1 . Everyone is calling this lovely long-haired cat a hero. And when you hear what Masha did on that day, you’ll know how this furry friend saved a baby’s life!
After finding an abandoned baby boy on the street, Masha
A retired woman, Irina, who
“When I heard her crying, I thought that perhaps she had
She walked closer, and was completely
A.climbed | B.dropped | C.broke | D.looked |
A.surprise | B.sympathy | C.power | D.help |
A.attention | B.love | C.trust | D.comfort |
A.worked | B.inspected | C.performed | D.lived |
A.softly | B.secretly | C.urgently | D.calmly |
A.putting up with | B.taking care of | C.thinking little of | D.catching up with |
A.hidden | B.injured | C.enjoyed | D.amused |
A.flee | B.examine | C.wipe | D.explore |
A.breaking away | B.depending on | C.coming across | D.staring at |
A.puzzled | B.terrified | C.astonished | D.sensitive |
A.arising | B.suffering | C.lying | D.surviving |
A.protect | B.raise | C.violate | D.ignore |
A.parent | B.driver | C.owner | D.ambulance |
A.unharmed | B.inspected | C.unconscious | D.innocent |
A.months | B.weeks | C.hours | D.days |
2 . Between the 16th and 17th century, the efforts of France’s Jesuits played a key role in the transportation of science and culture between China and the West. Their first mission to reach China dates back to 1552, when St. Francis Xavier arrived on a Chinese island. He died on the island a year later, having never reached the mainland. But three decades later, the Jesuits made a second and successful attempt. During their stay, the Jesuits introduced Western science, mathematics, astronomy, and visual arts to China and took part in philosophical conversations with representatives of Confucianism. Importantly, the Jesuits also took precious art and cultural artworks back to France. Their furniture, architecture and design all became influenced by the Chinese style.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the popularity of chinoiserie (中国风格) continued to increase, particularly in England. Many of the architectures were covered with chinoiserie wallpaper relating to flowers, birds and trees. But shortly after, the popularity began to wane. The appeal of China and East Asia had to compete with other tastes, such as Turkish, Egyptian and Greek.
The first three decades of the 20th century witnessed a revival (复兴) in the popularity of chinoiserie both in Europe and America. Chinese dragons were drawn on cushions, curtains and wallpaper, while Chinese coats and hairstyles proved popular with women. The style was associated with modernity and was a by-product of World War I. Chinoiserie was associated with wealthy, stylish women and attached itself to the boom in entertainment as people dressed up to visit cinemas.
In 2024, chinoiserie is making yet another comeback. The rise of social media and home blog lifestyle pages has seen demand increase for imitations (模仿) of Chinese artwork and furniture. But critics point out how much of it is based on an idea of Chinese art and design and who actually creates it.
1. What happened to the second attempt of France’s Jesuits to China?A.It ended up as a total failure. |
B.It took the Jesuits 3 decades to finish. |
C.St. Francis Xavier died on the mainland. |
D.The Jesuits exchanged with China in many aspects. |
A.Disappear. | B.Increase. |
C.Reduce. | D.Exist. |
A.By making comparisons. | B.By providing examples. |
C.By following the order of time. | D.By listing data. |
A.Culture. | B.Science. |
C.Art. | D.Philosophy. |
3 . A man with advanced Parkinson’s disease (帕金森氏症) is now able to walk almost normally again thanks to electrodes implanted (电极植入) in his spinal cord (脊椎), researchers said on Monday. The medical first was achieved by Swiss researchers who had previously pioneered similar breakthroughs to help disabled people walk again.
“This could be a game-changing technology to help bring back movement in people with advanced Parkinson’s,” said David Dexter, research director at Parkinson’s UK.
Marc Gauthier, the 62-year-old patient who lives in France, has suffered from the brain disorder for about 30 years. Like more than 90 percent of people with advanced Parkinson’s, Mar c has had great difficulty walking. What are known as “freezing” experiences — during which patients are unable to move for a limited time, putting them at risk of falling — are particularly awful, Marc told AFP.
Much remains unknown about Parkinson’s disease, making treatment difficult. But the disease can seriously affect the lives of patients, sometimes keeping them to bed or a wheelchair. So when the opportunity came to go through an operation in Switzerland, Marc gladly accepted the chance.
“Now I can do whatever I want,” Marc says. “I can go for a walk and go out shopping by myself.” He adds that he can now walk much more easily — he is even planning a trip to Brazil — but it still requires concentration, particularly when climbing upstairs.
The Swiss team, led by surgeon Jocelyne Bloch and neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine , implanted a complex system of electrodes called a “neuroprosthesis (神经假体)” at important points along Marc’s spinal cord. The neuroprosthesis was first tested on animals, and then implanted in Marc, who has used it for roughly eight hours a day over nearly two years.
