“Imagine that your home is on fire. You’re allowed to save one thing. Your family and pets are safe, so don’t worry about them. What is the most important thing you have? It can be any size.”
Linda Sue wrote a book The One Thing You’d Save. In it, a teacher named Ms. Chang invites her students to think of the question above. She wants to challenge her class to name the most important thing to them. Some students know the answer right away. Others come to their decisions more slowly. And some students change their minds when they hear their classmates’ answers. As for the answers, some choose baseball cards or toy animals. One picks a sweater that has been passed down for generations(代). Another chooses a box of memories about …
Even Ms. Chang shares her own choice in the end. It is a really thought-provoking(引人深思的) question. As the students are trying to answer it, they discover more about one another and themselves.
The book is a collection of poems. The writer tells the story through narrative(叙述的) poems. What makes the book popular is that it leads people to think deeply.
The book uses black-and-white pictures to show the objects the students choose. When seeing the pictures, people may think of scenes(场景) of their homes, the classroom and more.
The pictures offer wordless moments that encourage readers to think more before they move on.
Want to know what matters most to the students? Read this book.
1. What does Ms. Chang want to challenge her class to do?2. Why is the book The One Thing You’d Save popular?
3. How does the book show the objects the students choose?
4. What’s the most important object to you? Why? Write 30 words or more.
2 . People are trying to build “green buildings” that are friendly to the environment. They might not seem any different from common buildings. But let’s take a closer look.
Stay cool and warm. It takes a lot of energy to light rooms. It also takes energy to heat and cool buildings. So green buildings are designed to do all these things with much less energy. An energy-smart building starts with thick walls. Special insulation(隔热材料)inside keeps heat inside in winter and keeps heat outside in summer. This saves energy for heating and cooling. Some green buildings don’t need any radiators(散热器)or air conditioning at all!
Save the trees. What a building is made from can also help the planet. To save forests, some green buildings have bamboo floors instead of wood. Bamboo looks like wood, but it’s actually a grass. It grows back 20 times faster than a tree. Another way to build green is to use recycled materials. That saves the cost and reduces pollution of producing something new.
Make better home. City planners like green buildings because they save money and they are healthier for the people who work and live inside. But you don’t need to build a whole new building. Simple changes like shading windows and planting trees can make any home greener—and a better Earth home for us all.
As more people become concerned(担忧的)about climate change, more buildings are going green. Experts are finding new ways to build green buildings. We also need to change our mind. Let’s take action now!
1. How does an energy-smart building save energy for heating and cooling?| A．It uses air conditioners. | B．It uses smart radiators. |
| C．It has special thick walls. | D．It has fewer room lights. |
| A．it is a recycled material | B．it grows back much faster |
| C．it can keep the room warm | D．it can save a lot of money |
| A．build a whole new green building | B．pay attention to climate change |
| C．make small changes to our home | D．use only gas to cook our meals |
(①=Paragraph 1, ②=Paragraph 2, …)
A． | B． | C． | D． |
3 . Environmentalists（环保人士）are getting more worried about the effects of fast fashion on the environment. Fast fashion is the production of clothes in a large number at a low cost. They are put in shops and online stores quickly to create a high demand. Producers make 100 billion kinds of clothes every year. This is expected to grow by 60 percent by 2030.
The fast fashion business model is having a negative effect on the environment. Many of the clothes end up in dustbins and are not recycled. Another negative effect on the environment is caused by the chemicals used to make the clothes. These cause health problems to people working in clothes factories. It is reported that children make many of these clothes.
The way people are buying clothes is adding to the problem of clothing waste. Many years ago, people went to stores and tried clothes on. People took more time and thought more carefully before they bought clothes. They also wore them longer. Today, people order cheap clothes on the Internet and if they don’t like them, they send them back. Some people say this is a throwaway society. The German media company Deutsche Well wrote, “Every year in Europe, four million tons of clothing ends up in dustbins. Less than oneper cent of this is recycled.”
