3 . Pooja Rani entered the boxing area at age 18 all thanks to her coach Sanjay Kumar. However, even with much _______, Pooja felt shy to wear the boxing gloves. She also knew that her father would not _______ her taking up this “violent” sport. But Pooja went after her interest_______ anyway until one day when _______ came to her father — he discovered the truth and stopped her playing the sport. “My father wasn’t _______ of boxing because he thought it violent. He didn’t _______ me playing other sports but boxing was a _______ no-go zone,” Pooja said. It then took six months of continuous _______ from Pooja and her coach Sanjay to _______ her father to change his attitude.

She won the National Youth Boxing Championship (锦标赛) in 2009, which ________ her career on an upward path. In 2012, she ________ two silver medals at the Asian Boxing Championship and the Arafura Games. Later, she acquired a gold medal at the South Asian Games in 2016, thus making her ________ for the Rio Olympics that year.

Unstoppable as she was, her wins came to a ________ for some reason. During that time, she was ________ by many people. It took her a whole year to get back on ________ with their assistance. And what a comeback! Pooja ________ in an impressive way, winning back-to-back gold medals at the Asian Boxing Championship in 2019 and 2021. This ________ her to be the first woman boxer to ________ the title. Given the long and ________ road she took to get here, for us, Pooja is ________ the “queen of boxing”.

1.

A．attention

B．guidance

C．assistance

D．encouragement

2.

A．approve of

B．go over

C．take in

D．turn up

3.

A．at will

B．in secret

C．at ease

D．in person

4.

A．word

B．warning

C．reward

D．praise

5.

A．confident

B．hopeful

C．fond

D．certain

6.

A．leave

B．favor

C．keep

D．mind

7.

A．common

B．strict

C．severe

D．vital

8.

A．discussions

B．demands

C．efforts

D．quarrels

9.

A．convince

B．remind

C．advise

D．force

10.

A．pushed

B．threw

C．knocked

D．beat

11.

A．missed

B．bagged

C．expected

D．targeted

12.

A．anxious

B．celebrated

C．qualified

D．ready

13.

A．pause

B．point

C．head

D．close

14.

A．forgotten

B．backed

C．questioned

D．approached

15.

A．stage

B．board

C．show

D．track

16.

A．recovered

B．responded

C．returned

D．recalled

17.

A．prepared

B．inspired

C．urged

D．enabled

18.

A．desire

B．earn

C．deserve

D．accept

19.

A．even

B．broad

C．winding

D．steep

20.

A．generally

B．obviously

C．merely

D．truly

4 . Zoologists studied the nervous systems of insects to investigate principles of biological brain computation and possible effects on machine learning and artificial intelligence. Specifically, they analysed how insects learn to associate sensory information in their environment with a food reward, and how they can recall this information later in order to solve complex tasks such as the search for food.

Living organisms show remarkable abilities in coping with problems posed by complex and dynamic environments. They are able to generalize their experiences in order to rapidly adapt their behaviour when the environment changes. The zoologists investigated how the nervous system of the fruit fly controls its behaviour when searching for food.

Using a computer model, they simulated(模拟) and analysed the computations in the fruit fly’s nervous system in response to scents coming from the food source. They initially trained their model of the fly brain in exactly the same way as insects are trained in experiments. They presented a specific scent in the simulation together with a reward and a second scent without a reward.

“The model rapidly learns a strong representation of the rewarded scent after just a few scent presentations and is then able to find the source of this scent in a complex environment,” said computer scientist Dr Hannes Rapp, who created the model.

The model created is thus capable of generalizing from its memory and to apply what it has learned previously in a completely new and complex environment, while learning required only a very small database of training samples.

The results suggest that the transformation of sensory information into memories in the brain can inspire future machine learning and artificial intelligence applications to solving complex tasks.

1. What is the aim of the research?

A．To analyse the application of biological brain computation principles.

B．To seek promotion of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

C．To shed light on how the nervous systems of insects work.

D．To uncover how insects apply sensory information in search of food.

2. Which statement about the research method is NOT TRUE?

A．The researchers collected the data by using a computer model.

B．The researchers focused on how the fruit fly’s nervous system reacts to scents.

C．The researchers trained the model in the same way as training fruit flies.

D．The researchers presented two different scents to carry out a control experiment.

3. What do the results of the research imply?

A．Insects’ nervous systems are more sensitive to particular scents.

B．Artificial intelligence is significant to biological brain research.