The Swiss team has expanded their experiment to a group of six Parkinson’s patients, aiming to know how it could help others, given the disease affects people in different ways. However, treatment using the implant could be quite expensive, potentially limiting how many patients would have access.
1. What is David Dexter’s attitude to the Swiss breakthrough?A.Unconcerned. | B.Doubtful. | C.Positive. | D.Unclear. |
A.Volunteer as a tour guide in Brazil. | B.Run to his heart’s content. |
C.Go to the supermarket alone. | D.Make a phone call while climbing the stairs. |
A.It was first tested on Marc Gauthier. | B.It is hardly affordable for ordinary people. |
C.It has been performed on many patients. | D.It was done by researchers in the UK. |
A.A Spinal Implant Allows a Parkinson’s Patient to Walk Again |
B.Parkinson’s Patients Have to Deal With Difficulties in Life |
C.Swiss Experts Have Created a Drug to Treat Parkinson’s |
D.New Technology Prevents People From Developing Parkinson’s |
4 . Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has long worked to make her city less dependent on cars. She wanted to see more people using bicycles to get around. Over a number of years, the city government set limits on cars and increased the amount of bike paths from 200 kilometers to over 1,000 kilometers.
This year, Parisians are not complaining about too much automobile traffic. Instead, they say there are too many bikes. “Now, it’s really like a bike traffic jam(阻塞),” Thibault Quere, a spokesperson for France’s Federation of Bicycle Users, said. ”It’s kind of a good difficulty to have, especially when we think about what Paris used to be.”
Some famous roads along the River Seine are completely closed to cars. Now you see people riding bikes, running and walking with their families along the river. In another part of Paris, a bike path on Sebastopol Boulevard is one of the busiest in Europe, after opening in 2019. In one week in early September, it reached a record high of 124,000 riders.
The city will host the Summer Olympics in 2024 and plans to add more bike paths by then. Paris wants to reduce its pollution by half during the games, even as visitors from around the world will be in the city for the event. Organizers say all of the competition sites will be reachable by bike through a 60-kilometer network of bike paths.
The change to Paris, however, has not been easy. With more people using bikes, more people are making mistakes. Some of them are new to cycling and disobey traffic rules. But the environment may be improving. Cycling is good exercise and helps reduce pollution, which is still a problem for the large city. The French government blames atmospheric pollution for 48,000 early deaths in the country each year.
Hidalgo was re-elected in 2020 and plans to keep making what she calls a “Paris that breathes”. Her newest five-year bike plan includes over $250 million for more bike paths and bike parking. The new budget is an increase of over $100 million from her first five-year plan.
1. What can be learned from the second paragraph?A.Hidalgo’s effort has paid off. | B.Parisians prefer to travel by car. |
C.Parisians find it difficult to ride bikes. | D.Quere disagrees with Hidalgo. |
A.To compare the famous roads in France. |
B.To praise people enjoying riding bicycles. |
C.To stress the importance of France in Europe. |
D.To show how busy a cycle path is in Paris. |
A.Tour local bike shops. | B.Ride to competition sites. |
C.Promote the sights in France. | D.Support the athletes around the world. |
A.Friendly. | B.Helpful. | C.Determined. | D.Honest. |
5 . As a ski instructor for children, I work with all sorts of behavior challenges. Kids seem to mask
I showered him with every ounce of
Although this is an oversimplified example of kindness and behavioral psychology I know little about, I learned something that day: Kindness
A.secret | B.ability | C.disappointment | D.discomfort |
A.important | B.easy | C.useful | D.difficult |
A.adults | B.children | C.athletes | D.undergraduates |
A.ignoring | B.demanding | C.giving | D.missing |
A.standards | B.expectations | C.needs | D.interests |
A.sympathy | B.kindness | C.recognition | D.attention |
A.experiment | B.instruction | C.exercise | D.conversation |
A.security | B.passion | C.courage | D.power |
A.promised | B.questioned | C.encouraged | D.persuaded |
A.curiosity | B.impatience | C.anxiety | D.confidence |
A.shy | B.late | C.unkind | D.stressed |
A.remains | B.occurs | C.works | D.continues |
A.accepting | B.hiding | C.understanding | D.expressing |
A.protected | B.cured | C.released | D.healed |
A.deserve | B.believe | C.know | D.discover |
6 . Chips, cookies and ice cream… Although these ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are tasty, they may. literally make you an ”addict“. as revealed in a recent report in the British Medical Journal.
Simply put, ultra-processed foods are foods that you can’t re-create in your kitchen, according to the BBC. Produced in factories, they often have long lists of ingredients that you don’t recognize, such as additives, and are ready to eat or simply need to be heated.
