| A China’s cities are sinking. Nearly half of the big cities in China are sinking, putting local people in harm’s way in the coming decades, according to a new report by more than 50 scientists at Chinese research institutes. The land is getting lower as the ocean gets higher. That means tens of millions of people are already at risk, and that could grow to hundreds of millions by 2060 if China’s cities continue to grow in population and subside (下陷) at the same time. | B ? After a week of talks in Canada, leaders from 170 countries are nearing a deal on a global agreement to cut plastic waste. But environmentalists say the plastic industry is still standing in the way, since the amount of plastic production is still unbelievably large. Countries are trying to come up with creative solutions and the agreement needs to be supported by every country. |
| C New heat forecast tool is coming. Climate (气候) change has made heat risks more dangerous across the world. Luckily, a new heat warning system called HeatRisk was developed to keep track of dangerous heat. It gives people an understanding of when heat goes from uncomfortable to dangerous. | D Europe meets more heat risks. Heat-related deaths in Europe have increased by about 30% in the last 20 years. Europe is heating up about twice as quickly as the Earth as a whole, and that heat is killing large numbers of people during the summer months. |
1. In which column can you find the four passages above?
| A．Education. | B．Climate. | C．Science. |
①Problems ②Solutions
| A．AB-①; CD-② | B．AC-①; BD-② | C．AD-①; BC-② |
| A．Countries are close to reaching agreements on plastic waste. |
| B．Environmentalists are fighting against industry. |
| C．Plastic production is rising quickly. |
| A．Years. | B．Risks. | C．Cities. |
| A．The population of China’s big cities near the sea will grow. |
| B．With the help of the HeatRisk, people can avoid the harm by heat. |
| C．The reason why Europe meets higher heat risks wasn’t mentioned. |
2 . 
On November 8, a huge new airship called Pathfinder 1 made its first test flights in California. It was built by a company that wants to bring back an old form of transportation. Pathfinder 1 is really big. It’s 400 feet (121.9 meters) long, which is longer than a football field. It’s the largest airship since the 1930s. But Pathfinder 1 is new and uses new ideas and materials.
Airships were popular in the early 1900s. They were used for travel and even in wars. But most people stopped using them in 1937 when an airship called the Hindenburg caught fire and burned. After that, planes became more popular.
Now, the company which built Pathfinder 1 is trying to change that. They’ve been working on Pathfinder 1 for 10 years. It looks like the old airships, but it’s completely new. Pathfinder I uses helium gas 
to fly, which is lighter than air and doesn’t burn. (Hydrogen gas 
, which does burn, was responsible for the Hindenburg accident.) It also has 12 electric motors that can be powered by batteries. This makes it possible for the airship to take off and land without a runway.
Pathfinder 1 can fly at speeds of up to 120 kph. It can carry about 4 tons of people and things. In the future, the company hopes to show that airships can be a low-pollution way to move cargo over long distances.
1. What can Pathfinder 1 do with new ideas and materials?| A．It can be used for travel and even in wars. |
| B．It can take off and land without a runway. |
| C．It can fly to 120 kilometers high. |
| A．Helium gas is a new kind of materials and it doesn’t burn. |
| B．Helium gas is lighter than hydrogen gas and it doesn’t burn. |
| C．Helium gas is lighter than air and it doesn’t burn. |
| A．Planes are safer than airships. |
| B．Planes are bigger than airships. |
| C．Planes are lower in pollution. |
| A．The company which built Pathfinder 1. |
| B．Electric motors and batteries which Pathfinder I uses. |
| C．Things which Pathfinder 1 can transport. |
| A．To reuse airships with new ideas and materials. |
| B．To completely take the place of planes with airships. |
| C．To break records with the size of airships since the 1930s. |
3 . Actress Jia Ling became very popular on social media for two days in a row during the Chinese Lunar New Year. People were amazed by how she lost 50 kilograms while making her movie Yolo. This made everyone talk about living a healthy lifestyle. Many people on Weibo were discussing Jia’s weight loss journey, like“Jia’s story of losing weight”and “Jia Ling totally surprised me.” They were wondering. If it’s time to start developing healthier habits, especially during the Spring Festival.
One moviegoer named Li Qiaoya, who goes to the gym to lose weight, said, “Her success is really inspiring and is worth seeing in the movie.” Li also felt guilty for eating too much during the Spring Festival.
Jia used to be known for her funny laughter and emotional performances. She shared her new look after losing weight on social media, and her fans were shocked by her new jawline (下颌线) and how radiant (容光焕发的) she looked. Jia mentioned that the movie is not about boxing or losing weight, but it’s a heartwarming story about “learning to love yourself.”
