1 . Parents often believe that they have a good relationship with their teenagers. But last summer, Joanna and Henry noticed a change in their older son. Suddenly he seemed to be talking far more to his friends than to his parents. “The door to his room is always shut,” Joanna noted.
Tina and Mark noticed similar changes in their 14-year-old daughter. “She used to cuddle up (依偎) against me on the sofa and talk,” said Mark. “Now we joke that she does this only when she wants something. Sometimes she wants to be treated like a little girl and sometimes like a young lady. The problem is understanding which time is which.”
Before age 11, children like to tell their parents what’s on their mind. “In fact, parents are first on the list,” said Michael Riera, author of Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers. “This completely changes during the teen years,” Riera explained. “They talk to their friends first, then maybe their teachers, and their parents last.”
Parents who know what’s going on in their teenagers’ lives are in the best position to help them. To break down the wall of silence, parents should create chances to understand what their children want to say, and try to find ways to talk and write to them. And they must give their children a mental (思想的) break, for children also need freedom, though young. Another thing parents should remember is that to be a friend, not a manager, with their children is a better way to know them.
1. “The door to his room is always shut” suggests that the son ________.| A．keeps himself away from his parents | B．begins to dislike his parents |
| C．is always busy with his study | D．doesn’t want to be ignored |
| A．Their daughter isn’t as lovely as before. |
| B．They can’t read their daughter’s mind exactly. |
| C．They don’t know what to say to their daughter. |
| D．Their daughter talks with them only when she needs help. |
| A．Teenagers talk a lot with their friends. | B．Teenagers do not understand their parents. |
| C．Teenagers talk little about their own lives. | D．Teenagers do not talk much with their parents. |
| A．Parents shouldn’t be angry with teenagers. |
| B．Parents have to talk with children face to face. |
| C．Parents are unhappy with their growing children. |
| D．Parents should try to understand their teenagers. |
2 . “You’re very talented, dear. I hope everything turns out great. I’ll tell my friends about the animal shelter (避难处),” a kind old lady told Conrad, who smiled
Conrad was proud of what he was doing and people in the
His mother, Sandy, worked at the shelter and had always been a(n)
He placed a
Raise your kids to love animals, and they’ll be better people. Caring for innocent animals makes people more selfless,
| A．suddenly | B．sweetly | C．purposely | D．secretly |
| A．square | B．park | C．street | D．hall |
| A．violin | B．piano | C．organ | D．guitar |
| A．partly | B．vaguely | C．exactly | D．honestly |
| A．passive | B．active | C．strict | D．attractive |
| A．However | B．Furthermore | C．Otherwise | D．Therefore |
| A．acted | B．survived | C．concentrated | D．kept |
| A．showing up | B．coming in | C．going on | D．getting through |
| A．worried | B．annoyed | C．panicked | D．confused |
| A．looked around | B．went past | C．headed for | D．wandered about |
| A．sign | B．signal | C．box | D．bench |
| A．hesitated | B．passed | C．left | D．stopped |
| A．generous | B．optimistic | C．energetic | D．average |
| A．counting | B．raising | C．saving | D．earning |
| A．curious | B．serious | C．loving | D．unconcerned |
3 . Who says that being roommates with someone from a completely different generation has to be strange? Lately, more and more Americans are becoming intergenerational (代际的)roommates, and they’re changing the way people think they should be living.
Explained as those that are separated by at least one generation living together, there has been a major increase in intergenerational roommate arrangements (安排)within the United States since 1971. In fact, statistics show that this number has actually quadrupled (增长四倍)since then. In a Pew Research Center article, it shared that by March 2021, there were at least 59. 7 million Americans that had many generations living under one roof.
There are a ton of reasons that come into play for these types of arrangements. For some, it’s because of the increase in the average life-expectancy age(平均预期寿命), a decreased birth rate, a rise in college tuition, the ever rising rentals in almost every coastal city, and more. But if anything, many say that one main reason behind the rise is that older people have space to rent out and that having younger people around just makes them happier.
According to a 25-year-old robotics student living in Massachusetts, Nadia Abdullah, who moved in with her 64-year-old roommate Judith in 2019, “It was perfect——Judith has become like my family.”
Their arrangement was $700 a month from Nadia, plus the promise of her doing some help around the house. This also allowed Nadia to live just 6 miles from Boston and 30 minutes from her robotics job located in Beverly Mass. Nadia was matched with Judith through website, a renting center specifically created to find intergenerational roommates.
