1 . Online games are very popular among people. They make a large amount of money and have a large user base, including lots of teenagers. But now, new rules on online games have been introduced, which are aimed at fighting against addiction (成瘾) among underage players.
Adult players need to spend most of their time paying attention to work and family, and cannot play games as often as they want. However, underage players have more spare time, but less responsibility and self-control. Children without a clear purpose in life, where there is less family education and school management, might easily become addicted to all kinds of online games and online novels.
The most direct impact of an addiction to online games among underage players is on their psychological (心理) health. According to psychologists, people seriously addicted to games can become anxious, bad tempered, and avoid responsibility.
However, Chinese parents are more worried that their children will lack interest in studying if they become addicted to online games, as academic success is important for students. Additionally, when their children become addicted to such games, most parents do not know how to deal with the situation.
To carry out the new rules to the best effect, more specific issues need to be solved, such as managing foreign online games, ensuring that facial recognition technologies used by games companies have the wanted effect or making sure online game providers can only offer one-hour services to underage players on Saturdays and Sundays. While there are always loopholes (漏洞) in new rules, authorities should act quickly to close them.
There is no doubt that online games have harmful effects on young people. It is not acceptable for a large number of teenagers or those even younger, to become addicted to these games.
1. What’s the purpose of the new rules on online games?| A．To raise awareness of Internet safety. |
| B．To bring in new computer programs. |
| C．To reduce the grown-up user base. |
| D．To prevent the teenagers’ addiction. |
| A．They can learn more knowledge on the Internet. |
| B．They have more free time and less self-control. |
| C．They have purposes in life but lack higher education. |
| D．They maintain a sense of curiosity about the Internet. |
| A．How to reduce parents’ anxiety about kids’ study. |
| B．How to find loopholes in the popular online games. |
| C．How to control the service time of online game providers. |
| D．How to invent a facial recognition game for young players. |
| A．Confused. | B．Negative. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Uninterested. |
2 . Are you a book lover? Here are some of the hottest books of the season.
The One Thing You’d Save
The One Thing You’d Save is about a homework assignment. Ms. Chang has students choose what they’d save if their home was on fire. Some choose baseball cards or animal toys. One picks a sweater that was passed down for generations. Another chooses a box of memories about a sister who died. This book helps readers learn to figure out what matters most in life.
War and Millie McGonigle
It’s 1941. Millie McGonigle, a 12-year-old girl, was supposed to be living a carefree life. However, she lives in the shadow of World War Ⅱ. War and Millie McGonigle is an inspiring story that tackles the topic of life and death. The story line is driven by vivid characters and their relationships. The interaction between Millie and her little sister, Lily, mirrors the real-life sibling (兄妹) relationships in many families.
Simon B. Rhymin’
Simon is starting fifth grade and hopes to become a famous singer. But he’s shy about using his voice to express his ideas and thoughts. When a teacher asks the class to give an oral presentation, Simon must find the strength to change and overcome his fears. Simon B. Rhymin’ is a book that gives confidence to readers who are going through similar struggles.
Rez Dogs
Rez Dog is a book about an eighth grader named Malian. She’s visiting her grandparents on a Wabanaki reservation when COVID-19 hits. To stay safe, Malian has to stay away from school” and her friends. Many kids will understand this tough situation. During the lockdown, Malian learns to think about what other people have gone through and how they are feeling during the pandemic (疫情).
1. How can The One Thing You’d Save influence us?| A．It gets us to preserve sweet family memories. |
| B．We may find it essential to ensure home safety. |
| C．We will try our best to improve our academic performance. |
| D．It reminds us to discover what we should treasure most in life. |
| A．They are both inspirational stories. |
| B．They are both set in cruel war times. |
| C．They both reflect character weaknesses. |
| D．They both involve principles of survival. |
| A．The One Thing You’d Save. | B．War and Millie McGonigle. |
| C．Simon B. Rhymin’. | D．Rez Dogs. |
3 . Madison stared through the window and watched a puffy white cloud pass over the woods across from the school. It must be wonderful to be a bird, she thought. Total freedom. No math class to sit in, and her days would be spent on horseback. She thought of her horse, Star.