However, not everyone agrees with Jia’s weight loss plan. To finish filming the movie, Jia had to gain 20 kilograms before starting to lose weight in just six months. “Not everyone can handle the challenge of losing 50 kilograms in only six months,” said Jiang Chong, a fitness expert from Chongqing. “It’s not just a physical challenge, but also a mental one.”
In interviews before the movie was released, Jia emphasized the importance of setting realistic (切实可行的) goals when talking about her weight loss journey. Jiang agreed and said that having achievable goals is important for a healthy lifestyle.“It’s never a bad thing to have a movie reminding many people about the importance of staying fit,” Jiang said. “To lose weight in a healthy way, you need to have long-term goals made up of smaller, reachable goals. It’s good to have a schedule and stick to it, instead of doing extreme (极端的) things to lose weight.”
1. How did Jia Ling’s weight loss affect social media?| A．People were disappointed. |
| B．People were surprised. |
| C．People were indifferent. |
| D．People were angry. |
| A．难过的 | B．失望的 | C．内疚的 | D．漠不关心的 |
| A．Boxing and losing weight. |
| B．Developing healthier habits. |
| C．Learning to love yourself. |
| D．Achieving realistic goals. |
| A．It was part of her movie role. |
| B．It was a mental challenge. |
| C．It was a physical challenge. |
| D．It was necessary for her health. |
| A．a piece of news | B．an ad | C．a diary | D．a letter |
 A Dinosaur (恐龙) Prints Discovered A diner eating in a restaurant’s outdoor yard, in Sichuan Province, has discovered dinosaur footprints on the ground. After using a 3D scanner (扫描仪), scientists made sure that the footprints are 100 million years old. They belonged to two dinosaurs with long necks and tails. |
B ________ Marley and Bob say they became interested in archaeology (考古学) from studying history at school, going to museums and watching Human Histories! They also go to the Young Archaeologists’ Club and they do digs at archaeological sites (地点) and carefully research their finds. “You never know what you might discover, and it is a fascinating way to uncover old remains on a real dig. It makes me really happy,” says Bob. |
 C Students Find Ancient Murals A group of student archaeologists have unearthed a 1,000 year-old mural (wall painting). The 30-meter mural shows mysterious scenes, which could reflect what the life was like in ancient Peru. Professor Luis says, “It is the most exciting and important find of recent years.” |
 D Uncovering the Earliest Highways Scientists are uncovering more secrets about the ancient Maya civilization (文明) with the discovery of 417 cities dating back to 2,000 years ago. The cities were found to be connected by 110 miles of “highways”, which is believed to be the “world’s first-ever system of highways”. The “highways” were wide roadways made in stones. |
| A．TRAVEL. | B．HISTORY. | C．ART. |
| A．The dinosaur footprints were discovered through a 3D scanner. |
| B．Marley and Bob studied archaeology in school. |
| C．Maya people built the world’s earliest highways with stones. |
| A．Come to Our Club | B．Dig and Discover the World | C．Find Out Your Hobby |
| A．The mysterious scene. | B．The life in ancient Peru. | C．The mural. |
| A．They all say hello to the past. |
| B．They all report new archaeological finds. |
| C．They all tell ancestors’ stories. |
5 . Moutai and Luckin are both very famous brands in China. Now, they are working together to create something called Jiangxiang Latte, which is a kind of alcoholic (含酒精的) coffee.
According to a report, more than 5.42 million cups of Jiangxiang Latte were sold on the first day. Luckin said that Jiangxiang Latte set a new daily sales record of over 100 million yuan. “The sales of Jiangxiang Latte are beyond our expectations, and we will develop it as a long-term product,” a member of staff from Moutai says.
Moutai hopes to create kinds of products that can meet more young people’s needs. Jiangxiang Latte is not Moutai’s first attempt (尝试) to attract young customers’ attention. It has also developed another product—ice-cream. In May 2022, Moutai worked with Mengniu and they produced ice-cream containing (含有) its famous baijiu. By May 2023, nearly 10 million cups of the ice-cream had been sold. Also, Moutai’s chocolate came out recently. Some people expressed high expectations for it and wanted to give it a try.
Besides Moutai, other old brands including Shede Spirits and Luzhou Laojiao have also tried to develop new products in recent years. They are trying to move into new areas such as ice-cream and tourism.
By bringing new life to old brands, the producers offer great products for people to enjoy. At the same time, these old brands can also find new ways to survive in the modern world.