Another young renting center reviewer, Kaplan, also gave some opinions on the service and why it’s so special, saying, “Through this, I lived with Sarah while attending Harvard. She provided the type of knowledge you just can’t Google——showing me how to garden, how to cook fish, and add French Romanticism to life.”
1. What is the increasing housing trend mentioned in the text.| A．More people are living together as roommates. |
| B．Strangers of a generation are living together like a family. |
| C．Different generations are living under the same roof. |
| D．Family members of different generations are living together. |
| A．The types of the arrangements. | B．The reasons for the arrangements. |
| C．The solutions to the arrangements. | D．The problems with the arrangements. |
| A．How to google special knowledge. | B．How to build a garden. |
| C．How to fish. | D．How to live a romantic life |
| A．The website is popular with university students. |
| B．The intergenerational roommates should help each other. |
| C．The intergenerational roommate arrangements work well. |
| D．The elderly benefit more than the young from the arrangements. |
4 . For the first time, scientists have grown plants in the moon soil collected by NASA’s Apollo astronauts. The scientists had no idea if anything would grow in the moon dirt. They wanted to see if it could be used to grow food by the next generation of moon explorers. The results surprised them. Plants actually can grow in lunar (月球的) soil.
The researchers planted thale cress (芥蓝), a small flowering plant, in moon soil returned from the Apollo missions. The good news was that all of the seeds grew. The bad news was that after the first week the lunar soil stressed the plants so much that they grew slowly. Most of the moon plants ended up stunted—meaning small or not fully developed.
The longer the soil was exposed to radiation and solar wind on the moon, the worse the plants seemed to do. The soil collected by the Apollo 11 mission was the least helpful for growth. It was exposed a couple billion years longer to the elements.
Scientists said, “This is a big step forward to know that we can grow plants. The real next step is to go and do it on the surface of the moon.”
Moon dirt is full of glass particles from micrometeorite (微小陨石) impacts. One solution might be to use younger geologic spots on the moon, like lava flows, for digging up soil. The environment also could be changed by adding special nutrient (营养物) mixtures or artificial lighting.
Only 382 kilograms of moon rocks and soil were brought back by the six Apollo erews that landed on the moon. Most of them are still locked away, forcing researchers to experiment with soil made of volcanic ash on Earth.
Early last year NASA finally gave out 12 grams of soil to the University of Florida researchers for the planting experiment. NASA said the timing for such an experiment was finally right with the space agency looking to put astronauts back on the moon in a few years.
1. What is the result of the planting experiment with lunar soil?| A．The plants couldn’t grow normally. | B．It was difficult for the seeds to grow. |
| C．They were struck by some diseases. | D．The soil was too stressed for the plants to grow. |
| A．To create a new crop. | B．To improve lunar soil. |
| C．To plant on the moon. | D．To find the right amount of light. |
| A．Lunar soil cannot be brought back by humans. | B．Lunar soil was difficult to obtain for testing. |
| C．Lunar soil is not suitable for planting. | D．Lunar soil is the same as volcanic ash. |
| A．Future Astronauts Will Grow Food on the Moon |
| B．It’s Time to Study Growing Crops on the Moon |
| C．Lunar Soil Consists of Tiny Glass Particles |
| D．Scientists Grow Plants in Dirt from the Moon |
5 . My parents always told me that I couldn’t dance, because it was a girl’s sport. But I never gave up my dream of becoming a dancer, I practised secretly, learning from books, movies, and shows. However, without my parents’ support, that
One summer, my little sister Maggie was going to dance lessons. I immediately asked my parents for permission(允许) to take her to the lessons. What a
One afternoon, I was
“What’s the matter, Maggie?” I stopped
“Denis, you are a great dancer! Can you help me?”
“What is it?” I wondered.
