1 . Boris, a foreign student at Communication University of China, often shares his experiences of Chinese culture on his vlog (视频博客).
In one video, for example, Boris shared how he had learned the Chinese word dongxi. He translated each part separately into “east west”. And he introduced one theory (说法) about how dongxi came to mean “things”. He told people that all marketplaces in ancient Chinese cities were set up along a single road that ran from east to west. So when you would say qu mai dongxi. you’d be saying, “I’m going to buy things.”
Some other videos show his reading Chinese poems and performing kung fu in Chinese traditional costume, which are quite welcome among his 40, 000 followers.
“Many of my followers are learning Chinese,” Boris said. “But sadly, they know little about Chinese culture and the country.”
Like many foreigners, Boris once believed that all Chinese could perform kung fu, flying onto roofs and walking over walls. He thought the country was not that developed. But after he got a scholarship (奖学金) to study in China in 2019, his view changed. “China has entered a new period, but many people’s impressions of China are still stuck in the1970s,” Boris said. “That’s why I started to shoot vlogs to share Chinese culture in 2019.”
Until now, Boris has posted more than 40 Chinese culture vlogs online. But making these vlogs is not easy. Take reading the poem Second Farewell to Cambridge by Xu Zhimo as an example.
“I can understand and read every word in the poem,” Boris said. “But to touch readers, I need to use proper feelings while reading.” So he needed to look for much background information and make his feelings suit each part of the poem.
Though shooting these vlogs takes lots of time, the young man feels proud that his vlogs have inspired many people. Boris said that he wanted to continue bridging the differences between two cultures. “This goal may not be achieved easily, but I will spare no efforts to do my part.”
1. Through the vlogs, Boris mainly wants to ________.| A．teach foreigners Chinese | B．introduce a Chinese university |
| C．sell Chinese products | D．share his experiences in China |
| A．translating it as a whole | B．knowing its cultural background |
| C．making up some sentences | D．comparing it with similar words |
| A．His hunger for new technology. | B．His wish to show the real China. |
| C．His interest in Chinese culture. | D．His dream to be a big vlogger. |
| A．meet the followers’ needs | B．express Boris’s love for poems |
| C．show Boris’s efforts at vlog-making | D．give an example of Chinese culture |
| A．say yes to Boris’s actions | B．build bridges by making vlogs |
| C．call for more help | D．achieve a common goal |
2 . Success is often considered to be the opposite of failure. To teenagers, it is the achievement of a goal or completion of something they really need, such as good grades and the ability to get along well with their classmates. Some schools used to agree with most parents who measured (判定) the success of their children according to grades, but now they pay special attention to moral (道德的) education and character-building to make sure teenagers achieve success in building human relationships.
Schools give chances to students to discover their hidden ability so that they can enjoy some form of success. For example, those good at speaking skills are advised to take part in speech competitions while those interested in arts are expected to perform in front of their classmates. Teenagers also get the pleasure of success when they join their favorite clubs.
Teenagers are often told that success is not easy to achieve and that success lies in hard work. Great efforts have to be put into project work. Doing things much later than planned should be avoided as this will lead to a mountain of work which finally makes them nervous. Another good quality (品质) is a sense of responsibility which makes them remember that a task has to be completed.
Sticking to moral values is the key to success too. Honest teenagers will win the trust of friends leading to good relationships. Self-motivation (自我激励) is another quality to be developed, for self-motivated teenagers will have the strong will and drive to perform a task and finally get to enjoy a sense of achievement.
1. What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 1 refer to (指代)?| A．Their classmates. | B．Some schools. | C．Most parents. | D．Their children. |
| A．To get good grades. | B．To improve speaking ability. |
| C．To express their love for arts. | D．To get the pleasure of success. |
| A．Project work makes teenagers nervous. |
| B．Good qualities will lead to a happy life. |
| C．Teenagers are advised to complete tasks in time. |
| D．Taking responsibility will make work much easier. |
| A．Honesty. | B．Self-motivation. | C．Communication. | D．Friends’ trust. |
| A．The Value of Moral Education | B．The Key to Discovering Hidden Ability |
| C．The Meaning of Success to Teenagers | D．The Way to Communicate with Others |
Counting the hairs on your head would be very difficult. Many have tried, but most people give up after losing count or getting bored! However, scientists say people have more than 100,000 hairs on their heads on average. Of course, this number is different from person to person. Some people have much more hair than others.