“Madison. Could you please join us again?” Mrs. Smith said. “I was just asking the class if anyone had any problems with the homework assignment.”
“Well, I didn’t have any problems doing it, but I had problems remembering to put it in my school bag after I did it.” Some giggling spread through the room.
“Madison. I don’t know what I am going to do with you. You’re such a smart girl but you just don’t apply yourself. Class, clear your desks. Our guest is here and welcome Doctor Landon. He is a veterinarian (兽医). He came here today as part of our continued Career Explorations Program.”
Madison tried to focus as Doctor Landon talked about how important grades were and how he struggled with math when he was a kid. Doctor Landon was still talking but she lost track of what he was saying. Then a word caught her attention. Horse. Was he talking about horses?
Gradually, Madison knew Doctor Landon had come to her town and house when her horse, Star, needed care. She liked it that he even knew her horse’s name. “So, you just travel around and take care of horses all day long?”
Doctor Landon nodded. “I travel with my truck to take care of horses and ponies across the county. It is a lot of work, but I love it.”
Madison’s mouth fell open. What a life that must be, she thought. At that moment, sitting in class, Madison could see her future and her life suddenly seemed bigger. By the time she got off the bus that afternoon, her plans for the afternoon had changed. She was still going to ride Star, but first she was going to spend an hour studying math. Then tomorrow she’d spend an hour studying science.
1. Why was Madison called by Mrs. Smith in class?| A．Because she had problems with math. |
| B．Because she was absent-minded in class. |
| C．Because she was distracted by the birds outside. |
| D．Because she forgot to bring her homework back. |
| A．To call for care for animals. |
| B．To enrich students’ outdoor activities. |
| C．To emphasize the importance of study. |
| D．To help students with their career choices. |
| A．She was greatly inspired. | B．She preferred math to science. |
| C．She didn’t believe Landon’s story. | D．She changed her hobby completely. |
| A．An Exciting Horse Riding | B．An Interesting Math Class |
| C．Madison Dreams Big | D．Madison Pursues Freedom |
4 . A couple of years ago, Ashok Goel was overwhelmed by the number of questions his students were asking in his course on artificial intelligence. Goel teaches computer science at Georgia Tech, sometimes to large classes, where students can ask thousands of questions online in a discussion forum. Professor Goel already had eight teaching assistants, but that wasn’t enough to deal with the increasing number of daily questions from students.
When students feel confused and reach out with questions that go unanswered, their motivation to continue begins to fade. Professor Goel decided to do something to improve this situation and his solution was to create a virtual assistant named Jill Watson, which is based on the IBM Watson platform.
Goel and his team developed several versions of Jill Watson before releasing her to the online forums. At first, the virtual assistant wasn’t too great. But Goel and his team sourced the online discussion forum to find all the 40, 000 questions that had ever been asked since the class was launched. Then they began to feed Jill with the questions and answers. After some adjustments and enough time, Jill was able to answer the students’ questions correctly 97% of the time. The virtual assistant became so advanced and realistic that the students didn’t know she was a computer. The students, who were studying artificial intelligence, were interacting with the virtual assistant and couldn’t tell it apart from a real human being. Goel didn’t inform them about Jill’s true identity until April 26. The students were actually very positive about the experience.
The goal of Professor Goel’s virtual assistant next year is to take over answering 40% of all the questions presented by students on the online forum. The name Jill Watson will, of course, change to something else next semester. Professor Goel has a rosy outlook on the future of artificial intelligence, believing it will be widely applied.