1. What is Jiangxiang Latte?| A．A kind of Baijiu. | B．A kind office-cream. |
| C．A kind of alcoholic coffee. | D．A kind of tourism. |
| A．5.42 million. | B．More than 5.42 million. |
| C．Over 100 million. | D．Nearly 10 million. |
①chocolate ②ice-cream ③milk
| A．①② | B．②③ | C．①③ | D．①②③ |
| A．It’s a new brand. | B．It worked with Mengniu. |
| C．It produced chocolate recently. | D．It is trying to develop new products. |
| A．Old brands should work with Luckin. |
| B．Old brands should find new ways to survive. |
| C．Old brands should produce ice-cream. |
| D．People should give many new kinds of products a try. |
6 .
China Sends Beidou Successfully China sent the latest satellite of Beidou into space on Tuesday. The satellite is the 59th in the Beidou family. It marks the completion the Beidou, one of networks around the world, along with the United Sates’ GPS, Russia’s GLONASS and the European Union’s Galileo. |
Alan Turing: Ahead of His Time Alan Turing was only 42 years old when he died, but in his short life he did some very important work in math. He famously worked as a code-breaker (密码破解者) during the Second World War, and some of his very early ideas about computer science are still important even today. |
China and France Holds an Online Concert To deepen the friendship between the people of China and France, artists from both countries stepped onto the same stage and performed online on Monday. The online concert allowed people to enjoy both traditional Chinese folk songs and French classics. |
The Peanut Man George Washington Carver spent his whole working life trying to make things easier for the poor African American farmers of the southern USA. He was a great scientist who was not interested in being rich and famous. In fact, he found happiness and honor in giving a hand to others when they needed help. After his death, a national monument (纪念碑) was erected in a square—the first for any African American and a true honor for “the Peanut Man”. |
1. According to the first piece of news, Galileo is a _________.
| A．rocket | B．network | C．person |
| A．In a guide book | B．In a story book | C．In a newspaper |
| A．How many Beidou satellites have been sent into space? |
| B．What disease did Alan Turing die from? |
| C．Why did China and France hold an online concert? |
| A．Interesting | B．Helpful | C．Quiet |
| A．J.K Rowling’s Novel Harry Potter has been ________ into a TV series. |
| B．Su Dongpo _________ a tofu dish called Dongpo tofu. |
| C．He ________ a small house for his dog, using used bottles. |
7 . Now back to the news.
Chinese weather forecasters have warned that the freezing conditions affecting the North of the country, including the capital Beijing, are likely to spread further south in the coming days. Many provinces have been hit by snow blizzards.
At least 118 people have been killed and another 220 injured following an earthquake on Monday night in north-west China, state media report. Emergency workers are braving freezing conditions to try and help people in the high-altitude area.
Police are looking for a man and a woman in their early twenties who broke into a bank in the early hours this morning. The man is said to be very well-built, with very long dark hair. The woman with him is said to be small with short hair cut very close to her head. Anyone who has any information please give further details to the police.
The year of 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of China’s first manned space mission, with Yang Liwei becoming the first Chinese astronaut to go to space. Since then, another 17 astronauts have reached for the stars. But each astronaut has to receive the mind and body training for at least three and a half years before having the chance to go to space.
After waking up, you may feel frustrated (沮丧) that you cannot recall the dreams you had last night. But recently researchers from Japan have trained an AI system to re-create images based on people’s brain scans. In the future, they hope that AI can be used to record imagined thoughts and dreams.
1. What do the underlined words “snow blizzards” in the first news mean?| A．Snowstorms | B．Sandstorms. | C．Snowmen. |
| A．Extreme cold sweeps across the north. |
| B．Earthquake kills more than 100 in north-west China. |
| C．In the future, AI may be able to help people to record imagined thoughts and dreams. |
| A．to teach us how to fight against the bank |
| B．to show us the physical appearances of the robbers |
| C．to ask us to give the police further details if someone has any information |
| A．Seventeen. | B．Eighteen. | C．Twenty. |
| A．In science magazines. | B．In art magazines. | C．In guidebooks. |
8 .
