When Thomas Edison hit a wall with his inventions, he would nap* in an armchair while holding a steel ball. As he started to fall asleep and his muscles relaxed, the ball would strike the floor, waking him with insights* into his problems. Or so the story goes.
Thomas Edison was somewhat right. Now, more than 100 years later, scientists have repeated the trick in a lab, proving that the famous inventor was on to something. People following his recipe* tripled their chances of solving a math problem. The trick was to wake up in the transition* between sleep and wakefulness, just before deep sleep. In this transitional period, we are not quite awake, but also not deeply asleep. It can be as short as a minute and happens right when we start to sleep.
Researchers invited more than 100 easy sleepers to be volunteers or the experiment. The team gave each of them a math test. Those who didn’t find the key took a 20-minute break resting in a chair in a dark room with their eyes closed. Each held a plastic bottle in their right hand. After the break when the bottle fell, the volunteers went back to complete the math problem. By studying brain activity, they found that those who napped and were interrupted* during the first phase of sleep were three times better at finding the hidden key to the problem than those who remained awake.
The creative-effect happened even for people who spent just 15 seconds in the first sleep stage. But the trick didn’t work for those who reached later stages of sleep. “Our findings suggest there is a creative sweet spot during sleep onset*,” says Delphine Oudiette, a sleep researcher at the Paris Brain Institute. “It is a small window which can disappear if you wake up too early or sleep too deep.”
Therefore, the research team has already planned an experiment to help people reach a creative zone by monitoring* their brain waves in real time. “Edison was great”, Oudiette says, “and now we have a lot more to explore.”
1. Edison would nap in an armchair when he ________ in his inventions.| A．felt a little tired | B．had creative ideas |
| C．solved the problems | D．made no progress |
| A．Gaining enough deep sleep | B．Discovering the hidden rules of problems |
| C．Following Edison’s life style | D．Waking up right after nodding off to sleep |
| A．People can solve difficult problems after they had a nap. |
| B．Some people do much better in a math test than many others. |
| C．Creativity happens while sleeping, but it can disappear easily. |
| D．Sleeping with a ball in one hand is the key to solve problems. |
| A．Edison’s Experiment on Nap | B．A Study on Creativity |
| C．The Importance of Enough Sleep | D．The Importance of Creativity |
It’s the age of globalization. Globalization influences our daily lives in every way, such as entertainment, clothing and food.
Popular culture has become more globalized. People in the United States enjoy listening to South African music and reading Japanese comic books. American soap operas are popular in Israel.
India’s Bollywood movies, for example, are popular both in India and with the huge population of Indian people living abroad. In fact, some Bollywood movies do much better in the US or the UK than they do in India.
Clothing styles have also become more uniform as a result of globalization. National and regional clothes have become less common to be seen. In most parts of the world, workers such as bankers wear suits, and jeans and T-shirts are worn by almost everyone.
There has also been an increasing exchange of foods across the globe. People in England eat Indian curry, while people in Peru enjoy Japanese sushi. Meanwhile, American fast-food chains have become common throughout the world. McDonald’s has more than 37,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. People all over the world are eating more meat and sugary foods, like those sold in fast food restaurants.
The worldwide development of McDonald’s has become a symbol of globalization. Some menu foods, such as the Big Mac, are the same all over the world. Other menu foods are changed to meet the needs of that area. McDonald’s in Japan has a special green tea-flavored milk shake which can’t be found anywhere else. At McDonald’s in Uruguay, a “McHuevo” is a burger topped with a fried egg. Globalization has brought McDonald’s to billions of consumers worldwide.
1. Which of the following is the example of globalization?| A．American young men read lots of Japanese comic books. |
| B．Drinking tea is popular with Chinese young generation. |
| C．Ancient clothing like Hanfu is loved by young Chinese. |
| D．Bollywood movies are widely watched in India. |
| A．popular | B．beautiful | C．different | D．the same |
| A．McDonald’s is a symbol of modern fast-food chain |
| B．McDonald’s is famous for its meat and sugary food. |
| C．McHuevo can be bought in every McDonald’s restaurant. |
| D．Food in different McDonald’s restaurants can be different. |
| A．How globalization started and developed. |
| B．How globalization influences our daily lives. |
| C．How McDonald’s has influenced globalization. |
| D．What problems globalization brought to McDonald’s. |
3 . Taihu Tunnel, 10.79 kilometres long and 43.6 metres wide, has been the longest underwater tunnel in China. It stands out as one of the “2022 China’s Top 100 Buildings in the New Era”.