1. What did Professor Goel find in the online course?| A．The course was too difficult for students. | B．Most students dropped out of his course. |
| C．Students’ questions were too many to handle. | D．Assistants’ capacity made students unsatisfied. |
| A．She was easily identified as an AI. | B．She turned out to be a great success. |
| C．She was released online as the first version. | D．She could answer all the questions correctly. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Sensitive. | C．Adventurous. | D．Cautious. |
| A．An online computer course benefits students. | B．An Al team develops online discussion forums. |
| C．A knowledgeable AI assists in online education. | D．A new outlook promises online AI development. |
5 . A couple of days ago I unexpectedly lost my job. It wasn’t anything too important: I was just a carrier for the Scarborough Mirror, delivering newspapers every Wednesday and Friday. But it brought in a good amount of pocket money for a student like me.
During the first week of September I planned to stop my job, as I wanted to focus on my academics with school to start. I found a family on my street who were willing to take over and so I took their names anti numbers and turned them in to my district representative along with my resignation.
That was last week. This Tuesday came and I was supposed to get the newspapers to deliver on Wednesday. They didn’t come. I just assumed there probably wasn’t much to deliver so they would just give me everything tomorrow. It'd happened before so I wasn’t too worried. There was a seed of doubt, however, in my mind, that maybe the handover of this job was misunderstood. But I pushed that thought aside and just went on as usual.
Wednesday morning came and the papers weren’t lying on my driveway as they’d done for the past 9 months. My mom reminded me to call my district representative, who told me the route had indeed been turned over to the other family. She couldn’t have understood my message when I said I would work until September. So much for 2 more weeks of work!
In a way, I’m glad because I don’t have to worry about delivering newspaper in the burning sun. On the other hand, I wasn’t ready to give up my job so early, so the unexpected loss was a tiny blow to me.
Despite these negative feelings, I’m looking forward to the next summer when I’m getting promoted and my wage will rise from what I had with the job, which gave me good experience about hard work and chances to meet my neighbors.
1. Why did the author plan to quit the job?| A．He could barely put up with its hardship. | B．He hoped to shift his attention to studies. |
| C．He had earned enough to afford schooling. | D．He desired to turn it over to a needy family. |
| A．The family to replace me. | B．Messages of my dismissal. |
| C．The papers to be delivered. | D．The district representatives. |
| A．He got fired on account of his own fault. | B．He didn’t have his potential appreciated. |
| C．He didn’t submit his resignation as required. | D．He had intended to stop the job in late September. |
| A．Learning to live with his personal imperfection. | B．Establishing a closer tie with his community. |
| C．Facilitating his organizational skills. | D．Breaking the habit of laziness. |
6 . Scientists today are concerned about the growing number of species in the world that may soon become extinct. The United Nations, along with many governments, are trying to save these endangered species. To help resolve this issue, scientists have been trying to learn why species become endangered.
In the United States, loss of habitats is the main reason for species becoming endangered. As populations grow and cities or towns expand, nature is destroyed and the ecosystem is affected. Even small changes in one part of an ecosystem can have a big impact on another part of it. For example, deforestation may result in a change in ground temperature, which may kill off a certain kind of plant in the forest. Animals that eat this plant may suddenly find that there is no available food so they starve to death.
Another possible cause of endangered or extinct species is climate change and rising sea levels. As the Earth gets warmer, this has profound effects on animal and plant life everywhere. For example, rising sea levels make coastal areas unfit for birds to live in. Warmer temperatures melt the ice where polar bears live, wrecking their habitat and making it harder for them to find food. The rising seas also make it harder for polar bears to swim from the cold waters to frozen packs of ice so many of them drown.
There are several ways that people are trying to help endangered species recover. Ecologists study different species and try to find out more information about them to try and help. In Finland, for example, scientists found that a a decrease in the number of bogs(沼泽) was responsible for the falling butterfly population. Once they understood this, they could manage the butterfly population and help it recover. Governments are also passing laws to protect endangered animals. One example of this is an area near Hawaii with a seriously low fish population. The United States’ government has made it illegal for fishing boats to enter this area.
