1 . The global climate (全球气候) has been changing over thousands of years. The global average temperature (平均气温) today is about 15℃. Scientists find that the planet is warming faster than ever before. The 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years. If this situation continues, temperatures may rise by 3—5℃ by 2100.
Scientists say we should try to stop the situation and not allow the global average temperature to rise more than 1.5℃. Even a 2℃ rise will be bad for us all. Now, 0.5℃ doesn’t sound like much—but it could make a big difference to the planet.
A 2℃ rise means that all the coral reefs (珊瑚礁) will disappear, but a 1.5℃ rise means that there will still be some. Also, 18 percent of the insects (昆虫) on the earth will disappear if the temperature goes up by 2℃. But only 6 percent will disappear at 1.5℃. A 2℃ rise will also mean that 37 percent of people will be influenced by dangerous heatwaves. That’s twice the number compared to at a 1.5℃ rise.
Do you want to know what scientists say? They say that everyone and everything is far better off in a world that limits the rise to 1.5℃.
So, what can we do? Please return to us in our magazine next month, you will read about the advice given by the world’s top scientists, researchers and leading environmental protectors. We’d also like to hear about your ideas and suggestions. Please write to us at 123socialmagazine@yahoo.co.uk. Let’s work together to limit the temperature rise to 1.5℃.
1. According to the first paragraph, we can know that ________.| A．the planet is the warmest this year |
| B．the average temperature today is 15℃ in China |
| C．the planet’s climate has the biggest change this year |
| D．the temperatures may rise to 18—20℃ by 2100 |
| A．What Can We Do |
| B．How Does It Happen |
| C．Why Is 1.5℃ Important |
| D．How Does the Climate Change |
| A．Paragraphs 1 and 5. |
| B．Paragraphs 4 to 5. |
| C．Paragraphs1 to 4. |
| D．Paragraphs 3 and 4. |
2 . China is widely known for its ancient civilisation (文明) which has continued all the way through into modern times, in the fact of many ups and downs in its history. There are many reasons, why this has been possible, but one of the main factors has been the Chinese writing system.
At the beginning, written Chinese was a picture based language. It dates back several thousand years to the use of longgu-animal bones and shells on which marks were cared (雕刻) by ancient Chinese people. In ancient China, characters began as simple drawings of natural objects—trees, rivers, mountains and hill, horses and oxen, human beings themselves, etc. The earliest character-like drawings are “pictographic” in quality. Compared with other scripts (字体) in the world, Chinese characters appeared much earlier with the first evidence of the characters around 5, 000 or more years old. More than 50 kinds of carved marks appeared around the Banpo Site and other nearby places. They were shaped and ordered in a certain rule and they have the same characteristics as today’s simple characters—scientists judge them to be the original Chinese characters.
By the Shang Dynasty (around 1600—1046 BCE), these marks had become a well-developed writing system. Over the years, the systems developed into different forms, as it was a time when people were divided geographically, leading to many kinds of dialects (方言) and characters. This, however, changed under Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty (221—207 BCE).
Emperor Qin Shi Huang united the six major states into one country where the Chinese writing system began to develop in one direction. That writing method was of great importance in uniting the Chinese people and culture.
Written Chinese has also become an important means by which China’s present is connected with its past. People in modern times can read the classic works which were written by Chinese in ancient times. Chinese character, therefore, is a bridge between the present and the past.
Today, the Chinese writing system is still an important part of Chinese culture. As China plays a greater role in the world, an increasing number of international students are beginning to show their love to China’s culture and history through this amazing language.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To present ancient Chinese civilization. | B．To explain the reasons for ups and downs. |
| C．To show the importance of Chinese writing. | D．To introduce the civilization in modern times. |
| A．Because it was a picture-based language. | B．Because it was in different animal bones. |
| C．Because Emperor Qin Shi Huang changed it. | D．Because people were geographically divided. |
| A．separating and becoming different groups | B．guiding and helping to the one direction |
| C．dividing the writing system | D．joining and getting together to make one |
| A．From picture-based language to different writing systems to united system. |
| B．From simple characters to simple drawing rules to different writing forms. |
| C．From colorful carved marks to different characters to simple object drawings. |
| D．From simple writing rule to different scripts to well-developed writing system. |
3 . What may two dogs making radio programs look like? How about a basketball match with different sea animals as players?