“There’ll be a dancing performance in my school,
“You can be a good dancer!” I
In the following months, we practised every evening,
Finally came the big day. I became
My heart was beating wildly when I saw my father coming towards me. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Well done, son. Though it is hard for me to
I’d been waiting for this moment for so long. I knew that the road ahead wasn’t going to be easy, but I wouldn’t
| A．line | B．dream | C．answer | D．message |
| A．similar | B．funny | C．good | D．strange |
| A．playing | B．struggling | C．achieving | D．practising |
| A．drawing | B．dancing | C．singing | D．writing |
| A．but | B．or | C．so | D．if |
| A．happily | B．anxiously | C．slowly | D．angrily |
| A．asked | B．believed | C．encouraged | D．informed |
| A．sad | B．lazy | C．sorry | D．wrong |
| A．chatting | B．resting | C．sleeping | D．hiding |
| A．shy | B．bored | C．nervous | D．angry |
| A．music | B．lesson | C．meeting | D．party |
| A．arrived | B．finished | C．succeeded | D．regretted |
| A．admit | B．catch | C．cause | D．agree |
| A．took away | B．paid for | C．fell into | D．belonged to |
| A．give up | B．give in | C．give out | D．give away |
6 . I always carry a Rubik’s Cube (魔方) in my backpack. Solving it quickly is a start of a(n)
Holding a Cube, people usually don’t know where to begin. That’s
It was at that time that I taught myself to solve the cube, which made me
The Rubik’s Cube taught me that to
| A．intervention | B．interaction | C．tradition | D．expectation |
| A．generate | B．digest | C．adopt | D．overcome |
| A．exactly | B．mostly | C．barely | D．merely |
| A．inferences | B．comments | C．sense | D．conclusions |
| A．embarrassing | B．surprising | C．rewarding | D．confusing |
| A．assess | B．analyse | C．realize | D．forecast |
| A．eastward | B．westward | C．backward | D．forward |
| A．novel | B．mirror | C．quote | D．fantasy |
| A．ban | B．continue | C．expand | D．start |
| A．strategies | B．conclusions | C．essays | D．plans |
| A．defend | B．link | C．achieve | D．desert |
| A．break down | B．break in | C．break out | D．break off |
| A．apparent | B．easy | C．difficult | D．critical |
| A．convince | B．require | C．warn | D．remind |
| A．regardless of | B．prior to | C．thanks to | D．instead of |
7 . Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website Book Crossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.
Members go on the site and register (登记) the books they own and would like to share. Book Crossing provides an identification number (识别码) to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.
Bruce Pederson, the managing director of Book Crossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. Book Crossing combines both.”
Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.
People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E— mails are then sent to the BookCrossers to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.
Book Crossing is part of a trend (趋势) among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual (虚拟).The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty—five countries.
1. Why does the author mention book groups in the first paragraph?| A．To explain what they are. | B．To introduce Book Crossing. |
| C．To stress the importance of reading. | D．To encourage readers to share their ideas. |
| A．An adventure. | B．A public place. |
| C．The book. | D．The identification number. |
| A．Keep it safe in his bookcase. | B．Mail it back to its owner. |
| C．Meet other readers to discuss it. | D．Pass it on to another reader. |
| A．Online Reading: A Virtual Tour | B．Electronic Books: A New Trend |
| C．A Book Group Brings Tradition Back | D．A Website Links People through Books |
8 . Gently holding a baby hummingbird (蜂鸟) between her hands, Lattouf says, “Hello, cute little guy. Are you very hungry?” It’s the newest patient at Lattouf apartment in Mexico City where she has nursed hundreds of the tiny birds back to health over the past decade. Under Lattouf’s caress (爱抚), the bird relaxes little by little.
This is often how Lattouf’s days have gone since she turned her apartment into a clinic (诊所) for sick, injured or baby hummingbirds. Most of the hummingbirds are in the bedroom where Lattouf sleeps. They stay there until they are strong enough to fly and feed themselves. Then she moves them to a neighboring room to prepare them to finally be freed.
With dozens of the tiny birds buzzing overhead, Lattouf explained that she began caring for them a year after surviving colon (结肠) cancer in 2011. It started with one hummingbird that had an eye injured by another bird. A veterinarian (兽医) friend encouraged her to try to help it. The bird became her close partner, staying on her computer screen while she worked. “It wrote me a new life,” she said of the nine months when the bird lived with her. It helped pull Lattouf out of the sadness and loneliness she had experienced after her husband’s 2009 death followed by her cancer. Later, friends began bringing her more hummingbirds.
Lattouf says she never turns away a bird. “Most come to me as babies. Many come to me broken,” she said. Some have injuries to wings after running into things or falling from nests. Some get sick because of drinking polluted water from hummingbird feeders, which are popular in the city. Now the demand for her services has jumped because someone put a video about her work on the social platform TikTok that has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
The city is filled with threats to hummingbirds like constant construction projects that replace flower gardens with concrete. But Lattouf remains optimistic. “We do everything possible,” she said.
