1. Which of the following matches Group 1?
| A．I always have meals at home. | B．I hardly have time for breakfast. |
| C．I like cooking meals for myself. | D．I often eat snacks while watching TV. |
| A．Sit in the sofa while eating snacks. |
| B．Eat snacks quickly after doing sports. |
| C．Don’t eat anything while watching TV. |
| D．Place healthy snacks at hand while watching TV. |
| A．How to eat in right ways. | B．How to have a healthy life. |
| C．How to have three meals. | D．How to keep yourself strong. |
2 . Not all fat is created the same, according to several new studies. We all know there’s good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. It turns out there’s good and bad fat, too. Good fat is medically known as “brown fat”.
Brown fat, mainly found in the neck and shoulders of newborns, has the ability to burn lots of calories, which can keep them warm. It makes up about 5 percent of a baby’s total weight. We lose most of our brown fat as we grow up. By the age of six, we have less than 5 percent of the brown fat we were born with; the fat we get over time is almost all white fat.
Researchers now believe that some people keep brown fat until adulthood. Brown fat—the “good” kind can burn excess energy better to make heat. But white fat—considered the “bad” kind—is a way for your body to keep excess energy and take more calories than you use. It is bad for the body. And it doesn’t use much energy, is hard to burn off, and causes other health problems.
Some studies suggest that taking a cold shower or an ice bath could let brown fat help your body burn more calories. Researchers have also found ways that may help people get brown fat without the need for cold. You build fat from the foods you eat. As brown fat is rich in iron, choosing food rich in iron can keep you healthy. Nutrition is very important for your health, especially if you want to increase brown fat.
One main reason of the growth in illnesses is the increasing level of white fat. Though changing white fat into brown fat is helpful to increase brown fat, some scientists think they will learn how to keep brown fat as large and active throughout adulthood as they are like babies. We should try our best to keep brown fat forever instead of having to recreate it.
1. Who has the most brown fat among the four persons?| A．A teenage girl. | B．A college student. | C．A new-born baby. | D．An elderly teacher. |
| A．It can cause health problems. | B．It burns calories in a better way. |
| C．It is found in the neck and shoulders. | D．It keeps excess energy in the human body. |
| A．Ways of increasing the number of brown fat. |
| B．The advantages of the brown fat. |
| C．The importance of nutrition in brown fat production. |
| D．The temperature in increasing the brown fat. |
| A．How to recreate more brown fat. | B．How to turn white fat into brown fat. |
| C．How to make the danger of white fat less. | D．How to keep brown fat. |
3 . The Chinese new year begins on 22 January 2023 and ends on 9 February 2024. While most of Asia celebrates the year of the rabbit, Vietnam celebrates the year of the cat. In the Chinese zodiac*, there are 12 animals, and the 4th animal is the rabbit; while in the Vietnamese zodiac, the 4th animal is the cat. Why did the cat substitute for the rabbit in Vietnam?
Ancient storytellers said the Jade Emperor organized a race across a river for all the animals in the world. The first 12 to reach the other side would appear in the zodiac. In the Chinese story, the cat and the rat were riding across a river on an ox when the rat pushed the cat into the water. The rat won the race and that is why cats have been hunting rats ever since. But in the Vietnamese zodiac story, there isn’t a rabbit. The cat could swim and ended up arriving. The two countries have different origins* of zodiac.
Quyen Di, a lecturer at UCLA, said the custom has to do with the landscape of Vietnam. “In the past, the Chinese lived in the savanna* area, while the Vietnamese lived in the lowland area. The people of the savanna like to live near the wilderness, and they chose the rabbit as an animal that lived in the wild fields. But the lowland people of Vietnam consider rabbits as animals that are used for food and chose the cat because they believe cats are friends living in their house.”
1. The underlined words “substitute for” in paragraph 1 can be replaced by ________.| A．take off | B．take care of | C．take the place of | D．take up |
| A．The Jade Emperor liked the cat. |
| B．The rabbit fell into the river in the zodiac race. |
| C．The rat and the rabbit were friends in ancient times. |
| D．The cat finished fourth by swimming across the river. |
| A．Their living environment. | B．Their language pronunciation. |
| C．Their way of life. | D．Their favorite animal. |
| A．To explain the history of the Chinese zodiac. |
| B．To show ways of celebrating the year of the rabbit. |
| C．To tell the traditions of Chinese culture. |
| D．To introduce the origin of the year of the cat in Vietnam. |
Do you always feel lonely? When do you feel lonely? Is loneliness a good feeling? Nowadays more and more people are having this kind of feeling in their daily life. When someone feels lonely, he or she will have an experience of being alone because of low levels of social contact* and relationships*.