What causes hair loss? There are many reasons, such as stress, illness and styling. It also runs in families. Besides, many people simply lose hair as they grow older. To avoid losing hair, you should wash your hair correctly and condition（养护）your hair to help keep your hair healthy. It’s also important to be gentle when brushing or combing hair.
Hair loss is not the same as daily shedding（脱落）. People lose an average of 50 to 100 hairs a day. It’s normal. If you are losing more hair than average, talk to the adults you trust. They can help you decide whether to ask a doctor for help.
Why do humans have hair on their heads? Most other mammals（哺乳动物）have thick fur（毛）covering their whole bodies. While humans grow small and fine（细微的）hairs on much of their skin, it’s much thicker on the top of the head. Scientists say the answers come down to evolution. Humans probably evolved without fur because they have more sweat glands（汗腺）than other mammals. Humans walk upright on two legs. Therefore, the top of their heads needs protection from the sun. This is why people have more hair on their heads than on the rest of their bodies. The hair also helps keep heat in cold weather and keep a healthy body temperature.
1. How many reasons for hair loss are mentioned in Paragraph 2?| A．3 | B．4 | C．5 | D．6 |
| A．wearing a hat all the time | B．washing your hair correctly |
| C．brushing or combing hair gently | D．conditioning your hair |
| A．进化 | B．发育 | C．天生 | D．训练 |
| A．In general, it’s easier for young people to lose hair than old people. |
| B．The hair on human heads helps keep heat in cold weather. |
| C．If you lose 50 to 100 hairs every day. you must ask a doctor for help. |
| D．All the mammals have thick fur covering their whole bodies because they have no sweat glands. |
4 . You may not realize it, but you do it all the time. That is, begin with the end in mind. You draw up a plan before you build a house. You read instructions before you make a cake. You create an outline before you write a paper. It’s part of life.
Let’s have a begin-with-the-end-in-mind experience by using your imagination. Find a place where you can be alone. First, clear your mind. Don’t think about anything else. Then breathe deeply, and open your brain wide. Now, let’s come to the key part of the experience. In your mind, picture someone walking toward you about half a block away. At first you can’t see who it is. As this person gets closer and closer, you suddenly realize, believe it or not, it’s you. But it’s not you today, it’s you as you’d like to be one year from now. Now think deeply. Ask yourself the following questions:
What have you done with your life over the past year? How do you feel inside? What do you look like? Has your personality grown? Remember, this is you as you would like to be one year from now.
You can go back to reality (现实) now. If you actually tried this, you probably got in touch with your deeper self. You got a feel for what’s important to you and what goals (目标) you’d like to achieve next year.
________ First, you’re at important crossroads in life, and the paths you choose now can influence you forever. Second, if you don’t decide your own future, someone else will do it for you.
As Li Ping, a middle school student in Shanghai, discovered beginning with the end in mind is a powerful way to help turn your dreams into realities:
When I feel stressed, I’ve found it really helps me. I go someplace where I can be alone, and try to see the whole picture of my dream life—and then I begin to think about what I need to get there. This method started when I was a ninth grader, and today I’m making some of those pictures in mind become a reality.
1. Why does the writer mention the examples in Paragraph 1?| A．To explain making preparations is important. |
| B．To show making preparations is a part of life. |
| C．To teach people how to make daily preparations. |
| D．To show how much one loves making preparations. |
| A．Finding a quiet place and clearing your mind. | B．Taking a deep breath and opening your mind. |
| C．Imagining a younger self walking towards you. | D．Picturing what you want to achieve in the future. |
| A．What can you do to realize your dream? |
| B．How can we start to have an end in mind? |
| C．Why is it important to have an end in mind? |
| D．Who is going to help you choose paths in life? |
| A．Having an end in mind helps you achieve a goal. |
| B．Staying alone can help you deal with your stress. |
| C．Imagining a dream life is a way to relax your mind. |
| D．Creating a plan is the easiest way to realize your dream. |
5 . Nowadays, the online world is nearly as important as the real one. It is not uncommon to see the whole Internet bands together to “cancel” someone after they make a mistake, which is called Cancel Culture. It can result in a person, if famous, losing fans and having to face attacks online. Even a normal person faces risks of losing their jobs or personal relationships. While stepping foot on any social media platform, everyone including young children can fall victim to it.
Cancel Culture is a lose-lose situation. The person being canceled has to stand the negative effects of the Internet, and the people doing the canceling are contributing to (促成) the mindset that it’s okay to do this to people they don’t know. Young kids may not understand or contribute completely to Cancel Culture, but by simply being on the Internet, they can see it firsthand, affecting their real lives. A New York Metro Parents article describes one girl who was canceled in school the same way people are canceled on the Internet, and her friends wouldn’t even talk to or look at her.