1. What can we infer from paragraph 2?| A．Most endangered species are located in the United States. |
| B．Cities and towns in the United States are growing too fast. |
| C．Ecosystem changes can result in habitat loss and animal death. |
| D．More trees need to be planted to prevent animals from dying out. |
| A．Conserving. | B．Damaging. | C．Providing. | D．Dominating. |
| A．Saving Endangered Species | B．A List of Endangered Species |
| C．The Causes of Global Warming | D．How Polar Bears Became Extinct |
| A．Some other ways to help endangered species recover. |
| B．A brief discussion of polar bears and their diet habits. |
| C．The impact of fishing laws on the development of Hawaii. |
| D．Various opinions and debates concerning the cause of global warming. |
7 . The streets of Seville, Spain, are lined with over 48,000 attractive orange trees, producing over 16,500 tons of fruit every winter. Though that gives Seville the honor of being Europe's top orange-producing city, the fruit is too sour to be consumed fresh. Some of the produce is used to make jam, but most ends up in landfills. However, that may change soon thanks to an inventive idea to use the oranges to produce clean energy.
The pilot program is being launched by the local government and parks department in cooperation with Emasesa, Seville's water supply division. Juice obtained from 38.6 tons of oranges will be left to ferment （发酵）in an existing biogas facility. The gas released from the fermented liquid will be collected and used to drive a generator to produce clean power. The officials estimate the test run will generate about 1,500 kWh of energy — enough to run one of Emasesa's water purification plants. They say, "It's not just about saving money. The oranges are a problem for the city, and we're producing added value from waste.”
If successful, by 2023, the city hopes to recycle all the oranges and add the electricity generated back to its power system. In trial runs, 1000 kilos of oranges produced 50 kWh of clean energy — enough to satisfy the daily electricity needs of five homes.
“Emasesa is now a role model in Spain for sustainability and the fight against climate change," Espadas Cejas, mayor of Seville, said in the press conference announcing the pilot program. "This project will help us reach our targets for reducing emissions （排 放）,energy self-sufficiency, and the circular economy"
The latest attempt is among the many initiatives being carried out across Spain to achieve the country's goal of switching its electricity system to renewable sources by 2050 — and if everything goes according to plan, folly decarbonizing its economy shortly after that.
1. How are oranges on Seville's street trees mostly treated?| A．Be thrown away as garbage. | B．Be made into jam. |
| C．Be brought to market. | D．Be consumed fresh. |
| A．Critical. | B．Conservative. |
| C．Positive. | D．Concerned. |
| A．Seville's orange trees will be replaced. |
| B．Emasesa sets an example in saving water. |
| C．Emasesa's residents are using clean energy. |
| D．Spain is determined to develop alternative energy. |
| A．To draw attention to urban waste. |
| B．To promote research into orange juice. |
| C．To show a trend towards sustainable energy. |
| D．To introduce an innovative electricity-making project. |
8 . Christo Javacheff the artist who worked to turn landscapes and buildings into massive, temporary works of art, died on March 2021 at age 84. Christo surprised the world again and again with the imagination and size of the artworks he created.
Christo, born in Bulgaria in 1935, met his wife Jeanne-Claude in Paris in 1959. Together, the two formed a strong partnership that lasted the rest of their lives. They worked as a team to create huge works of art called installations. In these installations, Christo and Jeanne often changed the way buildings or large areas of land looked — a kind of art known as "land art”.
The two were most noted for “wrapping” things so large that most people would never think to wrap them. Many of their projects used huge pieces of cloth or plastic. For example, in 1969, they wrapped 1.6 miles of rocky coastline near Sydney, Australia and it was the largest artwork ever made. In 1995, they used cloth to wrap up the Reichstag, a famous and historic building in Berlin, Germany.
Being extremely large, their art works cost a fortune to create. The artists paid for the projects themselves by selling the plans, drawings, and models they made for each installation. Many projects seemed so unusual that the couple had to work very hard to get permission to create them.
But, like almost all of the artist's work, it was only meant to last a short time. Most of the installations only stayed up for a few weeks or months before being taken down.