There are two kinds of loneliness: emotional* loneliness and social loneliness. Emotional loneliness is about the relationship between parents and their children. When children leave their parents for a while, they usually show the pain, such as crying and trying to search for their parents. Therefore, emotional loneliness is caused by leaving a person that someone is close to, such as a parent. On the other hand, social loneliness is the loneliness that one experiences when he or she leaves a wide social network*. One doesn’t feel that he or she is a member of a group, or one doesn’t have friends to talk to when he or she is sad.
Besides, loneliness is different from being alone. Being alone is about not having contact with people. But loneliness is a subjective experience: if people think they are lonely, then they are lonely. People can be lonely when they are alone, or in a group. What makes people lonely is the fact that they want more social interaction*. People can be in a group and feel lonely because they don’t get to talk to enough people. On the other hand, one can be alone and not feel lonely, though there is no one around him or her. That person is not lonely because maybe he or she doesn’t want to have social interaction* at that time.
So, what about you? Will you feel lonely if you stay alone? Or you just enjoy the time being with yourself.
1. Why did the writer start the passage with questions?| A．To let readers answer these questions. |
| B．To ask for more ideas about loneliness. |
| C．To make readers interested in the passage. |
| D．To check students’ understanding of loneliness. |
| A．They have no friends to talk to. | B．They have a small social network. |
| C．They have a feeling of being lonely. | D．They don’t get on well with their parents. |
| A．A hot subject. | B．A person’s own feeling. |
| C．A pain in the body. | D．A person’s special plan. |
| A．One can be not lonely with nobody around. |
| B．Being alone is an important reason of loneliness. |
| C．Different people have the same level of social interactions. |
| D．Staying with group members can make people feel less lonely. |
 | Pixar Animation Studios Location: California, USA Steve Jobs bought Pixar in 1986. Later Disney bought it in 2006. The studio has produced many successful animated films including Toy Story and Finding Nemo. |
 | Walt Disney Animation Studios Location: California, USA Walt and Roy set up the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in 1923. After years, Disney Animation has become the most famous animation studio in the world. Its best-known films include The Lion King and Big Hero 6. |
 | DreamWorks Animation Location: California, USA In 1994, Steven, Jeffrey and David founded DreamWorks. Now its owner is Universal Pictures. It has made films like Shrek and Kung Fu Panda. |
 | Studio Ghibli Location: Tokyo, Japan Ghibli is one top animation studio in Japan. Ghibli makes eight in 15 top animated films in Japan. These works make it famous all over the world. You must have heard of the following films: Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro. |
1. Studio Ghibli makes the film ________.
| A．Toy Story | B．Kung Fu Panda | C．Castle in the Sky | D．The Lion King |
| A．Disney bought it in 2006. | B．It is a part of Universal Pictures. |
| C．It is a very famous studio in Japan. | D．It’s the most famous animation studio in the world. |
| A．tells us how people make cartoon movies | B．introduces some famous cartoon studios |
| C．gives us information about some films | D．asks more readers to watch movies |
①ChatGPT, a smart AI chatbot tool, has swept the education world in the past months. According to a US study of more than 1,000 students, over 89 percent of them have used ChatGPT to help with a homework assignment.
②A company called OpenAI in the US developed ChatGPT. ChatGPT is a powerful tool. You can ask it to write stories, plays and emails, create recipes, translate languages, and answer all kinds of questions in different languages. It can learn things quickly and even improve its learning by itself.
③Some schools in the US, Australia and France have stopped the use of ChatGPT. In the US, for example, New York City public schools stopped students and teachers from using ChatGPT on the district’s networks and devices. Besides, teachers are making changes to their classes to stop the use of ChatGPT. Some college teachers in the US try to use more speaking exams and handwritten papers.
④Some worry that the tool could make it easier for students to cheat on assignments. Others worry that people might use ChatGPT to spread incorrect information. “It does not help to build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. They are important for study and lifelong success,” said Jenna Lyle, the deputy press secretary of the New York City Department of Education.
⑤But not all educators say “no” to ChatGPT. Some Canadian universities are making rules on its use, for both students and teachers. Now they have no plans to stop the tool completely.
⑥Bhaskar Vira, the headteacher at the University of Cambridge in the UK, said that stopping using AI like ChatGPT is not sensible. “We have to know that AI is a tool people will use,” he said. What we need to do is “to change our learning, teaching and exams”. That way, we can “be honest while knowing the use of the tool”.
