1 . The sun was shining brightly over our heads and sweat (汗水) was pouring off our backs and faces. We stood still without
It was
After this journey, we were more
Military training taught us perseverance (不懈) and determination. On the last day of our training, the confidence could be
| A．crying | B．making | C．sending | D．telling |
| A．nothing | B．anything | C．something | D．everything |
| A．wasted | B．spent | C．kept | D．took |
| A．strict | B．curious | C．interesting | D．normal |
| A．success | B．pleasure | C．worry | D．wonder |
| A．referred to | B．devoted to | C．turned to | D．listened to |
| A．sunlight | B．wealth | C．desire | D．health |
| A．received | B．helped | C．offered | D．happened |
| A．concerned | B．determined | C．interested | D．surprised |
| A．expected | B．expressed | C．disliked | D．rescued |
| A．escaped | B．moved | C．rode | D．rushed |
| A．larger | B．stronger | C．louder | D．lower |
| A．seen | B．heard | C．smelt | D．touched |
| A．thoughts | B．feelings | C．opinions | D．voices |
| A．travelling | B．falling | C．setting | D．smiling |
2 . “When I first started learning calligraphy, I just copied the teacher’s strokes (笔画), and my work was ugly.” said Aryan from Afghanistan. He is currently a graduate student in Beijing,
During his six-year stay in China, he discovered the
To his surprise, the curriculum for foreign students in China
“Initially, I didn’t know much Chinese and thought calligraphy would be difficult,” Aryan said.” Later on, I found out that calligraphy can help me
He used to
Not only did Aryan gain a deeper
| A．majoring | B．settling | C．bringing | D．resulting |
| A．problem | B．pattern | C．richness | D．resource |
| A．native | B．official | C．international | D．formal |
| A．goes against | B．takes up | C．takes over | D．goes beyond |
| A．conferences | B．activities | C．subjects | D．competitions |
| A．economy | B．life | C．work | D．pleasure |
| A．competition | B．content | C．combination | D．contact |
| A．improve | B．recognize | C．adjust | D．find |
| A．hold | B．oppose | C．break | D．suspect |
| A．positive | B．contradictory | C．wrong | D．objective |
| A．direction | B．step | C．attitude | D．effort |
| A．supply | B．represent | C．sense | D．recall |
| A．responses | B．admissions | C．reactions | D．keys |
| A．function | B．ability | C．form | D．knowledge |
| A．stressed | B．inspired | C．determined | D．interrupted |
3 . Laura Madden is a small business owner and sustainable fashion advocate. “ReFashioned Art is a purpose-driven business, combining style and sustainability (可持续性),” Madden says,“I love fashion, but I also care deeply about the environment.”
She slowly built her network and became an influencer who ran a popular blog. She shares that her passion for sustainability came about in 2015 when she watched a life-changing documentary about the social and environmental issues brought up by the fashion industry. “My guilty pleasures－ shopping and fashion － that I assumed weren’t hurting anyone, were in reality hurting a lot of people,” she says.“I couldn’t stand the fact that something I loved so much was creating so much suffering on the planet. How could something that brought me so much beauty and joy be so dirty and destructive?”
With this realization, Madden became an advocate for sustainable fashion－including purchasing most of her own clothes second-hand and supporting sustainable brands. Although she was busy enough in 2019, she became a professional artist, creating pieces made from sustainable materials.
She notes that ReFashioned Art is first and foremost an art brand. “I am using my work to tell a story and create a narrative that style and sustainability can co-exist,” she says. “By repurposing old items into something more fashionable, elegant, and contemporary, I hope to inspire you to look for beauty where it is not normally found.”
For those interested in supporting sustainable art and fashion. Madden shares,“Get creative and look for beauty. Looking forward, I would love to partner with more designers.”
She adds,“We only have finite resources. The best thing we can all do is ask, ‘How else can I use this item?’”
