1 . Pushpa hates tears but when she tells of incidents from her childhood, which she spent battling poverty, she can’t help feeling overwhelmed. “We used to be able to afford only one meal every day,” she says. But as challenging as those early years were, they would lead to her remarkable life as a scribe (抄写员) for people with special needs.

Pushpa remembers enjoying a blessedly normal childhood, peppered with “toys, dinners out and movies at the theatre”, until around grade 4. But life as she knew it disappeared when an accident left her father disabled.

“My mother, who wasn’t well-educated, had to work for ＄500 per month.” But what hit her hardest was her struggle to continue her education. The memory of her grade 7 teacher refusing to allow her to attend classes over unpaid school fees still hurts.

One day in 2007, while travelling with two visually impaired (有缺陷的) college students by bus, she heard them talk about how difficult it was for them to continue their education. “I remembered my own struggle to finish my studies so I seized the opportunity to help them.”

“I was a little nervous at first because I had passed my grade 10 examination only with a third class,” she smiles. “Since then, I’ve written exams for students who have low IQ, or are blind or visually impaired, or have met with an accident.”

It is, by no means, an easy task. “I read out the questions slowly and, sometimes, several times, and wait for the student to tell me the answer. I have seen scribes getting irritated (愤怒的) at students and that should not happen.” she explains.

Over the last 16 years, the young girl who once survived on handouts has come a long way. Connecting with examinees by word of mouth, till date, Pushpa has written 1,086 exams for special-needs test-takers and won the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2018 for her efforts. “You should be prepared to help the student for those few hours, without expecting anything in return.” Pushpa adds.

1. What do we know about Pushpa according to Paragraph 1?

A．Her ambition to serve people.	B．Her early fight against poverty.
C．Her inability to control emotions.	D．Her gratitude to the past hardships.

2. What was the probable reason for Pushpa to start her work as a scribe?

A．She was sympathetic for others.	B．She expected to shoot to fame.
C．She was professional in the job.	D．She was eager for much money.

3. What quality should a scribe have in Pushpa’s eyes?

A．Intelligence.

B．Respect.

C．Patience.

D．Cooperation.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．A Helping Hand	B．A Hardship-filled Life
C．An Old-fashioned Job	D．A Devoted Prize Winner

2 . In our life, there are moments when we wonder whether to offer a helping hand. These _______ may seem small to us, but sometimes have the power to change the _______ of someone else’s life. This kind of _______ experiences happened to Bill when he was 15 years old.

It was a summer afternoon, and Bill was attending a _______ for a middle school summer program once again. It was a good chance for friends to meet regularly and speak freely. _______ , none of the group members _______ to him till the end of the day. Eventually, everyone said their goodbyes, leaving him standing by himself.

Bill recalled, “Sometimes when you’re _______ , you feel abandoned. And that’s the way I felt then, and the feeling became intense.” Nearby, another group of _______ stood chatting and laughing. He found himself _______ so much to be a part of that group.

As Bill stood there, feeling ________ lonely, Wendy, a girl in that group, who had ever ________ him in the summer program, walked up to him. “Hi, I’m Wendy. I saw you last year,” Wendy said. Then she invited Bill to join them and ________ him in her group’s activities. Wendy ________ out to Bill and also inspired him to extend that same kindness to anyone at any time.

From then on, Bill’s life was changed. He studied hard to become a doctor. He was ________ to his patients, listening to them and being attentive to their needs. “To some extent, ________ Wendy’s kind invitation, I was inspired to be a good person,” Bill said.

1.

A．ambitions

B．gestures

C．qualifications

D．reasons

2.

A．course

B．appetite

C．preferences

D．opinions

3.

A．unfamiliar

B．unimportant

C．contradictory

D．transformational

4.

A．concert

B．test

C．reunion

D．competition

5.

A．Nevertheless

B．Therefore

C．Otherwise

D．Besides

6.

A．agreed

B．talked

C．proposed

D．apologized

7.

A．kind

B．gentle

C．rude

D．alone

8.

A．teenagers

B．colleagues

C．doctors

D．teachers

9.

A．attaining

B．regretting

C．desiring

D．forgetting

10.

A．increasingly

B．permanently

C．slightly

D．rarely

11.

A．amused

B．invited

C．chose

D．met

12.

A．find

B．involve

C．suspect

D．acknowledge

13.

A．gave

B．let

C．reached

D．acted

14.

A．faithful

B．equal

C．identical

D．caring

15.

A．as to

B．thanks to

C．in place of

D．in spite of

3 . Yoriko, a sheepshead fish (kobudai in Japanese), first met Arakawa nearly 30 years ago. Arakawa started _________ at the age of 18. Now 79, he still loves his stays in the deep water. His _________ friendship with Yoriko is certainly one of the highlights.

“I’d say we _________ each other,” Arakawa said in an interview, “not that we talk to each other… I kissed her once. I’m the only person she’ll let _________ it.” Over time, the fish with an almost _________ face—“When looking close, you’ll think she looks like someone you _________,” Arakawa jokes—and her human companion became underwater best friends forever.

On one dive when Arakawa was visiting, he noticed Yoriko’s _________ had been badly injured. Even so, she came to greet him. Realizing she’d be _________ to catch her own food, Arakawa hand-fed Yoriko meat from crabs(蟹) he hammered open for her. _________, Yoriko bounced back from her injuries quickly. After her __________, the connection between the pair seemed to grow even stronger.

“I’m not sure if it’s the __________ of the kobudai or not. It’s probably because there is a sense of __________ between us. I guess she knows that I __________ her. So for me to be able to do that, I am __________,” Arakawa said. “I have an amazing sense of achievement.”