When building Taihu Tunnel, the project team faced many challenges, such as high safety risks and time limit. To deal with them, they made workable plans. They divided the tunnel construction into 19 parts. The construction of each part mainly took four steps.
Step 1 Remove. The team built a cofferdam to remove water from the area, so the workers could go inside and do their work in dry conditions.
Step 2 Clear. The team dug deep into the lake bed, and cleared the soil and stones out in order to make space for the next step.
Step 3 Build. The team built the floor, walls and roof of the tunnel in this step. They used high-quality building materials to waterproof the tunnel.
Step 4 Backfill. The team put the soil and stones back. Then this part of the tunnel was buried deep down the lake bed.
The construction of the 19 parts was streamlined. The project team used a new method. The work group of each step moved to the next part and repeated their work after they finished the work in the previous part. Different work groups co-operated well with each other. From part to part, the construction started from the opposite ends, and got connected somewhere in the middle. The construction took about four years to complete, shorter than people had expected.
The drivers’ safety is fully considered in Taihu Tunnel. There are 200,000 LED lights on the ceiling of the tunnel. They show vivid pictures of blue sky, starry night and so on. The pictures can help drivers fight tiredness and travel through the tunnel safely. Besides, there are two systems in the tunnel. The police can check the traffic situation through a monitoring system. If traffic accidents happen, the police can give instructions and warn drivers in the tunnel over an audio system to prevent further accidents.
The construction of Taihu Tunnel shows great value in engineering and the tunnel brings much convenience to people living nearby.
1. Which picture shows how a “cofferdam” works?A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．was divided into four parts | B．look more time than people had expected |
| C．started from the middle of the lake | D．was completed by using a streamlined method |
| A．Pictures in the tunnel can help keep drivers safe. |
| B．Drivers can control the LED lights in the tunnel. |
| C．The police can warn drivers through a monitoring system. |
| D．An audio system can help drivers check the traffic situation. |
| A．To advise people to protect Taihu Tunnel. |
| B．To introduce the construction of Taihu Tunnel. |
| C．To share the advantages brought by Taihu Tunnel. |
| D．To tell the difficulties of constructing Taihu Tunnel. |
4 . 
A marathon is a long running race of 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometres). The first Olympic Marathon was held in Athens. Now, many cities host their own marathons every year. Some of the best-known marathons around the world are the New York City Marathon, the Boston Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon. Among them, the Boston Marathon which started in 1897, is the oldest yearly marathon in the world. As time goes by, the sport has become more than just a race.
Themes of marathons add fun and meaning to the hard miles. Runners run for helping sick kids, celebrating important events, or just enjoying nature. There is a famous marathon in Gisborne, New Zealand, which is known for being the first city in the world to welcome the sunlight every day. Runners can greet the sunrise as they race along the golden sandy beaches.
Marathon routes bring people more understanding of the old sport. Some routes provide great sporting challenges for runners. The routes offer various surfaces, from bridges to sand to hills. Runners of all skill levels can sweat freely and push their limits in the race. Some routes are well planned for runners to explore the many sides of a city. For example, the route of the Great Wall Marathon takes the runners along the great wonder of the world. The race can be an amazing chance to get to know Beijing, its people and local food.
A marathon is quite a journey for runners to enjoy the run, challenge themselves and experience the culture. There is so much more behind the race for us to explore.
1. According to the passages the oldest yearly marathon is ________.| A．the Tokyo Marathon | B．the Olympic Marathon |
| C．the Boston Marathon | D．the New York City Marathon |
| A．First Light. | B．Lively Kids. | C．Green Miles. | D．Fun Beach. |
| A．is difficult to plan | B．shows the city culture |
| C．offers different surfaces | D．brings challenge to runners |
| A．Marathon: Not Just a Race | B．Marathon: Routes and Rules |
| C．Marathon: History and Thames | D．Marathon: A Race for Everyone |
A Guide to Have More Fun
When is the last time you had fun? Felt truly happy? If you’re making efforts not to be bored in your life, we’ll offer you expert advice on how to have more fun.