With Sora, you may soon be able to find out. The latest AI model can generate videos up to a minute long from some key words in seconds. It was built by OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT.
The public cannot use Sora now. OpenAI is asking experts to test it for possible risks (风险). The model is also open to a small group of artists. The company hopes to make Sora better.
Before Sora, the leading text-to-video AI model was made by Runway. The videos it produced were short and often frightening. So most people were surprised by the high quality of Sora’s videos.
Sora model isn’t perfect now because it may not understand cause and effect. “For example, a person may take a bite out of a cookie, but then the cookie may not have a bite mark,” OpenAI says on its website. What’s more, Sora cannot tell left or right. In a video on the OpenAI website, a man is running on a treadmill (跑步机) in the opposite direction. At the same time, some people have other worries. They are afraid that some people may not use AI-generated content in a correct way. Unreal AI-generated information is the biggest risk the world faces. To solve this problem, OpenAI says that it’s also building tools to help users to find out videos made by Sora.
1. How does the writer introduce the topic?| A．By telling a story. | B．By using a saying. | C．By asking questions. | D．By giving some facts. |
| A．Appear. | B．Produce. | C．Support. | D．Dig. |
| A．Every artist. | B．A chatbot. | C．Some experts. | D．Any student. |
| A．Because Sora’s videos were made from ChatGPT. |
| B．Because Sora’s videos were short and frightening. |
| C．Because Sora’s videos were produced in high quality. |
| D．Because Sora’s videos can tell cause and effect. |
| A．There are some problems of Sora model. |
| B．People are worried about Sora model. |
| C．OpenAI helps solve Sora model’s problem. |
| D．The public are waiting to use Sora model. |
4 . The human brain is amazing. People think and solve problems with their brains. What if a city had a “smart brain”? There might be something like that in Beijing! Beijing’s Haidian district has been working on it since 2018. Recently, they added a big data (大数据) model called Jiuzhou to make the city brain even better. It uses artificial intelligence (人工智能AI) to quickly collect data and highlight what people care about. It can give suggestions for fixing problems within minutes, making city management smarter.
To explain how it works, the official asked it to name the top three streets with the best noise pollution solutions. The big model quickly found the streets that did well in fixing noise pollution in early August 2023. It also suggested ways to deal with the problem.
The area plans to build 572 smart and safe communities using technologies like smart entrance control and facial recognition (识别). These technologies help keep people safe by quickly knowing what problems might happen and improving how the police deal with situations.
The area also plans to watch out for cars that make black smoke. This system has machines on important roads to catch black smoke, an online system that checks in real time, and sensors that study the bad things in the air. This can make sure that the important roads are always watched carefully. It works together with the police and transportation teams to stop cars that make black smoke and keep the air clean.
Smart governance wants to make the city work better and improve people’s lives by using smart technology and analyzing data.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Human brain. | B．Haidian District. | C．The city brain. |
a. Collecting data b. Catching black smoking c. Giving suggestions d. Fixing noise pollution
| A．a and b | B．c and d | C．a and c |
| A．put 572 kinds of technologies into use |
| B．clean the cars with black smoke |
| C．improve people’s safety |
(①=Paragraph 1 ②=Paragraph 2,……)
A． | B． | C． |
| A．High-Tech Changes everyone |
| B．“City Brain” Guides the future |
| C．Tomorrow of “Human Brain” |
In our life, we should often be ready for change that will help us unlock (释放) our self-improvement power. However, we don’t always understand it. We think of unlocking our self-improvement power only when everything gets worst.
When do we realize (意识到) that we need to change diets? When none of our shirts and jeans would fit us. When do we stop eating candies and chocolates? When all of our teeth have fallen off.
Most of us will learn about unlocking our self-improvement power only when the whole world falls apart. We think and feel this way because it is not easy to change. However, change becomes more painful when we pay no attention to it.
Change will happen, like it or hate it. At one point or another, we are all going to finally unlock our self-improvement power, not because the world says so, but because we realize it’s good for ourselves.
Happy people don’t just accept change; they welcome it. Unlocking our self-improvement power means unlocking ourselves out of the box of thought that is just the way we are. It is such a poor excuse for people who fear change.
