it puts pieces together to make words. In Turkish, this practice can make some very long words. You can add suffixes to most Turkish root words. For example, the word ev means “house”. Add the ending ler to make evler, “houses”. Then add den, meaning “from”, to make evlerden, “from the houses”. Or add li, meaning “having” and you get evli, “having a house”. The suffix ci can mean “one who does something”. Gazete is “newspaper”; gazeteci means “a newspaper writer”.

⑤There are more facts about Turkish for you to learn. You’ll find that learning about it helps open up door to a different culture.

1. What does the underlined word “daunt” probably mean?

A．make people more excited	B．make people more tired
C．make people less confident	D．make people less afraid

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Turkish people can speak more than one language.

B．Turkish uses an alphabet the same as English.

C．A Turkish letter can have different pronunciations.

D．Turkish words can get long by adding suffixes to root words.

3. The Turkish word sarki means “song” in English. Which of the following means “singer” in Turkish?

A．sarkiler

B．sarkici

C．sarkili

D．sarkilerden

4. Which is the structure of this passage?

A．

B．

C．

D．

5. What’s the purpose of this passage?

A．To help people learn about Turkish.	B．To ask people to visit Turkey.
C．To teach people how to speak Turkish.	D．To advise people to save Turkish.

5 .

In China, people play lion dances on big days like the Chinese New Year, because they think the lion dance can bring good luck.

The lion dance started in China over 1000 years ago. In the Han Dynasty*, people from Central Asia gave lions as presents to the Chinese king. In the Three Kingdoms Period*, people began wearing lion-like clothes to celebrate festivals. It was the first lion dance. In the Tang Dynasty, it became more important.

In China, there are two kinds of lion dances - the Northern kind and the Southern kind. The Northern lion is red and yellow, and it looks dangerous, like a real lion. There is usually a father lion, a mother lion, and sometimes little lions in the Northern lion dance. The Southern lion is like a cat and it has more different colours.

The lion dance needs one man dancing the head and the other man dancing the tail. But in the Northern lion dance, there’s a dancer with a ball standing before the lion. The Northern lion dance is usually for fun, and the music is lively. The music of the Southern lion dance is exciting as well.

The lion dance is always a great art for people all over the world and the value* of it never changes* over time.

1. According to the passage, the lion dance started in ________.

A．China

B．Central Asia

C．the Han Dynasty

D．the Tang Dynasty

2. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A．The Northern lion looks like a real cat.	B．Two people play a lion in the lion dance.
C．The two kinds of lions both have two colours.	D．There are little lions in the Southern lion dance.

3. Why does the writer write this passage?

A．To tell the history of the lion dance.	B．To teach how to play the lion dance.
C．To study the music of the lion dance.	D．To give information about the lion dance.

6 .

Cathy Hackl’s son wanted a party for his 9th birthday. He wanted to hold the party on Roblox, a website where users can play and create games. Roblox is part of the metaverse. This is a virtual-reality space. There, users can interact with other people and digital environments. Virtual reality is a three-dimensional simulation of a real-life image or environment. “They hung out and played, ” Hackl said, “Just because it happens in a virtual space doesn’t make it less real.” The term metaverse has become popular. Today, people are spending more of their lives in virtual spaces.

The word metaverse comes from a science fiction book from the 1990s. But the metaverse has been around longer than that. Online communities have existed since the 1980s. We enter the metaverse through a screen. This could be through virtual reality(VR). It could also be through augmented reality(AR). Augmented reality covers computer-generated images on the real world. These experiences create a greater blending of our virtual and real lives. But these two worlds already cannot be separated and we don’t even need any headsets, such as VR glasses. Think about the Didi Taxi app. It uses location data to tell drivers where their cars are.

The metaverse is an expansion of the Internet. There are lots of Internet problems to solve already. Still, many people say it has real benefits. They say it can increase social networks and improve mental health. Hackl is a metaverse expert, and she’s African. She says, “You can encourage a lot more people to join and build social relations.” For those already spending part of their life in the metaverse, that building has begun.

Carrie Tatsu runs a business in the metaverse. But she wants her kids to spend time in the real world. “It’s so important for humans to be with humans in real life, ” she said, “I think as kids grow up in this space, it’s important for them to take part, go smell a flower here, walk on a trail, have a real conversation with a friend. Even though you can simulate that, the simulation is not the same. ”

1. How does the writer lead in metaverse in Paragraph 1?

A．By telling stories.	B．By listing numbers.
C．By describing people.	D．By comparing facts.