Dr. Pam Rultledge, a media psychologist, explains in her blog post that Cancel Culture discourages kids from expressing their opinions and standing up for others. It’s always an “us against them” mindset; anyone agreeing with the person being canceled is at risk of being left out online too.
So again I ask, what is this teaching our kids? That they aren’t allowed to make mistakes? That they have to be perfect? This may be the current narrative, but it shouldn’t be. Everyone messes up at some point, especially young children. They shouldn’t be publicly punished for it and not given the chance to change people’s minds. Forgiveness is an important skill kids need to learn, and Cancel Culture is encouraging the opposite.
One small mistake doesn’t make someone a bad person, but Cancel Culture makes them feel as if they are. Cancel Culture doesn’t have to exist. We make it exist. And just as easily, we can make it disappear by contributing to an online world full of praise and love.
1. The underlined words “fall victim to” in Paragraph 1 probably mean “________”.| A．be attracted to | B．get used to | C．be shocked by | D．get hurt by |
| A．To explain why Cancel Culture does harm to children’s friendships. |
| B．To stress the importance of close relationships with friends for students. |
| C．To show how Cancel Culture has exercised influence on kids’ real lives. |
| D．To suggest possible ways of changing the habit of overusing the Internet. |
| A．comforted with great patience | B．left out and publicly punished |
| C．taught how to correct the mistakes | D．blocked from using the Internet again |
| A．is easy to change | B．has a two-sided nature |
| C．is supposed to be canceled | D．stops mistakes from being repeated |
6 . We’ve all been in conversations where we’ve known that the other person wasn’t really paying attention. According to the University of Missouri, 45% of communication is listening, and yet most people remember only 25% to 50% of the information they hear. Whether you’re in a classroom, a business setting, or a relationship, failing to hear 75% what’s said to you is sure to lead to big problems. Active listening helps solve them.
What is Active Listening?
It means more than listening to the words that are said. Instead, you think about what you hear, and try to find out the purpose, content, and emotion from the speaker. Active listening requires paying attention. If you’re watching TV or looking at your phone while someone is talking, you’re not actively listening.
The other side of active listening is making sure the other person knows that you’re doing so. Signs like eye contact and replying with insightful（有深刻见解的）comments are important.
Why Active Listening Matters
Verbal（言语的）communication is very important in every part of life. Active listening can help you communicate better, reduce misunderstandings, and build more successful family or working relationships.
For example, family members often have bad listening habits. They don’t pay attention to what is said because they think they know what is coming next. They hear what they expect to hear, instead of what family members actually say. Active listening makes it possible to solve this problem.
Learning How to Listen
Active listening takes practice. Here are a few tips on improving your listening skills:
Pay attention! Put down your phone and make eye contact with the person talking to you. Make notes in mind about the speaker’s main point, as well as a few specific things they’re saying. Why are they telling you this? How does the speaker feel about what they’re saying? Don’t think about answering. Focus on what they want you to hear.
Show that you’re listening. The speaker can tell if you’re paying attention. Make eye contact, nod when you need to, and give small verbal comments like “yes” and “huh”. But don’t repeat something they’ve just said. This might seem like a good way to show that you’re listening, but it can derail（使脱轨）the conversation.
Offer feedback（反馈）. When the opportunity comes up, you’ll be able to offer insightful feedback on what was said. This might take the form of reflecting on what was said, asking follow-up questions, of offering your own viewpoint. Active listening can avoid that deer-in-the-headlights feeling that can happen when someone asks, “What do you think?” If you’ve been actively listening, you’ll be ready to answer thoughtfully.
1. According to the passage, which one can he active listening?
| A．Asking some questions before listening. |
| B．Listening to someone while watching TV. |
| C．Thinking about what you hear while listening. |
| D．Guessing what the speaker will say before listening. |
| A．it changes people’s listening habits completely |
| B．it helps people to communicate with others better |
| C．it makes communication important in every part of life |
| D．It ensures people don’t make mistakes in business settings |
| A．Nodding often in the conversation can help you listen actively. |
| B．Asking follow-up questions is not as good as offering points of view. |
| C．Repeating what’s said by the speaker means you are an active listener. |
| D．Paying attention in the conversation means more than just listening to the words. |
| A．Not being able to see | B．not being able to understand |
| C．not knowing how to react | D．not knowing how to listen |
Back in Brisbane, Australia, for the Christmas break, I found myself in a public transport dead zone. Bikeless, 7 kilometers from where I was meeting friends and unwilling to get a taxi, I decided to borrow an electric scooter. The trip took far longer than it would have by bike, mainly because of a major spill halfway there. A rock, hit at speed, is a terrible thing: weeks later, I still had the red knees of a primary schooler.