Jane always tells everyone that she is afraid of being around groups of people. Over the years, that is what Jane has believed. Every time a great crowd come, she steps back and locks herself up in a room. Jane not only believes in her story, but lives it!
If we look at things in a different way, we might have greater fun. Doing exercise three times a week would lead to a healthier life. Reading books every day would build up knowledge. And only when we are enjoying the whole process (过程) of unlocking our self-improvement power, will we realize that we can take things light and become happy.
1. What’s the writing purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To tell a story. | B．To solve a problem. |
| C．To give an example. | D．To introduce a topic. |
| A．Always believe in herself. | B．Get on with people in a friendly way. |
| C．Unlock herself out of the box of thought. | D．Count the days until she is fully improved. |
We see the warning signs when things get difficult.
| A．Paragraph 2 | B．Paragraph 3 | C．Paragraph 4 | D．Paragraph 5 |
| A．Is It Important to Take Things Light? |
| B．Is It Necessary to Believe in Yourselves? |
| C．To Hold on to The Last Moment or to Give Up? |
| D．To Unlock Ourselves out of the Box of Thought or to Stay in It? |
6 . “I hate Tuesdays,” said Finn. “Tuesdays are the worst days now.”
“Wait and see,” said his mother. “You haven’t even met Miss Bea.”
Finn was starting piano lessons at 3:30 every Tuesday, right after school. That’s when his hands wanted to build his new Star-Blaster, a toy like Lego (乐高). Finn’s mother rang the doorbell. “Maybe she went shopping,” said Finn hopefully. But when the door opened, and there was Miss Bea, at home, with a warm smile.
“Hello there, Finn,” she said. “Come in.”
Miss Bea’s piano was black and shiny. Finn sat on the bench (长凳). His feet sure couldn’t run now. They couldn’t even touch the floor. He held on his Star-Blaster box. “That looks like a special box,” said Miss Bea. “Is it something new?”
“It’s going to be a Star-Blaster,” said Finn, “but I have to wait till I get home.” He tried not to look impolite when he said it.
“Ah, so you are a builder,” said Miss Bea. “That’s very good. I bet you can find out how this piano works. Why don’t you start by pressing (按) some keys?”
Finn pressed some white keys and then black keys. Then he pressed a white and black one at the same time. It didn’t really make a song, but Miss Bea said she liked it.
Then Miss Bea had a question. “If you were going to build a piano, how many pieces would you need?” Finn guessed all the way up to nine hundred fifty-seven, but it was “More-more-more.”
He tried sixty-eight zillion. “Not exactly,” laughed Miss Bea. “But it’s still a big number: ten thousand pieces.” “Whoa,” said Finn. “My Star-Blaster only has sixty-two. But it’s still going to be hard to put it together.” “But it will be worth (值得) it,” said Miss Bea, “Piano lessons are like that, too. You work and work to build a song. Your songs can be fast or slow, high or low, soft or loud.”
“I want to build a fast loud one,” said Finn. “You will,” said Miss Bea, “when your fingers learn to run and jump. But for now, our time is up.”
On the way home, Finn asked his mother how many songs there were to learn.
“There must be thousands,” she said, “especially (尤其) you practice.”
“Then I’d better start soon,” said Finn. He looked at all his fingers. “How many days,” he asked, “until Tuesday?”
1. How did Finn feel when he met Miss Bea at first?| A．Excited. | B．Afraid. | C．Worried. | D．Unwilling. |
| A．make him interested in playing the piano | B．ask him to work hard at the piano lesson |
| C．tell him it’s important to learn about the piano | D．let him know it’s difficult to build a piano |
| A．Finn still didn’t like Tuesdays. | B．Finn was going to be a great pianist. |
| C．Finn started to like the piano lesson. | D．Finn would build a piano by himself. |
| A．Tuesdays | B．A Boring Piano Lesson |
| C．Star Blasters | D．A Humorous Piano Teacher |
7 . 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 |
8 . Do you like writing by hand or with a keyboard?
A new brain (脑) study at Norwegian University of Science and Technology shows that choosing handwriting instead of using a keyboard results in better learning and memory.
“When you write your shopping list or class notes by hand, you simply remember what you wrote better later,” said Audrey van der Meer, who did the study.