It seems the fashion industry is not so sustainable（可持续的）.
1. What do environmentalists think of fast fashion?| A．It is necessary for our society. | B．It is harmful to our environment. |
| C．It provides jobs for many people. | D．It is popular among young people. |
| A．They have to work long hours. |
| B．They produce the chemicals to make clothes. |
| C．They are worried about the environmental problems. |
| D．They become sick because of the chemicals used to make clothes. |
| A．People never buy clothes in shops now. |
| B．People used to spend more money on clothes. |
| C．People in Europe waste most of the clothes in the world. |
| D．The way people buying clothes makes the clothing waste problem worse. |
| A．Fast fashion helps people save a lot of money. |
| B．Shopping online around the world should be stopped. |
| C．The clothes on the Internet are always cheaper than in shops. |
| D．Only a small part of clothes in dustbins are recycled in Europe. |
Recently, a primary school in Changsha, has put Virtual Reality（VR）technology（虚拟现实技术）to good use in an English class. When the students put on the VR glasses, it seemed that they were taken into a new world where they could see for themselves. They could enjoy the views along the way, allowing more knowledge to be kept in mind.
VR language learning is now starting to be widely used in many schools. Think of it like this. Now you are learning English in China, you don’t have enough chances to use English if you are not in English classes, but if you learn English in English-speaking countries like America or the UK, it’ll be much easier for you to make progress.
Nowadays, a lot of apps have also been designed to serve VR language learning. The app “House of Languages” is one of them. It is already available on the Samsung（三星）VR. It can sense your movement and the acts of your eyeballs, arms and hands.
When you are learning English on it, lovely racoon（浣熊）called “Mr. Woo”, will guide you to communicate in English. You can use English by finishing tasks Mr. Woo gives you. For example, you will be asked to find certain things at your home according to the English words that Mr. Woo gives you. After you’ve found these things, you should “take” them, “come back” to Mr. Woo and “give” them to him. Then he will say “thanks” to you. Sometimes, Mr. Woo may have some activities like family party so that you will have more tasks to finish in that situation.
You will learn English so quickly that you will even forget you are learning.
Virtual Reality is showing increasing promise in language education and the day isn’t far away when it will become, one of the main media in education. What about you? Would you learn a new language in Virtual Reality?
1. Was it easier for the students in Changsha to learn English with VR?2. What can Samsung VR sense?
3. Why can the VR help students learn English better?
4. If you are the writer, what will you write next? Finish the ending.
Schoolwork is becoming more and more difficult for students now. Recently, some new rules have been made to make them have a happy school life.
These new rules are made for schools in Jiangsu province. They include some parts. For example, teachers of primary and junior high schools can’t reveal(公布) students’ test scores. They should use letters like A and B to grade students’ test results.
Because of COVID-19, students spent a long holiday at home. When giving lessons to students on the Internet, they had less communication with students and didn’t teach as much as they do at school so teachers think students may get bad scores in the future. After the new term starts, some schools might give more homework or classes to students. But the new rules ask schools not to do that. At the same time, students should have music, sports and art classes as usual.
People have different ideas about the new rules. Yin Fei, a college professor, says some students are not good at studying, but they can do well in other things. So it is good to cancel(取消) scores. But Peng Ming, a teacher in Nanjing, worries about that. He thinks scores are still important. Students need to get high scores to enter good colleges and parents care about their children’s scores. So the new rules are not so good for them.
1. Can teachers reveal students’ test scores in Jiangsu province?2. How should teachers there grade students’ test results?
3. What makes some schools might give more homework or classes to students?
4. As a student, do you agree to the new rules? Why or why not?
It has been said that good cooking is an art form. The fact is that it’s much more than that. It’s a way to teach kids necessary skills in daily life. It invites kids to make connections to the outside world by asking, “Where does our food come from? ” and “What is the history of this recipe (食谱)?” And it lets them use what they are learning at school in their real life.