In the UK, they are legal (合法的) only on private land, but the Department for Transport is discussing how to control them on public roads and pathways, with the possibility for legalization later this year. Other cities that have e-scooter rental programs have had problems in the early period. In Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo described the situation last year as messy. She has announced that the city is reducing its number of e-scooters to 15,000 and plans to create laws forbidding them from pavements (人行道). France has put into force laws limiting e-scooter speeds to 25 kilometres per hour.
Similar to dockless (无桩的) hire bicycles, e-scooters are parked on pavements and people leave them up trees or throw them into rivers. Wild treatment shortens their lifetime, which is bad for both profitability (盈利) and the environment. Analysis suggests that the average e-scooter’s lifetime is just three months.
I think e-scooters are an basic part of the effort to make city transport greener. They are seen as a key to the “last mile” problem—a potential way to reduce transport jam by rapidly getting someone to their final goal. Cars can take up 28 times the space of a person riding a bicycle. As far as the environmental effect goes, recent research suggests that e-scooters are not as green as walking or cycling, but they are still better than cars. And though there are still many reports of serious accidents, scooting is about as safe as cycling. Stephen Gossling at Lund University in Sweden has suggested we build car-free “micromobility” streets, where cyclists, pedestrians (行人) and e-scooters could share the road. He thinks this will reduce accident risks and invite more vulnerable (易受伤害的) traffic participants, such as children, to become active transport users. If more e-scooters mean fewer cars on roads, an improvement in local air quality is also a likely result. When 20 kilometers of roads in central London closed for World Car-Free Day last September, the air quality was greatly improved according to the report.
1. What does the underlined part “a major spill” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．A serious fall. | B．A sudden illness. | C．A legal reaction. | D．A terrible breakdown. |
| A．They are illegal on pavements. | B．They are already out of fashion. |
| C．They are facing more limits. | D．They are more common on private land. |
| A．They are not as safe as cycling. | B．They always cause the traffic jams. |
| C．They are as green as cycling or walking. | D．They play a big role in the “last mile” problem. |
| A．To set up more care-free days. | B．To invite more cyclists to use e-scooters. |
| C．To get vulnerable pedestrians off the road. | D．To separate cars from e-scooters on the road. |
The world’s leading researchers are studying our senses. From the connection between taste and smell, to the idea of “scent（气味）training”, there’s so much more than we think to our sense of smell.
Your sense of smell is largely responsible for your ability to taste food. “Flavor（味道）is really an experience that joins what happens on your tongue with smell,” says a professor at the University of York, UK. “When you put something in your mouth, the molecules（分子）go into your nose. Maybe your tongue can tell there’s fat in that chocolate, and that’s something the brain finds very satisfying, but the formal chocolate experience comes from all the molecules going into your nose.”
Women out-perform men when both groups are asked to tell a certain number of scents
That holds true across all age groups. This is because women are better at noticing a smell and better at describing it with language. Research shows that when people were asked to memorize eight scents and were then given a scent test, the women were better able to tell whether or not a scent was one of the ones that had been memorized. Women were also better at recognizing the scents by name.
Your eating habits may change because of the loss of smell
“You think, ‘I remember how this tasted in the past. I guess they don’t have the same tasty tomatoes or meat any more, ’”says a researcher. “But in fact, it’s your sense of smell that may be working less.” Losing the sense of smell is likely age-related or caused by a cold.
The loss of smell may even change people’s eating habits. Some people will lose interest in eating or don’t want to eat with their friends. Others will start eating lots of junk food, spices, salt, to try to make eating more enjoyable.
Scent training might protect our sense of smell
The loss of smell is not the end of the world. Some research suggests that scent training might protect our sense of smell. By breathing in strong smells on purpose for several weeks, people become more sensitive（敏感的）to all scents and improve their ability to smell. Researchers found the MRI brain images of people undergoing scent training got thicker in the parts of the brain responsible for dealing with the role of scent, which means it’s not just a nose that is trained, it’s the whole brain.