1. What do we know about Lattouf?| A．She tried to save hummingbirds. | B．She wanted to be a nurse. |
| C．She liked to live in Mexico. | D．She used to be a doctor. |
| A．Her love for hummingbirds. | B．Her needs for a partner. |
| C．Her encounter with an injured one. | D．Her friend’s encouragement. |
| A．She has worked hard. |
| B．She has shared videos about the tiny bird. |
| C．More people get to know her services by TikTok. |
| D．She has accepted every injured hummingbird. |
| A．Brave and realistic. | B．Outgoing and active. |
| C．Generous and optimistic. | D．Humorous and energetic. |
9 . I have dreamed of taking a trip to Hawaii since I graduated, but the best thing always needs waiting.
I took a trip with my friends to Haleakala National Park, which lies in Hawaii.
When we arrived at Haleakala National Park, we were advised to watch the early morning sunrise. I was lost in the sightseeing (观光) that afternoon, so I could hardly wait to see the sunrise. The next morning, we all got out of bed very early and got to the seaside at 3 o’clock. In the first half an hour, we imagined how wonderful it would be when the first light came out through the thick clouds and how soft it would be when the light touched our skin, so we waited and waited. However, another half an hour later, I gradually lost my patience since there was nothing but the chilly darkness, and I felt that I was frozen to death. (冻死) But my friends were still extremely cheerful.
Nearly another one hour later, “Amazing!” Judy burst out and we all shouted to welcome the light, which was really unbelievable. Until today, I dare say that it is the most impressive sunrise in my life. However, waiting in the morning darkness is also one memory I can’t forget forever.
Waiting sometimes is really a hard thing for most of us as it needs patience and strong-willed determination (决心) , but what about the result after that? It might turn out to be pleasing and unbelievable. So, it is really worth (值得的) waiting for the best.
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．he author’s friends and the author took a trip to China. |
| B．Hawaii is a good place to enjoy the sunrise. |
| C．Sometimes, it is worth waiting for the best. |
| D．The author enjoyed the worst sunrise in his life. |
| A．About 3 o’clock. | B．About 4 o’clock. |
| C．About 5 o’clock. | D．About 6 o’clock. |
| A．Total. | B．Cold. | C．Terrible. | D．Interesting. |
| A．Excited all the time. | B．Afraid all the time. |
| C．Firstly excited then afraid. | D．Firstly excited then impatient. |
10 . Explore your world—Mirthy
Online events to help you discover, learn and connect
Who is Mirthy?
Mirthy is one of the most popular websites for online events and already loved and trusted by more than 45,000 people. It was designed to create an inclusive community where people can learn, share, and connect with others through a variety of events that are active, sociable, and uplifting. It’s all about fulfilment and wellbeing.
There are some online events each month to try, from craft workshops (手工工坊) to fitness sessions. For example, according to our event calendar, this week you can attend gardening classes and singing lessons. So whether you have a desire to get fitter or to pick up a new skill—signing up for classes and events with Mirthy could be just what you have been looking for.
How does it work?
Sign up via the online registration form at Mirthy.com. Then you can take a look through the calendar of upcoming events and see what takes your fancy.
Once you register for an event, you will then receive a link on email ready for you to join the live event. If your plans change and you can’t make it, you will receive a link for a 7-day replay that you can watch at a time that is convenient for you!
Best of all, it’s completely FREE to join!
Join Mirthy for free today, and you can enjoy any 4 events every month, for free! If you’re up for more, then you can either select and book additional events on a pay-as-you-go basis, normally for £2.99 each, or you can upgrade to the Premium membership giving you full free access to all events for only £4.99 per month.
If you choose to go for the Premium membership, there’s no contract. You simply upgrade your membership and you can cancel anytime.
1. Mirthy is intended to_________.| A．improve people’s fitness | B．organize sociable events |
| C．provide craft workshops | D．create an online community |
| A．Make art crafts. | B．Talk about fitness experience. |
| C．Learn songs. | D．Study wild plants and animals. |
| A．People can sign up for the events online. |
| B．The events can be watched again at any time. |
| C．People can upgrade their membership for free. |
| D．No more than 4 events are offered each month. |
| A．To share a lifestyle. |
| B．To recommend a website. |
| C．To introduce online events. |
| D．To explain a registration process. |