1. What inspired Madden to be an advocate for sustainable fashion?| A．The popular blog she ran. |
| B．An unforgettable personal experience. |
| C．A documentary that changed her life. |
| D．A business with a specific purpose. |
| A．It focuses on both fashion and humans. |
| B．It’s a combination of fashion and old tradition. |
| C．It’s inspiring and instructive as an art style. |
| D．It cares little about social and environmental issues. |
| A．She partners with many designers. |
| B．She writes as many stories as possible. |
| C．She purchases brand-new clothes all the time. |
| D．She transforms old things into more modern ones. |
| A．Limited. | B．Enormous. | C．Valuable. | D．Fashionable. |
4 . When she was just 8, Sammie Vance thought about a question. What breaks your heart? “For me, it’s seeing people who need a friend,” the seventh grader from Indiana, US. told People magazine. “I’ve been lonely myself, I don’t want others to feel that way.”
Soon after a summer camp. Vance learned about buddy benches(伙伴长椅). These benches are seats at a school playground. A lonely child can sit on it, which shows that he or she is in need of a friend.
She loved this idea. “This would be really cool.” Vance said. Then she got into action at once. She collected 725 kgs of bottle caps and found a factory to turn the caps into benches for her school. According to Vance, these benches cost much less than common park benches and are good for the environment.
Vance collected more for benches at other schools, too. She also made a website page for others to follow her journey and make bottle cap donations(捐赠). She was surprised that her small project had had an influence on people around the world. She even received bottle caps from Germany and Australia. But she has no plans of stopping. She said in an interview that even adults(成年人)can use a buddy bench because people at any age can feel lonely.
“I just look forward to making a difference.” she said, “and inspiring(激励)other people to make a difference.”
1. What makes Sammie Vance sad?| A．Seeing homeless people. | B．Seeing hungry people. |
| C．Seeing lonely people. | D．Seeing lying animals. |
| A．Bottle caps. | B．Glass bottles. | C．Old clothes. | D．Old chairs. |
| A．Make more friends to live a happy life. | B．Try to help others and make a difference. |
| C．Work hard to make our dream come true. | D．Live a green life and protect the environment. |
5 . Music is said to be a universal language. But for Chase Burton, a deaf filmmaker, music has always been a different experience.
“When I was a kid, I used to lie on the floor above our garage so that I could feel the vibrations (震动) from my brother’s band rocking out below my body. That was one of the first times I began building a relationship with music,” said Burton.
In 2016, his ability to experience music changed completely, thanks to the California-based technology company Not Impossible Labs. It designed a vibrating suit. The suit enables deaf people to “feel” music through their skin. It can translate audio into a range of vibrating pulses that are felt at 24 points of contact. Burton has been wearing the suit for four years. “The sound drubs different parts of my body,” said Burton. “It strikes me on my ankles first. And then I start to feel the vibrations on my back and wrists.”
The creators want to extend the musical experience beyond the deaf community. In 2018, they gave out 150 vibrating suits at a rock concert where half the audience members were deaf and half could hear. From then on, the creators worked to improve the technology and wanted the suit to become a consumer product accessible to all, which would be used in live sports broadcasts or video games.
As a writer and director, Burton has been working to make the movie world more inclusive. For his latest movie he hired all-deaf staff and actors. Burton hopes that the vibrating suits will be available to his film audiences in the future. He believes that the suits can improve emotions while people are watching a movie for normal people as well as the deaf. “I see the tech as a real opportunity to help people understand that music or movies don’t always need to be enjoyed through the ears,” said Burton.
1. What does the underlined word “drubs” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Hits. | B．Affects. |
| C．Changes. | D．Reflects. |
| A．To promote sales. |
| B．To enrich their experience. |
| C．To carry out an experiment. |
| D．To make people enjoy music. |
| A．It will be used by his film audiences. |
| B．It will help improve actors’ emotions. |
| C．It will become the main theme in his movies. |
| D．It will change normal people’s attitude to the deaf. |
| A．A Deaf Filmmaker’s Musical Experiences |
| B．The Application of Vibrating Suits to Films |
| C．Wearable Devices for Deaf People Are Coming |
| D．Vibrating Suits Allow Deaf People to Feel Music |
6 . As a popular subject of study among evolutionary ecologists, the threespined stickleback (三刺鱼) is known for their different shapes, sizes, and behaviours — they can even live in both sea water and fresh water, and under a wide range of temperatures. But what makes that?