C．Sensory information is widely applied in machine learning.

D．Research on insect brain can contribute to AI development.

4. What is the main purpose of the text?

A．To present predictions about the future of machine learning.

B．To illustrate the method and findings of a scientific study.

C．To call on more research on insect brain and behavior.

D．To introduce a practical method of insect research.

5 . Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World is one of the most important books about climate change to have been written. Hayhoe is a gifted public speaker and Saving Us is a follow-up to her awesome TED talk in 2018, “The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it.”

One of the many refreshing aspects of this book is that Hayhoe recounts both her successes and her failures to communicate, through which she has gathered evidence about what works and what does not. Much of the book’s advice is common sense, all backed up not just by Hayhoe’s experience but also with convincing research by psychologists and social scientists.

Hayhoe advises against trying to engage with a small minority, the “Dismissives”, who “angrily reject the idea that human-caused climate change is a threat; they are most receptive to misinformation and conspiracy theories (阴谋论)”. There is a warning that offering up more facts about climate change can actually increase polarisation (两极化) among them.

The book includes amusing examples of her encounters with the “Dismissives”, almost entirely older men—including an engineer who was unconvinced about the evidence but with whom she was able to establish mutual (相互的) respect through a shared passion for knitting (打毛线衣) —and is packed with inspiring accounts of how she has won over even the most suspicious of crowds. Her motto is “bond, connect and inspire”, which represents her approach of always looking for points of commonality.

She also tells of a man who approached her after an event in London in 2019. He had been so inspired by her TED talk that he had started to speak to everybody he could in his neighborhood of Wandsworth. He showed her details of 12, 000 conversations that had taken place as a result, claiming that they had helped to convince the government to declare a climate emergency and to switch investments from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

And so, while it may feel difficult to influence the outcome of the COP26, Hayhoe’s uplifting book makes a persuasive case that we can all do our bit to bring about success just by talking about the issue.

1. What does the book mainly focus on?

A．Promoting people’s insight into climate change.

B．Introducing presentation skills with TED talks.

C．Developing critical thinking through literature.

D．Sharing communication tips on climate change.

2. Which of the following best describes the advice in the book?

A．Humorous but one-sided.	B．Novel and interesting.
C．Well-based and workable.	D．Serious and hard to follow.

3. How did Hayhoe win over the “Dismissives”?

A．By changing their political identity.

B．By challenging their fundamental beliefs.

C．By seeking common ground built on a shared interest.

D．By providing more facts about climate change.

4. What does the author intend to say by telling the story in paragraph 5?

A．The shift to clean energy is unstoppable.

B．Conversations can influence climate decision-making.

C．Policymakers turn a blind eye to market changes.

D．We should call on people to prepare for the climate crisis.

6 . As Frans de Waal, a primatologist (灵长动物学家), recognizes, a better way to think about other creatures would be to ask ourselves how different species have developed different kinds of minds to solve different adaptive problems. Surely the important question is not whether animals can do the same things humans can, but how those animals solve the cognitive (认知的) problems they face, like how to imitate the sea floor. Children and some animals are so interesting not because they are smart like us, but because they are smart in ways we haven’t even considered.

Sometimes studying children’s ways of knowing can cast light on adult-human cognition. Children’s pretend play may help us understand our adult taste for fiction. De Waal’s research provides another interesting example. We human beings tend to think that our social relationships are rooted in our perceptions, beliefs, and desires, and our understanding of the perceptions, beliefs, and desires of others — what psychologists call our “theory of mind.” In the 80s and 90s, developmental psychologists showed that pre-schoolers and even infants understand minds apart from their own. But it was hard to show that other animals did the same. “Theory of mind” became a candidate for the special, uniquely human trick.

Yet de Waal’s studies show that chimps (黑猩猩) possess a remarkably developed political intelligence — they are much interested in figuring out social relationships. It turns out, as de Waal describes, that chimps do infer something about what other chimps see. But experimental studies also suggest that this happens only in a competitive political context. The evolutionary anthropologist (人类学家) Brain Hare and his colleagues gave a junior chimp a choice between pieces of food that a dominant chimp had seen hidden and other pieces it had not seen hidden. The junior chimp, who watched all the hiding, stayed away from the food the dominant chimp had seen, but took the food it hadn’t seen.

Anyone who has gone to an academic conference will recognize that we may be in the same situation. We may say that we sign up because we’re eager to find out what other human beings think, but we’re just as interested in who’s on top. Many of the political judgments we make there don’t have much to do with our theory of mind. We may show our respect to a famous professor even if we have no respect for his ideas.

