1 . In order to live in the wild, tigers need water to drink, animals to hunt, and plants in which to hide. As the mountains, jungles, forests, and long grasses that have long been home to tigers disappear, so do tigers. Agricultural expansion, new roads, and industrial expansion push tigers into smaller and smaller areas of land. Without wilderness, the wild tiger will not survive.
Asia’s explosive population growth demands that more and more land be changed to agriculture. Indonesia, for example, has the same population as the United States, but only ten per cent of the land area. Almost all of Indonesia’s lowland forest has been cleared for rice planting.
In India, where there are about 60 per cent of the world’s wild tigers, the human population has grown by 50 per cent in the past 20 years. Over the past 40 years, China’s population, the largest in the world, has more than doubled and 99 per cent of China’s original forest habitat has been destroyed.
Tigers compete with humans and industry for land. Local people hunt the same prey (猎物) as tigers do, making tigers to turn to domestic animals and, even humans. Threatened villagers often poison, or shoot the encroaching (侵犯) tigers. In addition to food, local communities also need to use the surrounding areas of forest for livestock grazing (放牧) and wood for fuel.
To protect tigers from hunting and the rapidly increasing loss of land, wildlife conservationists (自然资源保护者) have worked with governments to establish wildlife reserves. Reserves are protected areas ranging in size from China’s Xioaling at 21 km2 to Indonesia’s Kerinci Seblat at 14,846 km2.
1. Why does the author mention Indonesia?| A．To tell us Indonesia has a large population. |
| B．To show its rapid development of agriculture. |
| C．To show Indonesia’s serious forest destruction. |
| D．To tell us its rice planting is of great importance. |
| A．In the USA. | B．In Indonesia. |
| C．In China. | D．In India. |
| A．Finding less to eat. | B．Cutting down wood. |
| C．Industry’s development. | D．Human’s illegal hunting. |
| A．Tiger Habitat Loss | B．Humans and Tigers |
| C．Importance of Reserves | D．Importance of Tiger Protection |
2 . Have you experienced a condition when listening to a very loud music makes your heartbeat so fast that you can actually feel the
But why does this happen? Experiments found that the
It is believed that people who havens lower heart rate have a longer life.
Therefore, it is used as a
| A．light | B．shallow | C．heavy | D．mild |
| A．nature | B．anxiety | C．respect | D．security |
| A．integrated | B．changed | C．linked | D．marked |
| A．compared | B．adapted | C．exposed | D．opposed |
| A．style | B．beauty | C．fantasy | D．effect |
| A．formed | B．developed | C．translated | D．made |
| A．brings out | B．brings up | C．brings about | D．brings in |
| A．enjoyable | B．unbearable | C．unforgettable | D．beneficial |
| A．helpful | B．joyful | C．grateful | D．doubtful |
| A．Interestingly | B．Similarly | C．Absolutely | D．Unbelievably |
| A．limit | B．competition | C．fame | D．risk |
| A．speeds up | B．holds up | C．slows up | D．puts up |
| A．selflessness | B．calmness | C．loneliness | D．restlessness |
| A．learning | B．relaxation | C．permission | D．cooperation |
| A．hardens | B．touches | C．saddens | D．heals |
3 . ChatGPT, a new chatbot model developed by US-based AI research laboratory OpenAI, has quickly become a hit globally due to its advanced conversational capabilities,
It can write emails, computer codes, even academic papers and poems, and has passed a number of tests within seconds. Academicians worldwide are discussing whether AI should be used in education. Some universities have banned it. The New York City’s Department of Education, for example, banned the chatbot from its public school devices and networks, with some people warning that it could encourage more students to cheat, especially in exams.
Many more welcome this app, claiming that, like most technological advances and groundbreaking innovations in history, ChatGPT is a powerful tool for the development of higher education.
Embracing AI as early as possible is advisable. Higher education institutions should make preparations for including AI in their syllabus (教学大纲). They can start by offering related courses, because by understanding how it works, they can make better use of it. Besides, students with good knowledge of AI are more competitive when it comes to getting a good job, as an increasing number of jobs are being done by computer programmes-some in cooperation with humans, AI-powered education technologies can be adopted to make the learning experience more suitable for each student based on his or her strengths and weaknesses. As for professors, AI can free them from doing some dull tasks so they can concentrate on teaching and interacting with students.
Since we cannot avoid ChatGPT and other AI-powered applications from entering the field of higher education, we should make collective efforts to ensure they have a positive impact on society and the future of education Despite AI helping make learning much more interesting and enjoyable, humans need to work very hard to win the race with technology.