The researchers tracked six populations of the fish before and after seasonal changes to their environment, using genome sequencing (基因组测序). Seasonal changes result in great changes in habitat structure and balance of salt and fresh water, and only those fish able to tolerate these rapid changes survive into the next season.
“These changes probably resemble the habitat shifts experienced by stickleback populations during the past 10,000 years, ” says Professor Barrett. “We hope to gain insight into the genetic changes that may have resulted from natural selection long in the past.”
Remarkably, the researchers discovered the evidence of genetic changes driven by the seasonal shifts in habitats, which mirrored the differences found between long-established freshwater and saltwater populations. “These genetic changes occurred in independent populations over a single season, highlighting just how quickly the effects of natural selection can be detected, ” says Professor Barrett, “the findings suggest that we may be able to use the genetic differences to predict how populations may adapt to the environment.”
The research emphasizes the importance of studying species in dynamic environments to gain a better understanding of how natural selection operates. In the further research, they plan to investigate how repeatable the observed genetic changes are, by testing whether they show up year after year. Doing so would demonstrate their ability to reliably forecast the evolutionary future of these populations.
1. What does the underlined word “that” refer to in Paragraph 1?| A．The threespined stickleback is under a wide range of temperatures. |
| B．The threespined stickleback is popular with evolutionary ecologists. |
| C．The threespined stickleback can adapt to different living conditions. |
| D．The threespined stickleback has different shapes, sizes, and behaviours. |
| A．The difficulties of the research. | B．The purpose of the research. |
| C．The background of the research. | D．The methods of the research. |
| A．Habitat shifts. | B．Genetic changes. |
| C．Seasonal changes. | D．Independent populations. |
| A．To know what natural selection is. |
| B．To study species in dynamic environments. |
| C．To test the reliability of the present discoveries. |
| D．To forecast the evolutionary future of certain species. |
7 . I was born legally blind. Of all the stories of my early childhood, the one about a
Mom loves to use this story as an
We are almost certain to get
| A．trip | B．race | C．tree | D．driver |
| A．incident | B．change | C．illness | D．problem |
| A．feared | B．refused | C．forgot | D．turned |
| A．delay | B．absence | C．freedom | D．rest |
| A．promised | B．encouraged | C．allowed | D．expected |
| A．woke | B．picked | C．warmed | D．gave |
| A．answer | B．example | C．excuse | D．order |
| A．afraid | B．ashamed | C．able | D．anxious |
| A．ask | B．share | C．fear | D．try |
| A．regretted | B．reviewed | C．made | D．explained |
| A．job | B．friend | C．fortune | D．house |
| A．memories | B．efforts | C．research | D．experience |
| A．mixed up | B．fed up | C．knocked down | D．settled down |
| A．play | B．relax | C．dream | D．cry |
| A．all at once | B．in the end | C．in either case | D．as a result |
8 . It was a cold night in Washington, D.C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man approached me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I’d read the signs: “Don’t give money to beggars as most of them are swindlers.” So I shook my head and kept walking.
I wasn’t prepared for a reply, but with no hesitation, he followed me and said, “I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!” But I kept on walking.
The incident kept bothering me for the rest of the week. I had money in my pocket and it wouldn’t have killed me to hand over a dollar or two even if he hadn’t been a real beggar. On a freezing cold night, no less, I assumed the worst of a fellow human being.
Flying back to Anchorage, I couldn’t help thinking of him. I tried to reason my failure to help by supposing government agencies, churches and charities were there to feed him. Besides, you’re not supposed to give money to beggars.
Somewhere over Seattle, I started to write my weekly garden column for The Anchorage Daily News. Out of the blue, I came up with an idea. Bean’s Cafe, a local charity service kitchen, feeds hundreds of hungry local people every day. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row of vegetables or flowers in their gardens for Bean’s? Plant a row for Bean’s. It’s clean and simple.
We didn’t keep records back then, but the idea began to take off. Folks would fax me or call when they took something in. It’s food for the spirit and comfort for my conscience.
In April 1995, the Garden Writers Association of America(GWAA) held their annual meeting in Anchorage and after learning our program, Plant a Row for Bean’s became Plant a Row For The Hungry. The idea then was to have every member write or talk about planting a row for the hungry, which brought the program to national attention.