1. What is responsible for flavor when you eat something?| A．The teeth and brain. | B．The nose and tongue. |
| C．The brain and nose. | D．The tongue and teeth. |
| A．Scent training can help men smell more things. |
| B．Women are more creative about naming scents. |
| C．Women are better than men at recognizing scents. |
| D．Brain training can improve men’s ability to smell. |
| A．What you smell may not be real | B．Unlock facts about the sense of smell |
| C．How to develop a good sense of taste | D．More than you think to the sense of taste |
9 . Human speech contains more than 2,000 different sounds, from the common “m” and “a” to the rare clicks of some southern African languages. But why are certain sounds more common than others? A ground-breaking, five-year study shows that diet-related changes in human bite led to new speech sounds that are now found in half the world’s languages.
More than 30 years ago, the scholar Charles Hockett noted that speech sounds called labiodentals, such as “f” and “v”, were more common in the languages of societies that ate softer foods. Now a team of researchers led by Damián Blasi at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, has found how and why this trend arose.
They discovered that the upper and lower front teeth of ancient human adults were aligned(对齐), making it hard to produce labiodentals, which are formed by touching the lower lip to the upper teeth. Later, our jaws changed to an overbite structure(结构), making it easier to produce such sounds.
The team showed that this change in bite was connected with the development of agriculture in the Neolithic period. Food became easier to chew at this point. The jawbone didn’t have to do as much work and so didn’t grow to be so large.
Analyses of a language database also confirmed that there was a global change in the sound of world languages after the Neolithic age, with the use of “f” and “v” increasing remarkably during the last few thousand years. These sounds are still not found in the languages of many hunter-gatherer people today.
This research overturns the popular view that all human speech sounds were present when human beings evolved around 300,000 years ago. “The set of speech sounds we use has not necessarily remained stable since the appearance of human beings, but rather the huge variety of speech sounds that we find today is the product of a complex interplay of things like biological change and cultural evolution,” said Steven Moran, a member of the research team.
1. Which aspect of the human speech sound does Damián Blasi’s research focus on?| A．Its variety. | B．Its distribution. | C．Its quantity. | D．Its development. |
| A．They had fewer upper teeth than lower teeth. |
| B．They could not open and close their lips easily. |
| C．Their jaws were not conveniently structured. |
| D．Their lower front teeth were not large enough. |
| A．Supporting evidence for the research results. |
| B．Potential application of the research findings. |
| C．A further explanation of the research methods. |
| D．A reasonable doubt about the research process. |
| A．It is key to effective communication. | B．It contributes much to cultural diversity. |
| C．It is a complex and dynamic system. | D．It drives the evolution of human beings. |
10 . Do dragons exist today? Although often mistaken for a mythical（神话的）creature, we actually live among several different types of “dragons.” For example, you may have seen dragonfly flying over a summer garden or read about a Komodo dragon lizard. The ocean has its share of dragons, too.
The blue dragon is a marine（海洋的）snail without a shell. It is commonly known as a blue sea slug（海参）. This particular species of marine snail can swallow a bubble of air（which it holds in its stomach）that enables it to float upside down on the surface of the ocean. The underside of the slug is blue, and it back is a gray color. This helps to conceal it from birds flying overhead and from fish swimming below.
Blue dragons feed on poisonous jellyfish and other similar species. When food is in short supply, they will eat each other. They collect toxins（毒素）from the jellyfish and store it in many finger-like structures. This ability to store poison gives them a much stronger sting（刺）than the jellyfish itself. They use this poison as a defense against enemies. The sting can also be felt by people.
These creatures are rarely visible for study and observation except for when they come close to land during times of onshore winds. They have been seen in Hawaii and in tropical（热带）waters around the world. Beware（当心）of the blue dragon’s sting!
1. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．It gives details about the topic. |
| B．It introduces the subject. |
| C．It introduces the author. |
| D．It gives examples of mythical monsters. |
| A．Discover. | B．Notice. | C．Protect. | D．Hide. |
| A．It floats right side up so the blue faces down in the water. |
| B．Its gray coloring makes it look the same as ocean waves. |
| C．Its blue underside and its gray back help it not be seen from above and below. |
| D．It gives off blue poison into the water to protect it from enemies. |
| A．It floats upside down in the water. |
| B．It stores poison and stings enemies. |
| C．It feeds on poisonous jellyfish. |
| D．It moves to coastal waters during times of onshore winds. |
| A．The animal has the word “dragon” as part of its name because it is a mythical creature. |
| B．We can only see types of “dragons” in oceans. |
| C．A bubble of water in its stomach enables it to float upside down. |
| D．The creature are not commonly seen by people for study and observation. |