1. Why do some higher education institutions forbid ChatGPT?| A．ChatGPT can write emails and computer codes quickly. |
| B．Some professors might not perform their duties properly. |
| C．Students would have conversations with each other via it. |
| D．Students might seek help from it in completing the exams. |
| A．Fearful. | B．Disapproving. | C．Supportive. | D．Uncertain. |
| A．It offers students an increasing number of jobs. |
| B．It personalizes students’ learning experience. |
| C．It equips students with competitive skills to cooperate with humans. |
| D．It handles uninteresting tasks so students can better focus on learning. |
| A．We should guard against AI apps. |
| B．AI will be more widely used in education. |
| C．The future of education relies on AI apps. |
| D．Humans will be left behind by technology. |
4 . Before uploading a photo of ourselves to social media, chances are that we’ll use an app to smooth our skin, make our eyes look bigger, and lips fuller. With a couple of taps on our mobile phone, we can get a quick fix and present the “best” version of ourselves to the world. However, the problem is, when we simply edit our imperfections away, we’re also changing the way we look at ourselves.
Last month, researchers published the article Selfies—Living in the Era of Filtered (过滤的) Photographs. The article analysed photo editing apps’ bad influences on people’s self-respect and their possibility to cause appearance anxieties. The researchers also warned that such apps make it difficult to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. “These apps allow one to change his or her appearance in minutes and follow an unrealistic standard of beauty,” the article reads.
In the past, people may have compared their looks to those of famous people. But for today’s young people, beauty standards are most likely set by what they see on social media. “From birth, they are born into an age of social platforms where their feelings of self-worth can be based purely on the number of likes and followers that they have, which is linked to how good they look,” British cosmetic doctor Tijion Esho told The Independent. This is why many young people suffer an identity trouble when it comes to appearance.
“Now you’ve got this daily comparison of your real self to this fake self that you present on social media,” Renee Engeln, a professor of psychology, told the HuffPost website. Engeln further pointed out that when people spend too much time making such comparisons, they may become “beauty sick” and find it difficult to accept what they actually look like. “Because between you and the world is a mirror. It’s a mirror that travels with you everywhere. You can’t seem to put it down,” she told The Washington Post. So when we look in a real mirror, we shouldn’t think to ourselves, “Do I look as good as myself in the filtered photos?” Instead, we should think, “I feel good; I have my health.”
1. Before uploading a photo to social media, we will probably _________.| A．have an operating to make our eyes look bigger |
| B．use some cream to smooth our skin |
| C．use an app to fix our photo |
| D．edit our perfections away |
| A．In many ways, photo editing apps are beneficial to people. |
| B．Photo editing apps are likely to cause people’s anxieties about their appearance. |
| C．Photo editing apps can make people more beautiful. |
| D．Photo editing apps help people judge realistic beauty. |
| A．Because they compare their looks to those of famous people. |
| B．Because beauty standards are set by social media. |
| C．Because their feelings of self-worth depend on their own likes and dislikes. |
| D．Because their feelings of self-worth depend on their appearance. |
| A．We should feel good about what we actually look like. |
| B．We should spend more time making comparison of our real self to fake self. |
| C．We should take a mirror with us everywhere. |
| D．We should try to look as good as ourselves in the filtered photos. |
5 . My teacher held up a piece of broken glass and asked, “Who broke this window?”
Thirty boys tried to think about not only what they had done, but also what the teacher might have found out. She seldom became angry, but she was this time.
“Oh,” I thought. I was the one who broke the window. It was caused by a naughty throw of a baseball. If I admitted guilt, I would be in a lot of trouble. How would I be able to pay for a big window like that? I didn’t even get an allowance. “My father is going to have a fit as a result of it,” I thought. I didn’t want to raise my hand, but some force much stronger than I was pulled it skyward (朝向天空). I told the truth, “I did it.” It was hard enough to say what I had done.
My teacher took down a book from one of our library shelves and I had never known my teacher to strike a student, but I feared she was going to start with me.
“I know how much you like birds,” she said as she stood looking down at my guilt-ridden face. “Here is the field guide about birds that you are constantly checking out. It is yours now. It’s time we got a new one for the school anyway. You will not be punished, but remember that I am not rewarding you for your misdeed (恶行), but I am rewarding you for your truthfulness.”
I couldn’t believe it! I wasn’t being punished and I was getting my own bird field guide — the very one that I had been saving up money to buy.
The lesson my teacher taught me stays with me every day, and it will echo forever.