They also test the math skills of young cooks. Measuring ingredients (成分) is a common task in cooking or baking. Cooking also brings science ideas to life. It is a perfect chance for them to learn that oil and water don’t usually mix.
Besides the useful skills, cooking builds personality (个性). It encourages kids to work with others. It also encourages them to be open to foods they might not haven’t tried. Peter, 12, had never eaten broccoli before testing a recipe with broccoli (花菜) in it. His parents reported that he was so excited about this new ingredient that he cooked it for his family the next night.
Failures in cooking are as important as the successes, because they help kids to understand that. _______ When Helen, an 11-year-old girl, took her cake out of the oven, she was disappointed to find that it was flat as a board. But then she decided to work together with her father to find out what had gone wrong. Both of them kept trying many times until they managed to make the most delicious cake ever in the end.
Of course, the best part of cooking with kids is the wonderful memories you make together in the kitchen. This year, Tom and his family have already done a lot of holiday baking, such as their favorite chocolate-chip cookies. They both felt excited even though the kitchen was in a mess.
1. Is cooking a way to teach kids necessary skills in daily life?2. How did Peter feel about the new ingredient?
3. Please complete the sentence in paragraph 4.
4. Will you choose to make some cookies with your family like Tom? Why or why not?
7 . Nina is reading a book which described 37 endangered natural and cultural treasures in the world. The writers want the book to be a hopeful call to action. Let’s visit some of these places.
Venice
The ancient city of Venice, Italy has long been threatened (威胁) by rising sea levels because of the warm temperature. The situation is made worse by the fact that its ancient buildings, built on a body of water, are slowly sinking (下沉). When the city was founded about 1,600 years ago, the level of Adriatic Sea was almost 2 meters lower than it is today.
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro in northeastern Tanzania, is the highest in Africa, almost 6,000 metres. The mountain supports 5 plant areas and many kinds of animals. The ice glaciers (冰川) on the mountain are disappearing very quickly. This will have a bad effect on the mountain’s ecosystems (生态系统) and on Tanzania’s travel industry. Also, a valuable record of thousands of years of weather history will also be lost if the ice melts.
Glacier National Park
In the United State, the icy blocks in Clacier National Park may soon completely disappear because of weather change. In 1850, there were about 150 glaciers. There are 26 glaciers remaining today. Scientists estimate that the glaciers will be gone by 2030. Warm temperatures are also threatening the many kinds of plants and animals that live in this mountain ecosystem.
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest coral reef (珊瑚礁) system in the world. Rising sea temperatures are greatly harming the reef. In some areas, healthy yellow, brown and green reefs have become white. The coral whitens when it is in warmer temperature. Sick or dying coral influences the whole ecosystem of this special underwater area. Water pollution and visits by careless swimmers and divers also threaten the reef.
1. What does the common harm to the four places above according to the text?| A．Sea levels. | B．Ice glaciers. | C．Warm temperature. | D．Water pollution. |
| A．count | B．guess | C．suggest | D．wonder |
| A．Listing numbers. | B．Drawing diagrams (图表). |
| C．Providing examples. | D．Making comparisons (比较). |
| A．Disappearing destinations (目的地). | B．Ecosystems of the sea. |
| C．Creating a new world now. | D．Treasures in the world. |
8 . As we all know, environmental pollution is still serious nowadays. Our group wanted to know how many students knew about each kind of the pollution and we wanted to know how often they sorted（分类） rubbish. So we did a survey among the students in our school. Here are the results of our questionnaire（问卷）.
The results of the questionnaire.
1. The survey is mainly about ______ .
| A．scientific research | B．environmental protection |
| C．everyday habits | D．physical education |
| A．two |
| B．three |
| C．four |
| D．five |
| A．Air pollution | B．Water pollution | C．Noise pollution | D．Global warming |
| A．All of the students | B．Most of the students | C．None of the students | D．Some of the students |
9 . A recent study shows that doing voluntary work (志愿者工作) can help people to live longer. From 2018 to 2022, some researchers made a survey among more than 3, 000 people. They found that just 2.3 percent of the people who once worked as volunteers (志愿者) had died, compared with 4.3 percent of those who never worked as volunteers.