◎Find a new hobby. You may not be having as much as you want because you feel like you’re doing the same old thing day after day. 1 It will not only provide something to look forward to in your daily life, but it will also make you more open to new ideas.
◎ 2 Experts suggest that music helps reduce (减少) stress and improves your feelings. Every time you feel stressed, turn on a song you like to reduce your stress. By doing so, you’ll make it a part of your daily activities which will improve your feelings.
◎Take a trip together. Travel is great for your mental health. 3 And try to improve your relationships with the people you travel with. Travel doesn’t have to be big or expensive either. It can be as simple as taking a road trip just a few hours away.
◎ 4 You won’t seriously influence your productivity if you take the time to enjoy a little game once in a while. Even just playing with silly putty while you’re at your desk will make your study day a little more enjoyable.
Even busy with your study, it’s still important to find time for fun. It makes your life not so boring and offers lots of health benefits like less stress, better memory and more energy.
A. Listen to music.
B. Play some games.
C. Stay alone at home.
D. Get a change of scene.
E. Try a new activity you love.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. What else can you do to have more fun?
As usual, Mr Robinson, who is eighty years old, wakes up and find himself looking for his glasses. It has been twelve times for him to do such a thing within a week. However, he is not alone. As an increasing number of the elderly has come across the same problem: Memory Loss as a result of the aging.
Since aging is a natural part of human life, there is little that can be done to stop it. So scientists have been focusing on how to prevent sharp memories from worsening with aging, but the problem remains unsolved. Now research published in Scientific Reports suggests virtual reality might help older people remember facts and events based on specific details.
The study asked 42 healthy older adults from the San Francisco Bay Area to take part in it. Half spent a dozen hours over four weeks playing a virtual- reality game called Labyrinth: they wore headsets and walked in place, walking virtual neighborhoods while completing small tasks. The other half, in the control group, used iPad to play games that did not require thinking of details. After 15 sessions, the latter performed about the same as before on a long-term memory test. But the Labyrinth players have an improvement in memory through the VR game. A scientist Peter Wais of the University of California said the improvements helped them to be as good as the level of another group of younger adults who took the same memory tests.
Meredith Thompson, an education researcher, studies learning through VR games but was not involved in the new study. “It would be great to actually follow people over time and see what this type of game does for long-term memory.” She says, adding VR can provide greater involvement than other games. Wais’s team is now researching how long the effects would last and which part of the training have the most influence.
Daniel Simons, another expert, who was also not involved in the study, says that experiments with other games, which are said to be able to train the brain, have often failed to notice this. And he doubts if the test performance in a lab also works in real-world situations. According to Simons, it is better for the scientists to have more people taking part in the tests before it is widely used.
1. How does the writer lead in the topic?| A．By telling a story | B．By offering numbers |
| C．By comparing groups | D．By describing the scene |
| A．Because aging is a natural part of our human life. |
| B．Because aging is a problem too difficult to solve. |
| C．Because scientists themselves are worried so much about aging. |
| D．Because scientists want to find ways to help with the problem. |
a. work on separate tasks b. divide the adults into halves
c. compare the results after 15 sessions d. choose healthy adults e. conclude the experiment
| A．d-b-a-c-e | B．d-b-a-e-c | C．d-e-c-a-b | D．d-b-e-a-c |
| A．Meredith takes part in helping designing and carrying out the experiment. |
| B．Like Meredith, Daniel is sure the experiment works in the real-world situations. |
| C．Both of the experts agree with each other that the experiment is powerful enough. |
| D．Both of the experts are not so sure about the actual effect of the experiment. |
“Military-style” travel has become the latest fashion among Chinese college students, who spend as little much money as possible to travel to as many places as they can during the weekend, hardly taking a break or even sleeping. To save money, they usually catch a normal-speed train on a Friday night, arrive at the destination city on Saturday morning, travel around in the city, sleep at a 24-hour restaurant for a few hours on Saturday, then repeat the same busy schedule on Sunday before returning to their university in time for classes on Monday morning. These young travelers pay less attention to in-depth experiences and more focused on checking off popular tourist destinations on our schedule.