1. From the story, we can learn that the boy .| A．didn’t break the window on purpose |
| B．lacked the courage to admit his guilt |
| C．tried to think about what he had done |
| D．didn’t know what the teacher had found out |
| A．be punished by the teacher |
| B．make his father angry |
| C．pay for the broken window |
| D．get a bird field guide |
| A．Afraid—Surprised—Thankful. |
| B．Frightened—Amazed—Proud. |
| C．Regretful—Guilty—Excited. |
| D．Nervous—Afraid—Satisfied. |
| A．Every coin has two sides. |
| B．Honesty is always valued. |
| C．Bad luck never comes alone. |
| D．You can’t be too careful. |
6 . Marcus is a handsome and athletic kid. He plays tennis and
Marcus has known Conrad since primary school. They’ve always been
Finally, the doctors found a new
To Conrad’s delight, he gets a chance to join the cross country team. Conrad doesn’t win, not once, but Marcus is there,
| A．gives up | B．competes in | C．hears of | D．breaks through |
| A．able | B．lucky | C．eager | D．calm |
| A．bears | B．counts | C．forgets | D．escapes |
| A．accept | B．enjoy | C．lose | D．miss |
| A．strangers | B．enemies | C．friends | D．teachers |
| A．surprise | B．sadness | C．impatience | D．tiredness |
| A．promises | B．asks | C．drives | D．forces |
| A．long | B．noisy | C．boring | D．interesting |
| A．treatment | B．excuse | C．period | D．topic |
| A．goal | B．style | C．speed | D．skill |
| A．suitable | B．serious | C．small | D．comfortable |
| A．strength | B．show | C．shape | D．advantage |
| A．relaxing | B．beneficial | C．painful | D．meaningful |
| A．queuing | B．arguing | C．running | D．cheering |
| A．excitedly | B．curiously | C．anxiously | D．actively |
7 . How clever can a computer be? Maybe you can get the answer after reading the following passage about a newly-developed US computer program called Smarter Child.
If you ran into Smarter Child online, you would be surprised at this kid’s huge memory. It can remember many facts. For example, Smarter Child knows every baseball player in every team this season and the weather in every city across the US. He also knows every word in the dictionary. However, if you ask Smarter Child other private questions, you will get strange answers. A question about Smarter Child’s age returns, “I’ll be older than you after further study!”, and asking where he lives, you will get, “In a clean room in a high-tech building in California.”
Smarter Child uses the huge information on the World Wide Web as his memory bank. To answer questions about spelling, for example, Smarter Child goes to www.ahdictionary.com. For the weather, he visits www.intellicast.com. He turns to www.the-scientist.com for scientists and www.moviefone.com for a fantastic movie.
Some scientists believe that by joining many systems of the Internet, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the combined (结合的) knowledge of, say, Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and Britney Spears could be born. However, Smarter Child has difficulty in discerning whether a behavior is right or wrong, which is obvious to any young child. If he wants to think and learn without any help from the programmers like boy-computer David in the movie Artificial Intelligence (AI), he must solve two problems.
The first is that computers find it difficult to read web pages because the files are sorted in different ways. That’s why programmers need to tell Smarter Child where to look for the weather. It would be a much more difficult task to let him find it by himself. Another problem is that while Smarter Child can deal with information more exactly and faster than any human, he needs programmers to make better systems that allow machines to solve problems of common sense, which is a huge challenge.
1. What may be unknown to Smarter Child?| A．His age. | B．The weather in New York. |
| C．A word in the dictionary. | D．A player’s name of the Boston Redsox. |
| A．www.moviefone.com | B．www.intellicast.com |
| C．www.the-scientist.com | D．www.ahdictionary.com |
| A．Preventing. | B．Copying. | C．Inventing. | D．Telling. |
| A．He has a huge memory. | B．He can think and learn independently. |
| C．He can make a weather forecast. | D．He deals with information fast. |
8 . We had just completed a unit on heroes, and I had given my kindergarten class a task to draw their favorite hero. Each child was
However, one little boy was having
Finally, it was time for everybody to share their pictures. I listened as each student
When Austin stood up, he proudly held up a picture of Cameron. Austin said that Cameron was his hero because Cameron had the
Cameron immediately stood up, and put his arms up in the air as if he were going to
| A．familiar | B．busy | C．bored | D．satisfied |
| A．patience | B．fun | C．difficulty | D．connection |
| A．judged | B．admired | C．ignored | D．loved |
| A．fight | B．argue | C．agree | D．work |
| A．writing | B．drawing | C．printing | D．reading |
| A．proudly | B．instantly | C．shyly | D．frequently |
| A．indicated | B．described | C．followed | D．compared |
| A．fault | B．duty | C．turn | D．point |
| A．back | B．chest | C．stomach | D．face |
| A．curious | B．certain | C．surprised | D．disappointed |
| A．unwillingly | B．bravely | C．quickly | D．impolitely |
| A．asked | B．prepared | C．blamed | D．excused |
| A．preference | B．habit | C．sickness | D．hobby |
| A．set off | B．back off | C．show off | D．take off |
| A．masters | B．superheroes | C．figures | D．leaders |
9 . From Santa Barbara to Scotland, strangers are becoming friends by going on bike rides together. They get paired up by Cycling Without Age, an organization that helps seniors go for bike rides, even if they can’t pedal themselves.