1. Paragraph② mainly talks about ________.| A．what ChatGPT can do | B．how ChatGPT works |
| C．what ChatGPT looks like | D．who developed ChatGPT |
| A．ChatGPT is the smartest AI chatbot tool |
| B．ChatGPT is important for study and lifelong success |
| C．using ChatGPT is not good for students’ development |
| D．some Canadian universities have stopped students from using ChatGPT |
| A．ChatGPT: A powerful AI tool | B．ChatGPT: Is it good or bad? |
| C．Stop using ChatGPT at school | D．The use of ChatGPT in the US |
1. From 2020 to 2022, the number of people in ________ rises the most.
| A．reading news |
| B．paying |
| C．shopping |
| D．livestreaming |
| 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 |
| A．http://life.online.cn |
| B．http://sports.world.com |
| C．http://robot.work.com |
| D．http://traditions.China.cn |
8 . You need some bread and milk. But half an hour later, you leave the supermarket with a trolley of food. What games do supermarkets play to make us spend so much money?
The games usually start before you walk in. When we walk past the supermarket entrance. We can smell warm, fresh bread. That makes us want to eat and then buy lots of food, not just bread.
▲And, of course, a small basket would be fine, but most are trolleys. And of course a trolley is big and it looks poor and strange with just one or two products in it. So we may put lots of products into it. You see, supermarket trolleys are getting bigger.
What’s more, what about the music? Most supermarkets don’t play fast songs. Because they want you to spend more time and money there. And you won’t be in a hurry when the supermarket is busy. And be careful with queues at the checkouts. Sometimes, these are just to make you buy something from the checkout shelves next to you while you are waiting.
So, next time you go into a supermarket, can you come out just with the things you want? Think about the games!
1. Which game do supermarkets play before you walk in?
| A．the smell from fresh bread | B．a big trolley at the entrance |
| C．the music in the supermarket | D．the long line at the checkout |
| A．So you go home to get a big basket. |
| B．Now you are in the supermarket. |
| C．But you need to buy a basket first. |
| D．Then you run out of the supermarket. |
| A．fast songs | B．many shelves | C．strange baskets | D．long lines |
| A．how customers compare big trolleys and small baskets |
| B．what games customers play with the supermarkets |
| C．how supermarkets make customers spend more money |
| D．why supermarkets choose to give customers trolleys |
France is in Western Europe. It is a country with many beautiful places.
Paris is the capital of France. Here you will find many famous places of interest such as the Eiffel Tower. You can go to the Louvre Museum if you like art. The most famous street in Paris is the Champs-Elysees. This is the place to go if you want to visit some shops and department stores.
France is very famous for its wine. There are many vineyards in the centre of France and farmers grow grapes to make excellent French wine.
The south of France lies on the coast, and it is famous for its wonderful beaches. A French town by the sea is the fantastic place for a summer holiday, but if you want to visit France in winter, you can try skiing on the mountains in the French Alps.
France has something for everyone, so why not visit France this year?
1. We can learn about ________ in France from the passage.| A．languages | B．people | C．places | D．food |
①enjoy art
②go shopping
③eat grapes
④go swimming
| A．①②③ | B．①②④ | C．①③④ | D．②③④ |
| A．let people know about France | B．ask people to visit France |
| C．teach students about France | D．show the importance of France |
We all know memory is necessary to success in studying. How to improve memory? One way might be walking backwards.
Walking backwards, whether doing it really or imagining it, can improve the brainpower in the short term. Researchers did an interesting memory test. 114 volunteers watched a video in which a woman had her bag stolen. Then they answered 20 questions about the information in the video. Ten minutes after watching the video, then they asked the volunteers to divide into three groups. The first two groups moved forwards or backwards 10 meters while the third group stayed still on the same point. The researchers found that the backwards-walking group got two more correct answers on average than the other two groups.
When we walk backwards, everything we learn becomes strange to us. “This forces the brain to think in a different way.” Christine Weber, the researcher from US, told Forbes. It almost always means that our brain needs to be more active and able to think quickly in the short time. Naturally, our short-term memory will improve a lot.
Not only improving our memory, walking backwards also help us keep fit. Compared to walking forward, backward walking puts less pressure and needs smaller movements from the knee joints so that there will be less pain in the knees. What’s more, it is more challenging. You should use muscles and movements that you probably hardly use, making it a perfect way to change your daily exercise for greater fitness. By making people put in more effort, it burns more fat and calories. However, be careful, it will let you get hurt if you have a sore neck.
1. From the memory test, we can know ________.| A．there are three groups of volunteers before watching the video |
| B．the first two groups got more right answers than the third group |
| C．the third group didn’t move but other groups move 20 meters |
| D．the backwards-walking group did the best in the test |
| A．It can improve our memory in the long term. |
| B．It can help us pay more attention to important things. |
| C．It can force our brain work faster and better. |
| D．It can help us use less muscles when we exercise. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．ways to improve memory |
| B．advantages of walking backwards |
| C．ways to protect knees |
| D．advice for keeping fit |