“I am an artist, and I have to have courage," Christo said. "Do you know I don't have any artworks that exist? They all go away when they're finished." Christo himself has gone away, leaving behind an art world forever changed by the memory of his huge and daring artworks.
1. For what were the couple best known?| A．Overcoming financial problems. |
| B．Tearing down old-fashioned buildings. |
| C．Inventing innovative building materials. |
| D．Packaging huge landscapes and buildings. |
| A．Considerate and humble. | B．Creative and courageous. |
| C．Enthusiastic and careful. | D．Demanding and generous. |
| A．His artworks were temporary. |
| B．His hard work didn't pay off at last. |
| C．He regretted exhibiting his artworks. |
| D．He didn't expect his works to last long. |
| A．Christo's Collection of Massive Artworks |
| B．Christo's Enormous Influence on Architecture |
| C．Christo: an Artist Who Dreamed and Built Big |
| D．Christo and Jeanne: a Couple Who Warmed the World |
9 . Here are four famous museums for family visits in Washington DC.
Dinosaur Museum
The museum features evidence, facts and tons of amazing sculptures of some of the most powerful and sometimes scary animals that ever controlled the Earth. The artists used real dinosaur bones to form the reproductions so they are extremely life-like.
Witte Museum
Originally established in 1926, this museum offers guests a comprehensive look at a more than 3-century span （跨度）of history. Called the center where nature, science and culture meet, the museum prides itself on providing guests with immersive （沉浸的）experiences, such as being taken back to cowboy days in the Heritage Center or digging through sand to find dinosaur bones.
The best part? The museum is constantly switching out some exhibits to better suit the season and provide guests with a different experience each time they visit.
Museum of Illusions
Step inside a completely new world at Orlando's newest exhibit the Museum of Illusions! This unique educational attraction is the perfect combination of fun and art, allowing visitors of all ages to test the limits of their mind. Focused on planting the seeds of curiosity, the astonishing images at the exhibitions remind guests that everything is not always as it seems.
World's Largest Toy Museum
Release your inner kid and visit the World's Largest l oy Museum, which will take you back in time with one million toys from the 1800's to today. You'll surely be excited to check out your "hero" toys from your childhood. The tours are self-guided and guests are allowed to leave and return during the same day.
1. Which of the museums is best at stimulating children's imagination?| A．Dinosaur Museum. | B．Witte Museum. |
| C．Museum of Illusions. | D．World's Largest Toy Museum. |
| A．Visit some seasonal exhibits. |
| B．Watch the dinosaur reproductions. |
| C．Enjoy interacting with true cowboys. |
| D．Learn about the museum's 300-year history. |
| A．It displays the oldest toys in the world. |
| B．It provides visitors with immersive experiences. |
| C．It is meant for children with the theme of heroes. |
| D．It allows tourists to come unlimited times in a day. |
10 . Trinidad State Beach, Northern California. About 50 feet from shore, two brothers were fighting for their
As the surfers drew close, the brothers were struggling. “It was pretty
“When we come across a(n)
| A．freedom | B．lives | C．existence | D．boards |
| A．finally | B．exactly | C．closely | D．barely |
| A．Abruptly | B．Luckily | C．Obviously | D．Absolutely |
| A．cries | B．noises | C．chaos | D．weeps |
| A．float | B．fall | C．drown | D．sleep |
| A．shore | B．sea | C．hospital | D．destination |
| A．surprising | B．challenging | C．conflicting | D．suffering |
| A．stressful | B．eventful | C．peaceful | D．successful |
| A．stayed up | B．pulled up | C．held up | D．looked up |
| A．lifted | B．called | C．hurried | D．kept |
| A．otherwise | B．besides | C．therefore | D．meanwhile |
| A．ashamed | B．amazed | C．panicked | D．confused |
| A．on purpose | B．in time | C．at once | D．with ease |
| A．outcome | B．emergency | C．instance | D．adventure |
| A．take | B．spend | C．risk | D．apply |