The study’s researchers linked UPFs to addiction, which includes behaviors like strong cravings (渴望) and negative experiences when trying to stop consumption. They analyzed 281 studies from 36 different countries and regions. The findings showed that 14 percent of adults and 12 percent of children are addicted to ultra-processed foods. Usually, natural foods are either high in carbohydrates (碳水化合物) or high in fat, but UPFs can be high in both, which contributes to their addictive potential. For example, as written in the report, 100 grams of salmon has 0 kcal from carbohydrates and 73 kcal from fat, while the same amount of a chocolate bar contains 237 kcal from carbohydrates and 266 kcal from fat.
Such foods also deliver carbohydrates and fat to the gut (肠) faster. Although nuts are high in fat, the fat can’t be digested in the early stages. The fat in UPFs, however, is broken down before entering the duodenum (十二指肠), the first part of the small intestine (小肠), which signals the brain to produce more dopamine-the “happy” chemical.
The additives in UPFs also impact the way the gut absorbs calories. To improve the flavor of the food or drink, artificial sweeteners are widely used in UPFs. However, the sweeteners may bind with receptors (受体) in the gut, which makes it more sensitive to sweet food, ultimately increasing the gut’s capacity to absorb sugar.
By acknowledging that certain UPFs are “addictive”, similar to cigarettes or alcohol, “we may be able to help improve global health, ” one of the study’s authors, Ashley Gearhardt, said in a press release. They are also calling for more action to combat such an addiction.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?A.The definition of UPFs. |
B.The production process of UPFs. |
C.Common additives in UPFs. |
D.Differences between UPFs and natural foods. |
A.Increased desire for carbohydrates and fat. |
B.Loss of interest in other types of food. |
C.Difficulty in resisting the urge to eat them. |
D.Feelings of guilt when consuming them. |
A.They are lower in carbohydrates and fat. |
B.They prevent the gut from burning calories. |
C.They contain more nutrients than needed. |
D.They produce more of a chemical that makes you happy. |
A.By allowing the food to get digested faster. |
B.By changing the way it takes in sugar. |
C.By improving its ability to absorb nutrients. |
D.By reducing its sensitivity to natural foods. |
7 . The Yellow River is the cradle (摇篮) of China’s civilization. And flood control and prevention have always been key to the well-being of the people living along it. Now, scientists can better work on these issues by giving the river a digital twin.
The digital twin of the Yellow River uses various technologies, including big data, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things. Devices set up along the river collect and transmit information to the command center. Based on the information, a 3D model of the river is presented on the computer screen. It’s like the Yellow River has a twin that reflects its real conditions.
One big breakthrough in the river’s digital governance (治理) is “smart stones”. According to Wang Qin, a lead researcher at the Information Center of Yellow River Henan Bureau, a smart stone is a water-proof stone-shaped device with chips, a battery, and a signal transmitter. They are buried in important dike (堤坝) locations to record and report the movement of dike stones. “Upon feeling movement of the dike stones, the smart stone sends an alarm to the command center for quick response,” Wang said. “In the past, researchers had to learn the conditions of the dike on the spot by themselves, putting their lives at risk, ” said Zhao Xiaoxiong from the bureau. “Now the smart stones can do this for us, more safely, quickly, and accurately. ”
And in the sky, drones (无人机) are flying. On the routes designed by engineers, the drones become expert patrollers of the river, looking at its dikes and flood prevention projects. According to Shen Lin from the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, thanks to the drones, researchers at the command center can get first-hand photos and information. “Researchers then update the 3D model according to the changes the drones reported. The newly updated model helps us test our floodwater release plans in case we ever need to batten down the hatches,” said Shen.
Under the water and up in the sky, intelligent systems are helping to protect the Yellow River Basin on all fronts. According to the Ministry of Water Resources, in the future, we can expect to see the construction of an even more comprehensive digital system for this important river.
1. What is the main purpose of creating a digital twin of the Yellow River?A.To conduct historical research. |
B.To raise public awareness of river protection. |
C.To improve flood control and prevention efforts. |
D.To create a virtual tourist attraction. |
A.They record water quality. |
B.They serve as markers for important locations. |
C.They enhance the river’s beauty. |
D.They monitor and report dike movements. |
A.Entertaining tourists. |
B.Collecting information on dike conditions. |
C.Patrolling and taking wildlife photos. |
D.Giving warning of coming floods. |
A.Prepare for difficult times. | B.Foresee the future. |
C.Work hard to achieve one’s goals. | D.Overcome challenges. |
8 . By the time she was 85 years old, Joy Ryan had never seen the ocean or mountains. Now, she’s 94 years old and has seen every comer of the US after visiting all 63 US national parks. Joy went on the epic journey with her grandson, Brad Ryan, who was first inspired to travel with his grandmother in 2015. “When I learned she had never seen the great wildernesses of America-deserts, mountains, oceans, you name it, I thought that was something that I would regret if I didn’t get myself involved in some way,” Brad said. Although they initially planned just to visit the Great Smoky Mountains, they had such a great time that they felt inspired to continue their journey by hitting up all the national parks in the US. “I think we’re two peas in a pod when it comes to our desire for travel and adventure,” Brad said.