Hu Die, a student at Inner Mongolia University of Technology, is one such traveler. She put together a 10-day holiday during the recent May Day holiday period and traveled to six cities. On April 26, she took a high-speed train to Beijing and then from Beijing to Tai’an, Shandong Province, to climb Mount Tai. To save money, she spent 4 hours climbing up to the mountaintop rather than using a cable car. After watching the sunrise from it on April 27, she visited Dai Temple at the foot of the mountain. She then went to Jinan in the afternoon, visited Daming Lake and Quancheng Square in the evening, and on the morning of April 28 went to Baotu Spring and Heibu Spring. She traveled to Zibo to enjoy the famous barbecue in the city, went to Yantai and Weihai before May 4th, when she arrived in Luoyang, Henan Province. There, she visited the Longmen Grottoes and then returned to her school on May 5. Most people can hardly imagine how she traveled extensively in only 10 days. “We do not think we are doing something ‘crazy’ or ‘amazing’. We are young and energetic enough to experience such a tight travel schedule,” she said. “Moreover, when you travel with your friends, you are happy, you do not feel tired.”
Videos of them taking such trips have been posted on social media platforms, such as TikTok, Red, with much praise for their energetic spirit and high ability to achieve their plans. Others, however, question whether such a busy schedule is healthy.
1. According to the passage, what does a “Military-style” traveler usually do while travelling?| A．Take a high-speed train | B．Live in a fantastic hotel |
| C．Spend as much money as possible | D．Visit as many as places in a short time |
| A．Crazy | B．Amazing | C．Tiring | D．Busy |
| A．slowly | B．widely | C．carefully | D．usefully |
| A．To introduce a new kind of travel style. |
| B．To show the experience of Hu Die’s travel. |
| C．To advise people to travel like “Military-style”. |
| D．To encourage people to have a “Military-style” travel. |
8 . Have you ever lost yourself in doing something so that you lost track of time? Everything around you—from the ringing of phones to the people passing in the hallways—seemed to be away.
Most of us have had this experience at one time or another. This is a mental state called “flow”. When it happens, we completely focus on the task before us so that nothing else seems to matter. We feel energetic, even joyful, about what we are doing.
The idea of flow was introduced and first studied by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihályi. His flow model shows the emotional states, which we’re likely to experience when trying to complete a task, depend on the difficulty of the challenge and our skill levels. For example, if the task is low challenging and doesn’t require a lot of skills, we’re likely to feel apathy and bored towards it. But facing a challenging task without the required skills could easily result in worry and anxiety. To perform at our best, we need a task with a high difficulty level, and we believe we have well-developed skills to do it. This moves us to a position where we can experience “flow”.
________? During flow, people can improve performance and get better result, faster. For instance, artists who Csikszentmihályi interviewed, said that they were highly productive, and that their work was done perfectly “without putting in much effort” in the flow state. Flow can also make people more curious and creative because they have to seek new challenges and information to keep the state. With flow, people have greater levels of happiness and satisfaction in their activities.
Flow often happens during creative activities and sports activities. But flow states aren’t just something experienced by artists, writers, or sports persons. Flow can happen anytime a person is deeply engaged in a task, including during learning activities. Many people want to achieve flow more often in their daily lives. While doing a task, having clear plans, adding something challenge-able and giving and receiving feedback in time can help achieve flow. It’s more difficult to achieve flow if the focus is disturbed, so it’s necessary that smartphones, TV and other distractions get turned off.
1. When people are in flow, they ________.| A．need to dicuss on the phone | B．focus on the time often |
| C．give full attention to their tasks | D．notice others passing by |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Why is flow so enjoyable | B．When can people experience flow |
| C．What advantages does flow bring | D．How do people use the flow model |
| A．A writer who gets much advice after publishing a book. |
| B．An artist who is drawing an apple for his 10-year-old daughter. |
| C．A chess player who knows what to do before competitions. |
| D．A student who prefers doing homework while watching TV. |
Kiska, the last captive killer whale in Canada—also known as “the loneliest whale in the world”—died in March, 2023.