| When Bella was five, she lost her cat Snowy. Then she decided to write a picture book about her cat so that she could see it every day. The Lost Cat was finished after five days, with colorful painting. To her surprise, this picture book was popular around people and became the best seller in the bookstores. In the same year, Bella was named the world’s youngest female writer to publish a book by Guinness World Records. |
| Ten fun scientific studies across the world won the 12th Pineapple Science Award on November, 2023. The organizer hopes to bring out the curiosity (好奇心) of young people through “fun and serious” studies. And the winners got their ideas in daily life. For example, Sun Qi at New York University won the medical prize. It took her and her team two years to find out that plucking (拔掉) gray hairs would only bring more. |
| The pair, Drew Weissman and Katalin Kariko, won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. What they discovered help the development of vaccines (疫苗) against COVID-19. In fact, Dr. Kariko began studying that in the 1970s. She met Dr. Weissman in 1998 and the two soon began working together. Seven years later, they published their discovery in a paper. With the help of their discovery, millions of lives were saved during COVID-19 |
| A．By selling a picture book. |
| B．By creating a picture book. |
| C．By drawing beautiful paintings. |
| A．Because it was named after the pineapple. |
| B．Because the winners get their ideas in daily life. |
| C．Because it encourages fun and serious scientific studies. |
| A．In 2023. | B．In 1998. | C．In 2005. |
| A．What does Bella’s cat look like? |
| B．Why did Drew and Katalin win Nobel Prize? |
| C．What will happen if someone plucks gray hairs? |
| A．Amazing Achievements. | B．Colorful Culture. | C．Interesting Science. |
9 . The Spring Festival holiday runs from Jan. 21 to 27 this year. Influenced by the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, ice-and-snow tours flower among Chinese people during the seven-day holiday.
He Rui spent the first day of the Spring Festival holiday at home. He went to the ski resort (滑雪胜地) in his city early on the second day and was ready to start the Year of the Rabbit on his snowboard.
Since he started skiing two years ago, the 11-year-old has gotten used to getting up early and practicing skiing.
“People used to stay at home during the Spring Festival holiday. But as our society pays more attention to healthy lifestyle, more people want to spend their holiday skiing,” said Chang Yulin, director of a ski resort. “We hold colorful activities here so that visitors can both enjoy skiing and have a special Spring Festival holiday,” said Ren Xiaoqiang, manager of the resort.
For Qiao Jian, a ski lover from Shanxi, skiing has become his new habit to celebrate the Spring Festival. He has flown to Heilongjiang Province (省) and Hebei Province, because there’s more ice and snow.
“Besides taking part in winter sports, we can visit nearby places to experience more local culture,” Qiao said.
The number of snow and ice travelers in China is expected to reach more than 300 million in winter. The number is expected to reach 520 million in three years. And the money from ice-and-snow tours will probably reach ¥720 billion.
1. What does the underlined word “flower” in the first paragraph mean?| A．Become popular. | B．Grow slowly. | C．Cost much money. | D．Develop difficultly. |
| A．On January 21. | B．On January 22. | C．On January 27. | D．On January 28. |
| A．He Rui. | B．Qiao Jian. | C．Chang Yulin. | D．Ren Xiaoqiang. |
| A．A tour guide-book. | B．An invitation letter. | C．A short story. | D．A news report. |
10 . Chairman Mao Zedong once said that “women hold up half the sky”, and that certainly could be said of China’s female athletes at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics because Chinese women got plenty of achievements and made plenty of breakthroughs at the Games.
| Xu Mengtao, one of Team China’s flag-bearers(旗手) at the closing ceremony, showed the Chinese women’s fighting spirit. With a flawless jump, freestyle skier, Xu finally got her hands on Olympic gold on Feb 14. She also won silver with teammates Qi Guangpu and Jia Zongyang in the mixed event on Feb 10. |
| Team China’s Gu Ailing got her gold medal in the women’s freeski half pipe event on Feb 18. Gu also won Big Air gold and slope style silver to become the first athlete to win medals in all three events at a single Olympics. “Girls can be dragons too,” the 18-year-old said. “I want to show young women that they can also realize any dream.” |
| Zhang Kexin, the 19-year-old girl landed back-first at the bottom of the pipe in the competition. For a few minutes, she didn’t move at all and the whole sports center went silent. After being treated by medical staff, she stood up and skied down to complete the run while the crowd cheered for her. She received the same encouragement as her teammate Gu Ailing. |
| Feng He, first-time Olympian, raced in the women’s snowboard cross on Feb 9, making her the first Chinese woman to ever compete in this event at the Olympics. “I feel so excited to be here. I have learned a lot by training and competing with these athletes from around the world. I will keep training harder and harder in the future,” said the 17-year-old, who was the youngest of all the athletes in the event. |
| A．High. | B．Perfect. | C．Careful. | D．Sudden. |
| A．Xu Mengtao got two medals. | B．Gu Ailing won three golds. |
| C．Zhang Kexin won a silver. | D．Feng He won the first medal. |
| A．Xu Mengtao joined in more than three events. |
| B．Zhang Kexin didn’t complete her competition. |
| C．Gu Ailing is a very confident girl with dreams. |
| D．Feng He is the youngest athletes at the Games. |
| A．Growth of four excellent Chinese women athletes. |
| B．China’s achievements at the 2022 Winter Olympics. |
| C．Medals Chinese women athletes got at the 2022 Winter Olympics. |
| D．Success Chinese women athletes made at the 2022 Winter Olympics. |