The 63rd and final stop on their tour was the National Park of American Samoa. There was a reason why they left this park until the very end. “It’s the only US national park that’s south of the equator. We can enjoy the beautiful tropical paradise,” Brad said, “But as we’ve come to learn from the rangers who work there. American Samoa is an island community that is firmly rooted in family.”
The fact that a grandmother in her 90s completed such a long journey may inspire others, but Brad has always known his grandmother as an inspiration who lives up to her name. “She has already lived from a place of gratitude and joy,” he said. “That’s a power… and a choice that we all have. And I think that’s been my greatest lesson.”
1. What do we know about Joy Ryan?A.She regretted not visiting the ocean. | B.She was financially challenged. |
C.She prefers tropical landscapes. | D.She embarked on her journey in 2015. |
A.Their ambition to set a world record. | B.Their fear of having regrets in life. |
C.Their shared passion for adventure. | D.Their fascination with urban scenery. |
A.distinctive location | B.natural resources |
C.breathtaking coastline | D.close-knit community |
A.Her determination. | B.Her patience. |
C.Her endurance. | D.Her optimism. |
9 . The summer heat has nothing on the hottest Broadway shows of the season! The Tony Awards are on June 11, when some of these Tony nominees (提名者)will be crowned winners, so grab your seats now before they become even hotter tickets!
Kimberly Akimbo
Time is on your side to see Kimberly Akimbo this summer! The Best Musical nominee follows a New Jersey teenager with a condition that makes her age four times faster than usual, which encourages her to seek happiness and love while she can. This bittersweet, family-friendly story is adapted from Pulitzer winner David Lindsay-Abaire’s same-named play and features a score (配乐) by Tony winner Jeanine Tesori.
Life of Pi
The magical stagecraft of this book-to-stage adaptation must be seen to be believed. Life of Pi brings the wilderness to thrilling life in this adventure story, in which the title teenager is lost on the open sea with only a Bengal tiger for company. Can they both survive?
Juliet
See the Best Musical nominee that’s making everybody smile. This fun, pop-fueled show sees Juliet, from Shakespeare’s Romeo Juliet, go on a trip to find new life and love instead of dying young. Her adventure is set to more than 30 pop hits like… Baby One More Time, Teenage Dream and I Want It That Way that you’ll want to sing and dance to.
Parade
Tony winner Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond are both nominated for their great performances in the first revival of this Tony-winning drama. Based on real events, the Parade musical tells the story of how Jewish American factory worker Leo Frank was unjustly accused of murder, and his wife’s efforts to save his life. The production is nominated for Best Revival of a Musical.
1. What do Kimberly Akimbo and Life of Pi have in common?A.Both are based on classic novels. | B.Both use pop hits as their scores. |
C.Both explore themes of self-growth. | D.Both are nominated for Best Musical. |
A.She becomes a famous singer. | B.She starts a life-changing journey. |
C.She decides to give up on love. | D.She lives a happy life with Romeo. |
A.Parade. | B.Juliet. | C.Life of Pi. | D.Kimberly Akimbo. |
10 . Curtis retired from the police force, but he never stopped being a true hero.
He was sitting in a car in the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru (汽车餐厅). Suddenly, he saw
Inside the restaurant, employees saw Curtis pull out the terrified
When Chick-Fil-A owner David
After Curtis was found, David
“As far as he is safe, that’s all that
Once a first responder, always a first responder! Curtis still has those cop instincts (本能), and we’re glad he happened to be there to put them to good
A.rain | B.water | C.mist | D.smoke |
A.restaurant | B.top | C.vehicle | D.window |
A.police | B.driver | C.owner | D.firefighter |
A.reviewed | B.recorded | C.received | D.deleted |
A.reasonable | B.legal | C.repeated | D.heroic |
A.ignorant | B.potential | C.frightened | D.disappointed |
A.gave back | B.put out | C.waited for | D.registered for |
A.locate | B.stimulate | C.confirm | D.protect |
A.eventually | B.precisely | C.confidently | D.sincerely |
A.taught | B.saved | C.encouraged | D.accompanied |
A.way | B.order | C.direction | D.place |
A.quick | B.eager | C.humble | D.professional |
A.left | B.influenced | C.hurt | D.disturbed |
A.exists | B.matters | C.works | D.occurs |
A.examination | B.situation | C.use | D.response |