It sure sounds like this is one human who’s been truly caught in a net of __________—and we’ll bet Yoriko has no plans to toss(扔) him back, either.

1.

A．fishing

B．training

C．diving

D．swimming

2.

A．fast-developing

B．longstanding

C．open

D．regular

3.

A．understand

B．miss

C．please

D．support

4.

A．enjoy

B．do

C．make

D．change

5.

A．human-looking

B．good-looking

C．strange-looking

D．natural-looking

6.

A．admire

B．fear

C．perceive

D．know

7.

A．mouth

B．back

C．tail

D．head

8.

A．eager

B．happy

C．unwilling

D．unable

9.

A．Initially

B．Thankfully

C．Unexpectedly

D．Basically

10.

A．return

B．recovery

C．growth

D．arrival

11.

A．preference

B．gift

C．nature

D．habit

12.

A．trust

B．security

C．responsibility

D．fun

13.

A．cheated

B．caught

C．freed

D．saved

14.

A．unashamed

B．grateful

C．proud

D．regretful

15.

A．peace

B．hope

C．love

D．joy

8 . Phones, tablets and smart watches will be mostly banned (禁止) from classrooms in the Netherlands from Jan 1, 2024, Sky News reported.

The move is meant to limit distractions from social media, messaging and other sites. Devices will only be allowed if they are needed for the lesson, for medical reasons, or for people with disabilities.

“Scientific research showed that mobile phones are a disturbance (打扰). We need to protect students against this,” said Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands. “Students need to be able to concentrate and need to be given the opportunity to study well.” Dijkgraaf noted that schools could manage the implementation of the ban themselves. However, he added that laws would follow if the results are not good enough.

The United Nations also warned of the risks of smartphones in schools, the BBC reported.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that too much mobile phone use was linked to reduced educational performance. And high levels of screen time have a bad effect on children’s mind, noted The Guardian.

UNESCO said its call for a smartphone ban sent a clear message that all digital technology including artificial intelligence should always be less important than a human-centered vision of education and can never replace face-to-face interaction with teachers. Based on its analysis of 200 education systems around the world, UNESCO estimate one in four countries and regions had laws or policies banning phones in schools. Besides the Netherlands, France introduced its policy in 2018, and Finland had a similar decision in June. In 2021, the Ministry of Education in China banned mobile phones, tablets, and other digital devices in the classroom, Xinhua reported.

According to the policy, if such devices are brought to school, then they should be stored together in the same place. Meanwhile, the use of the devices for teaching purposes should not be over 30 percent of the total teaching time.

“Our school has strict rules to ban phones in class. Students who break the rules may lose their merit student qualification or admissions eligibility (保送) for college,” Dai Ting, a 17-year-old student from Chengdu, told Teens.

1. Which of the following is true according to the text?

A．Only disabled students are allowed to use smartphones in classrooms.

B．Personal communication with teachers is preferred.

C．30% of the teachers use digital devices in class.

D．Any digital devices found in classrooms will be destroyed.

2. Which the closest in meaning to the underlined word in paragraph 3?

A．Carrying out.

B．Bringing out.

C．Making out.

D．Putting out.

3. What’s the students’ attitude towards the ban?

A．Supportive.

B．Objective.

C．Negative.

D．Not mentioned.

4. What is the best title for this text?

A．Digital products totally banned in Netherlands

B．A ban on digital products in Netherlands schools

C．Digital products is a distraction in Netherlands schools

D．Digital products’ wide use in Netherlands schools

9 . Lights, camera, action! Have you ever dreamed of being a director? At age 29, Di Di already has almost 10 years of directing experience. Through the media company he founded, he makes advertising and promotional videos, including for Tsinghua University, his alma mater (母校).

For Di, becoming a director is an adventure based on interest. Majoring in journalism, he got into directing by chance. “In 2016,I came up with an idea for Tsinghua’s admissions(招生)video but couldn’t find a director,” Di said. “so I decided to be the director myself! I ended up really enjoying the process of being creative and working with a team. That was when I knew I wanted to be a director.”

While many people think that directors are experts at art, Di found that directors are, in fact, experts at management. “Only one-third of my time is spent on set. The rest of the time, I’m doing lots of planning with my clients and co-workers.” he said. This planning process includes working out the video’s theme with the client, creating a play, bringing together the visuals and text content, and also managing logistics (后勤) like where to park the cars and how to bring electricity to the set.

“Filming is an industry of high costs. Even short advertisements cost a lot of money per day. Any incident could result in the failure of the project, such as bad weather or the main character not turning up. You have to be quick to respond to any problems,” Di said. Despite the pressure, Di gets great joy from making an impact through his works. In 2019, he made a film for Tsinghua, which tells the story of a group of first-generation college students-the first to go to university in their families. It was viewed more than 15 million times on social media and became a hot top 20 trending topic on Sina Weibo. Being a first-generation college student himself, Di felt very passionate about the video’s goal of inspiring students to use their education to make a better life for their families. One month before the national college entrance exam in2020, Di released a feature film encouraging high school students to keep working hard after the exam was pushed back by one month.

1. Which of the following is true?

A．Di was a student whose major was directing.	B．Di became a director by accident.
C．Little money is needed to make a film.	D．Most of Di’s time is spent on directing.

2. What is paragraph two mainly about?

A．Di’s experience of directing.	B．What it takes to be a director.
C．How Di started to be a director.	D．Di’s views on being a director.

3. Which is not included in Di’s work?

A．Planning the set.	B．Talking about the topic.
C．Putting visuals and texts together.	D．Preparing meals.

4. What can be learned from the last paragraph?

A．Weather decides how well the process goes.	B．Di’s video helps students go to university.
C．Di’s video makes a difference to some students.	D．Directing is a career with little pressure.