12 young grown-ups and 12 children took part in the study. Special machines were used to follow and record brain wave (电波) activities. Each person wore a special cap with over 250 electrodes (极) on the head, and was asked to write by hand and use a keyboard. The sensors (传感器) in the electrodes picked up the activities that took place in the brain. Each examination took 45 minutes for each person.
The results showed that the brain in both young grown-ups and children was much more active when writing by hand than when using a keyboard. According to Van der Meer, plenty of senses become active by holding a pen and putting it down on paper, seeing the letters written and hearing the sound made while writing. These build connection (关联) between different parts of the brain, opening the brain up for learning.
Van der Meer believes that the results let us know the importance of children being asked to draw and write at an early age, “Learning to write by hand is a slower course, but it's important for children to experience the tiring step of learning to write by hand,” she said.
The hand movements used to form the shapes (形状) of letters are helpful in several ways. “If you use a keyboard, you use the same movement for each letter. Writing by hand needs control (控制) of your fine motor (精细动作) skills and senses. It’s important to put the brain in a learning condition as often as possible,” Van der Meer added, For example, you might use a keyboard to write an article, but you should take notes by hand during a class.
1. Which is the correct order of the study?①Record and study the results.
②Put a special cap on each person.
③Find 12 young grown-ups and 12 children.
④Ask the people to write by hand and use a keyboard.
| A．②④①③ | B．③②④① | C．③④②① | D．②①④③ |
| A．You can remember what you write better if you use a keyboard. |
| B．Fewer people choose handwriting and more people use a keyboard. |
| C．The brain is more active when writing by hand than when using a keyboard. |
| D．It is easier to put your brain in a learning condition when you use a keyboard. |
| A．The letters you are learning to write, |
| B．The skills you use to write an article. |
| C．The sense experiences when you write by hand. |
| D．The different parts of the brain relative (相关的) to writing. |
| A．Ways to take notes by hand. |
| B．How to control your fine motor skills. |
| C．Examples of using a keyboard. |
| D．Why hand movements in writing are helpful. |
9 . For thousands of years, tea is loved by many people around the world. It has finally received top-level global recognition as a shared cultural treasure of our humans. On November 29, 2022, traditional tea processing techniques and their related social customs in China were added to UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (联合国教科文组织人类非物质文化遗产名录). Following “Wangchuan Ceremony (送王船)” in 2020, this project is the 43rd one to be successfully added to the list and there are 44 sub-projects in total belonging to this main project.
Chinese tea culture began as early as over 5,000 years ago. It’s said the ruler Shen Nong was the first to discover tea as a drink by accident. But during the Three-Kingdom Period, people paid more attention to its medical value. In the Tang Dynasty, tea-tasting became an important part for poets’ life. Bai Juyi wrote 64 poems about tea in his lifetime.
According to UNESCO, in China traditional tea processing techniques are closely connected to location and natural environment. The area of tea planting in China is about between 18°-37° N and 94°-122° E. Tea-related customs are not only found across the country, but also influenced the rest of the world through the ancient Silk Road. In western countries, tea firstly became popular in Britain in the 17th century, and then the whole of Europe. When it came to the late 18th and 19th centuries, 10% of a British person’s income at the time was spent on tea, making it one of the most important expensive goods.
1. Which city is the most impossible to grow tea in the map of China?
| A．A | B．B | C．C | D．D |
A． Shakespeare | B． Defoe |
C． Dickens | D． Orwell |
| A．One project of China can be added into the list every year. |
| B．Tea was used as a kind of medicine when Shen Nong discovered it. |
| C．In total, there are 44 projects from China on the list now. |
| D．Tea travelled to the west by the Silk Road in ancient times. |
| A．Big Ceremony. | B．Western Culture. |
| C．Accidental Invention. | D．Travelling in China. |
The Secret of happiness
Another secret to leading a happy life is to be active, and have hobbies that can help you forget your problems. Many people experience this by dancing or playing a sport, such as skating or playing.
Finally, many people find happiness in helping others. According to studies, people feel good when they volunteer their time to help others.
| A．The second secret of happiness is to do more exercise. |
| B．If you want to feel happier, do something nice for someone. |
| C．People who have brothers and sisters are happier than others. |
| D．The first secret of happiness is to enjoy the simple things in life. |
| E．Most people want to be happy, but few knows how to find happiness. |
| F．People who have several close friends live happier and healthier lives. |
| G．You can forget about your problems, and only think about the activity. |