They also found that how often people did voluntary work was important as well. Among those who once worked as volunteers, only 1.8 percent of people usually doing voluntary work (more than 4 times a month) died, compared with 2.5 percent of people occasionally doing voluntary work(once a month).
A further study shows that the reason why people do voluntary work is also important.
That is to say, people’s purposes of doing voluntary work make a difference. The researchers pointed out that the more pity volunteers felt for the poor people, the more possibility they had of living longer. Those volunteers for personal benefits (利益) had nearly the same length of life as the people who didn’t do voluntary work at all.
It may be a bad idea to encourage people to do voluntary work for personal benefits.
Doing voluntary work is often encouraged in schools and organizations. Some say that it’s okay to look for benefits for yourself. Others say that you will receive the health benefits through voluntary work. But in fact, the health benefits of doing voluntary work must be reduced if looking for personal benefits becomes a main purpose.
1. What did the researchers find from their recent study?| A．Plenty of people wanted to do voluntary work. |
| B．Plenty of people died of doing voluntary work. |
| C．People could grow rich by doing voluntary work. |
| D．People could live longer by doing voluntary work. |
| A．Never. | B．Sometimes. | C．Often. | D．Always. |
| A．To develop abilities. | B．To help the poor people. |
| C．To make more friends. | D．To get personal benefits. |
| A．Live longer: being forced to be a volunteer | B．Live longer: being ordered to be a volunteer |
| C．Live longer: being required to be a volunteer | D．Live longer: being prepared to be a volunteer |
10 . If you walk through a park in the morning or in the evening, you might see a lot of people doing these slow and beautiful movements—Carry the tiger over the mountain and White crane spreads its wings. In fact, they are doing Taichi.
“Taichi is an ancient martial art（武术）. It is a common kind of exercise in China. More than 100 million people in over 150 countries practice Taichi at present. Recently UNESCO（联合国教科文组织）has added Taichi to its Intangible Cultural Heritage List（非物质文化遗产名录）. Many Taichi fans were happy to hear of it. “This will make Taichi more popular around the world. Hopefully, more people will become healthier by practicing it.” said Chen Bin. He is a Taichi master from the village of Chenjiagou, Henan Province. This village is the birthplace of Chen-style Taichi.
It’s true that doing Taichi is good for our health. It can make us walk and move more freely, and it can also make us stronger. During slow movements, we can focus on our hands and feet. We can control them better. Slow movements also help us to take deep and long breaths.
Taichi also focuses on the harmony（和谐）between yin and yang. It shows how the ancient Chinese people saw the world. The world is full of yin and yang: dark and light, soft and hard（对立）each other completely. As we see in the picture, a white spot is in the black area and a black spot is in the white area. After a dark night, the sun will rise. Leaves fall in autumn but grow again in spring. Everything keeps changing—that is how the world works.
Taichi carries old Chinese philosophy（哲学）, such as being in harmony with nature and using softness to beat hardness. It has become a symbol of Chinese culture.
1. What’s the advantage of doing Taichi?| A．People can learn about different animals. |
| B．People can improve their wealth. |
| C．People can have a healthier life. |
| D．People can walk everywhere freely. |
| A．Slow and beautiful. |
| B．Free and exciting. |
| C．Fast and long. |
| D．Strong and tiring. |
| A．Because it is a symbol of Chinese culture. |
| B．Because it is from the village of Chenjiagou. |
| C．Because it can make us see the world clearly. |
| D．Because it can use softness to beat hardness. |
| A．To ask people to do Taichi in their free time. |
| B．To introduce an ancient martial art—Taichi. |
| C．To teach people how to do Taichi correctly. |
| D．To explain why Taichi can improve our health. |