In 1979, when Kiska was three years old, she was caught from the North Atlantic Ocean and taken to an aquarium in Iceland. She lived with four other young killer whales, including Keiko, the future star of the “Free Willy” movies. In the same year, she and Keiko were sold to a theme park in Canada called Marineland. The pair lived there together in the 1980s. Keiko was later saved and sent to the ocean near Iceland, but Kiska had to spend her whole life in Marineland.
Kiska suffered a lot while living in Marineland. She was trained to perform for the public for nearly thirty years, even in a bad health condition. Throughout her life in captivity, she gave birth to five babies. Sadly, all of them died at young ages. After that, Kiska lived alone in the pool. No family members swam by her side. No friends invited her to play. She really wanted to go back to the ocean, but she couldn’t.
Killer whales are able to feel deep emotions better than humans, so it is hard to imagine the trauma Kiska experienced. She spent her final years swimming in endless circles or simply floating lifelessly. Kiska even hit her head against the pool purposefully.
Videos of Kiska’s self-harm received over 229, 000 views online. What happened to her shows how cruel it is to keep animals in captivity. In 2019, Canada banned the captivity of whales. Hopefully there will be more ways to help as many captive animals as possible return to nature.
1. When was Kiska sent to Marineland, Canada?| A．In 1976. | B．In 1979. | C．In 1980. | D．In 1982. |
| A．Her five babies died young. | B．She refused to swim with family. |
| C．Keiko lived with her until she died. | D．She needn’t perform when she was sick. |
| A．deep worry | B．big danger | C．great pain | D．serious illness |
| A．people should care more about captive animals |
| B．laws will be more useful in helping captive animals |
| C．theme parks need to look after captive animals better |
| D．better videos of captive animals should be shared online |
The science fiction movie The Wandering Earth Ⅱ has been quite popular since its release on Jan 22. The space elevators in the movie are quite impressive—elevator cars travel quickly between the cables hat connect Earth’s surface and the space station. This device may not only be imagined in the future.
Early in 1895, Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was inspired by the Eiffel Tower. He pointed out that if humans could build a tower high enough to reach space, people would be able to travel by space elevators. However, such a tower is impossible because no matter how large its base is, it would not be able to support the whole system.
Scientists then considered the idea in a different way. Earth’s satellites, about 36, 000 kilometers high in the sky, appear to be fixed in space. They rotate around Earth once every day. According to Scientific American, if such a satellite could drop cables towards Earth, and the cables could be fixed to Earth’ surface, then the whole system would rotate along with Earth.
This seems possible, but one of the challenges that stop engineers from building the elevators is the cables’ material. According to an article by the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, a carbon nanotube might be the most proper material. It weighs 1. 6 grams and it can hold more than 800 tons which is about the weight of 160 elephants. Since its discovery in 1991, scientists have been trying to create a carbon nanotube as long as possible. However, the longest carbon nanotube with a perfect structure was only about half a meter. It was developed by a team at Tsinghua University in 2013.
Space elevators require far less energy and money than rockets. With space elevators, space tasks would be carried out more easily and more frequently. Although scientists have not solved the key problem, they will continue doing research on carbon nanotubes. Maybe one day the space elevator will enter our life.
1. The author mentioned The Wandering Earth Ⅱ in Paragraph 1 to ________.| A．show the popularity of the movie |
| B．give personal opinions on the movie |
| C．explain the advantages of the movie |
| D．lead in the topic based on the movie |
| A．setting up a large base for a space tower |
| B．connecting satellites with Earth by cables |
| C．building a device for people to reach space |
| D．creating a system rotating along with Earth |
| A．how to create carbon nanotubes faster |
| B．how to make carbon nanotubes lighter |
| C．how to develop longer carbon nanotubes |
| D．how to discover more carbon nanotubes |
| A．Space Elevators：A Widely Used Invention |
| B．Space Elevators：A New Device on the Way |
| C．Space Elevators：A Science Project in China |
| D．Space Elevators：A Safe Guard for Space Travel |