As more and more people participated, new variations cropped up. Many companies gave free seeds to customers and displayed the logo for the program. Donations poured in. It was then that I could really stop feeling guilty.
1. The underlined word “swindlers” in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.| A．policemen | B．writers | C．cheaters | D．beggars |
| A．Because he didn’t show fair respect to a beggar treating him badly. |
| B．Because he could have helped a hungry man but he passed by. |
| C．Because he believed that no people begged because of real hunger. |
| D．Because he thought that charity work was the government’s duty. |
| A．He set up a local kitchen to help the poor. |
| B．He planted a row of vegetables for charity. |
| C．He called on people to donate money to the Bean’s. |
| D．He initiated the idea of Plant a row for Bean’s. |
| A．The beggar gave up the first time he was turned down by the author. |
| B．The author invented the program inspired by the Anchorage Daily News. |
| C．GWAA expanded the program concept and made it nationwide in 1995. |
| D．The program was later taken over by some seeding companies. |
9 . Owura Kwadwo Hottish teaches computer science in a school. It is a normal school except for the fact that it didn’t have
Owura became famous after he posted photos of him on the Internet. In the picture. people could see he was teaching his students by
| A．classrooms | B．computers | C．playgrounds | D．tools |
| A．operating | B．repairing | C．describing | D．drawing |
| A．poor | B．unique | C．average | D．avanced |
| A．annoyed | B．pleased | C．frightened | D．surprised |
| A．line | B．culture | C．schedule | D．school |
| A．rubbed | B．called | C．cut | D．shown |
| A．exchange | B．improve | C．revise | D．repeat |
| A．broke out | B．paid off | C．came back | D．held back |
| A．care | B．control | C．place | D．notice |
| A．suggestion | B．speech | C．decision | D．arrangement |
| A．made | B．waited | C．received | D．carried |
| A．Suddenly | B．Importantly | C．Exactly | D．Naturally |
| A．lent | B．sold | C．donated | D．applied |
| A．efforts | B．pains | C．legend | D．experiment |
| A．glory | B．wisdom | C．kindness | D．pride |
10 . Aesha Ash is a ballet dancer who began The Swan Dreams Project in 2011. It is a program designed to bring ballet to girls of color in her community. Aesha Ash is one of the few women of color to ever grace the stages of the School of American Ballet in New York City. She wants to expose her community to more positive images of women of color through the use of ballet. She wants to show the world that beauty and grace are not defined by status or race.
Aesha grew up in the inner city of Rochester, New York, where crime, gun violence and poverty were among the biggest threats to the community. For her, that’s normal. That’s just life in the neighborhood, but what she remembers most is the dance studio. She started dancing at the age of five. A teacher mentioned to her mother that she had some promise in ballet, and that it would be difficult for her, as a woman of color, to enter the ballet world. But the hardship she faced was the very thing that pushed her to pursue a career in ballet.
And there’s so much negative stereotypes (刻板印象) and misunderstanding of who they are in the media. Through the use of imagery and her career as a ballet dancer, she challenges stereotypes that exist for women of color, particularly those from inner-city communities.
“It’s important that our girls see that side of themselves because for many kids it’s hard to be what you can’t see. I hadn’t seen a black ballet dancer before I decided that was what I wanted to be. It was really important for me to be in my environment displaying that because this is where I’m from. It was always beyond ballet,” Aesha Ash stated.
1. Why did Aesha start The Swan Dreams Project?| A．To promote the images of females of color by ballet. |
| B．To expose her community to a world of women of color. |
| C．To grace the stages of the School of American Ballet. |
| D．To show the world that beauty and grace are defined by status. |
| A．Comfortable. | B．Ancient. | C．Peaceful. | D．Unsafe. |
| A．Aesha had a gift for ballet according to her teacher. |
| B．The hardship Aesha faced was the color of her skin. |
| C．Acsha wanted to be a ballet dancer because of a woman dancer of color. |
| D．It is not easy to change the stereotypes that exist for women of color. |
| A．A teacher provides chances for girls of color. | B．A woman brings ballet to the girls of color. |
| C．Ballet changes the life of a woman of color. | D．A woman has changed the negative stereotypes. |