Hugh Lyon and David Lawrence, who are roughly 20 years apart in age, have been riding together for years. The 56-year-old Lawrence serves as a “pilot”, driving the trishaw-a bike with a passenger seat in the front that Cycling Without Age uses for their rides. They go for rides about once a week, often discussing the history of their town.
“Despite my deceased parents, it gives me a connection with people from an older generation,” said Lawrence, “and I enjoy spending time with them and hearing their Stories.” The pair have formed a friendship outside of cycling. Lawrence said he calls Lyon often and goes to the gym with him to help him with exercises he can’t do on his own.
Ole Kassow, who founded Cycling Without Age, said that’s the power of the program. “The truly powerful thing about these bike rides is that they tie people and stories together to create new relationships,” he told CBS News. “In my experience, friendships-and the ability to form new relationships at any age-are what define a good life, and often also a long and happy life.”
John Boettner started the Santa Barbara chapter. He has one rule for passengers. “They say, ‘What does it cost if I’m going to go for a ride?’ I say, ‘Here’s what it costs: You have to wave. If you don’t wave, I’m going to kick you out,’” he joked. He said he likes when they hit red lights, because it gives them a chance to connect with people on the road. “Driving the trishaw is the best advertisement for Cycling Without Age”, Boettner said, “When you take a 101-year-old woman for a bike ride and she holds your hand tight and says thank you and gives you a kiss on the cheek, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
1. What benefit did Lawrence get from Cycling Without Age?| A．Picking up forgotten stories. | B．Improving his health condition. |
| C．Understanding his parents’ love. | D．Creating a relationship with seniors. |
| A．To share the pleasure of cycling. | B．To state the nature of happiness. |
| C．To show the value of the program. | D．To introduce the definition of a good life. |
| A．The program needs to be advertised. | B．Passengers have to pay for their rides. |
| C．Red lights connect people with the pilots. | D．Bike riders feel content by offering rides. |
| A．A true friend is one soul in two bodies. | B．Be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. |
| C．Don’t go through life, grow through life. | D．Happiness is a journey, not a destination. |
10 . In today’s world, cultural heritage — a term Yale University President Peter Salovey referred to as “the record of humanity” — is increasingly under attack by threats ranging from climate change, theft, mass tourism, and war. Historic buildings, works of art, traditions, and even local languages are disappearing at an increasingly rapid rate.
Yale is leading a new organization, the Global Consortium for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (GCPCH), to work on the preservation of cultural heritage. The first official meeting of the organization took place in Milan, Italy, which gathered 36 international university officials and experts from around the world to determine next steps for advancing GCPCH’s mission(使命).
During the meeting, experts and officials determined that the mission of GCPCH is to share knowledge and to promote relationships between the parties that seek to protect various forms of cultural heritage worldwide. More specifically, GCPCH will create a map of education programs and field experiences, research projects, and funding sources.
The two-day meeting of GCPCH was hosted by Bocconi University. It kicked off with an address by UNESCO Director — General Irina Bokova. “Knowledge-sharing gets all stakeholders(有利益关系者) involved at a global level,” said Bokova in her inspiring speech. “Together we need to strengthen the networks and build more bridges between all actors.”
Stefano Baia Curioni, vice-president of ASK Research Center of Bocconi University. commented on what an honor it was for Bocconi to host the meeting. “It is with great pleasure that we gather such a set of leaders who bring so many valuable points of view on challenges related to the preservation of cultural heritage,” Baia Curioni said. “We know how important the work of this body is to advancing our collective work, and are honored to support such efforts.”
1. Why is cultural heritage in need of protection?| A．It is faced with threats from both nature and human. |
| B．It is under attack by some forms of illegal conduct. |
| C．Cultural heritage sites are disappearing in wars. |
| D．Some traditions are not identified as cultural heritage. |
| A．It hosted a meeting. | B．It formed a new organization. |
| C．It gathered some experts. | D．It invited a UNESCO official. |
| A．Spreading preservation knowledge and bridging gaps in preservation efforts. |
| B．Organizing educational courses field trips and fund-raising activities. |
| C．Creating different forms of heritage protection and teaching them to students. |
| D．Sharing research findings and promoting communication between universities. |
| A．A meeting place. | B．A formal speech. |
| C．An official report. | D．An important mission. |