2. What does the underlined word “blending” mean?

A．Changing.

B．Entering.

C．Mixing.

D．Reaching.

3. What’s the structure of the passage?

A．

B．

C．

D．

4. Which of the following can be the title for the passage?

A．Metaverse: virtual spaces online.	B．Metaverse: a science-fiction book.
C．Metaverse: a popular computer game.	D．Metaverse: businesses on the Internet.

7 .

A Swiss radio station called Couleur 3 recently did an experiment on air, testing robot-created content and voicing.

During the 13-hour experiment, listeners heard the cloned voices of five human presenters. The station’s programming also included music created by AI. The program told listeners about the experiment every 20 minutes like this, “AI is taking your favorite radio by storm,” a voice said. “AI is here to surprise and shake you. And for that matter, this text was also written by a robot.”

The Swiss station’s director, Multone, said that Couleur 3 was able to do the experiment because it is already known for doing unusual things. He thought it as a lesson on how to live with AI. “I think if we become ostriches...we put our heads in the sand and say, ‘Multone, there’s a new technology! We’re all going to die!’ then yeah, we’re going to die because it (AI) is coming, whether we like it or not. We want to know it well so we can then put limits on it.”

Music that aired during the experiment was mostly created by AI methods. Besides, human-sounding robot voices provided false short news stories which were too imaginative to be believed. These included a story about one-month ban on spaceship flights over Geneva because of noise complaints. Another talked about the opening of the first underwater restaurant in Lake Zurich, while another told that ________.

There was a lot of discussion about whether to go on the experiment. He said he would stop the project if his team was not fully supportive. The station said it received hundreds of messages, with some supporting and others going against it. One person disliked the unfunny jokes. One considered the project a waste of time for a station that gets money from the government.

Multone said about 90 percent of listener reactions suggested the experiment was a good idea. But at the same time, many listeners pointed, “You can feel these are robots, and there are fewer surprises, less personality.”

1. Who wrote the text to tell the listeners about the experiment?

A．AI.

B．Multone.

C．Human presenters.

D．Ostriches.

2. In Multone’s opinion, people should ________.

A．keep away from the new technology

B．become ostriches in front of AI

C．think of the technology as their favourite

D．know how to get on well with AI

3. Which of the following sentences can be put in the _________ in Paragraph 4?

A．a new coffee shop would be open next month

B．visitors from other planets came to Switzerland

C．there would be heavy rain tonight and tomorrow

D．the government made new rules to improve the traffic

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

A．An experiment on AI voices	B．Are human presenters good or not
C．An imaginative radio station	D．People’s opinions on AI presenters

8 . ① Going to the cinema is fun. However, in a time when technology has afforded us home video streaming services such as Netflixhy and Hulu, many people choose to stay at home to have fun. And they believe cinemas are going to have problems. Though those services might have a bad influence on the cinemas, I don’t believe the cinemas are going away anytime soon.

② As we all know, staying at home to watch films can save your money because the tickets for cinemas aren’t cheap. Besides, you can lie comfortably on a big sofa to watch films. And generally you can watch films for as long as you want. And you don’t need to worry that others will be angry when you laugh aloud.

③ But the cinema has the low lighting, the big screen, the surround sound etc. War movies especially benefit from being watched in cinemas. You can experience the war better and more closely. As well as war movies, action movies and superhero movies are also much better when seen on the big screen.

④Besides, you can enjoy the time with your friends and family when going to see a good movie. Therefore, you’d better not just watch a movie at home and then go to bed. you can hang out with your friends and share your latest news face to face based on going to see a movie together.

⑤Anyway, we are lucky enough to live in a time that benefits people who love to go out and those who love to stay at home. Netflix and other services will always be there for those who prefer to stay at home. But going to the cinema offers better experience, and it helps cinemas create more jobs. It’s a win-win. So why not see a cool movie at your local cinemas?

1. What influence do home video streaming services seem to bring?

A．Cinemas will soon disappear.

B．Cinema business is getting hurt.

C．Cinemas begin to offer better services to customers.

D．Films have become much funnier than before.

2. Three kinds of films are mentioned in Paragraph 3 to show _________.

A．not all films are always interesting as well as popular

B．people can watch different kinds of films when free

C．cinemas should show different films at different times

D．some films are more amazing when watched in cinemas

3. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To persuade us to join outdoor activities as often as possible.

B．To present the advantage of watching films at home.

C．To show us the reasons for the decline of theater.

D．To advise people to go to the theater.

4. What’s the structure of the passage?

A．

B．

C．

D．