Until recently, however, there wasn’t much research into how humans develop and employ this kind of political knowledge. It may be that we understand the social world in terms of dominance, like chimps, but we’re just not usually as politically motivated as they are. Instead of asking whether we have a better everyday theory of mind, we might wonder whether they have a better everyday theory of politics.

1. According to the first paragraph, which of the following shows that an animal is smart?

A．It can behave like a human kid.

B．It can imitate what human beings do.

C．It can find a solution to its own problem.

D．It can figure out those adaptive problems.

2. Which of the following statements best illustrates our “theory of mind”?

A．We talk with infants in a way that they can fully understand.

B．We make guesses at what others think while interacting with them.

C．We hide our emotions when we try establishing contact with a stranger.

D．We try to understand how kids’ pretend play affects our taste for fiction.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Neither human nor animals display their preference for dominance.

B．Animals living in a competitive political context are smarter.

C．Both humans and some animals have political intelligence.

D．Humans are more interested in who’s on top than animals.

4. By the underlined sentence in the last paragraph, the writer means that ________.

A．we know little about how chimps are politically motivated

B．our political knowledge doesn’t always determine how we behave

C．our theory of mind might enable us to understand our theory of politics

D．more research should be conducted to understand animals’ social world

7 . For some climate challenges, there are relatively straightforward fixes. For example, renewable energy sources can already replace much of the energy needed to power buildings, cars and more.

There’s no substitute for food, but shifting what we eat is possible. If everyone on the planet ate vegetables, greenhouse gas emissions from the food system could be cut by more than half; a planet of vegetarians would reduce food emissions by two thirds. If we stopped consuming conventional food and relied on a lab-grown nutritional food instead of soil or water-produced food, we could prevent about 1 degree centigrade of future warming, according to a recent paper that considered the unique thought experiment.

“What this work says is: Hey, look, we can still get pretty big wins even if we’re not making these really big changes in dietary composition,” says Clark. “I think that’s really powerful, because a lot of people just don’t want to make those really big dietary changes, for many reasons. While vegetarian diets are becoming more common in America and some European countries, it’s absolutely ridiculous to assume that everyone will be eating a vegetarian diet 30 years from now,” he says.

Food choices are personal, deeply connected to cultural, religious, emotional, economic concerns and so much more. “Rather than dictate how to do it, it’s much better to try to give choices,” says Naglaa, a food, nutrition and environment researcher at Tufts University. This approach aims to inform people so that they can make choices that correspond with their needs and values instead of waiting for the authority’s rules and orders. As a whole, those choices can benefit both human health and the planet. For that to happen, it is necessary to work alongside large-scale efforts to reshape industrial food production.

“But what people choose to eat daily is far from insignificant,” says Clark. “We don’t all have to become vegetarians overnight. Small changes can make a big difference.”

1. How does the author show the effects of dietary changes in paragraph 2?

A．By analyzing the reasons.	B．By using a quotation.
C．By answering questions.	D．By listing data.

2. What is Clark’s attitude towards small dietary changes?

A．Indifferent.

B．Skeptical.

C．Favorable.

D．Negative.

3. What does the underlined word “dictate” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Command.

B．Persuade.

C．Perceive.

D．Describe.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．How small changes to our diets can benefit the planet

B．Small changes in life choices can make a big difference

C．Why renewable energy sources can reduce gas emissions

D．Lab-grown nutritional food could prevent future warming

8 . Have you ever thought about what determines the way we are when we grow up? Remember the TV program Seven Up? It started following the lives of a group of children in 1963. We first meet them as wide­ eyed seven­ year­ olds and then catch up with them at seven ­year intervals (间隔): nervous 14­ year­ olds, serious 21 year ­olds and then grown ­ups.

Some of the stories are inspiring, others sad, but what is interesting in almost all the cases is the way in which the children’s early hopes and dreams are shown in their future lives. For example, at seven, Tony is a lively child who says he wants to become a sportsman or a taxi driver. When he grows up, he goes on to do both. How about Nicki? She says, “I’d like to find out about the moon.” And she goes on to become a space scientist. As a child, soft­ spoken Bruce says he wants to help “poor children” and ends up teaching in India.

But if the lives of all the children had followed this pattern, the program would be far less interesting than it actually was. It was the children whose childhood did not prepare them for what was to come that made the program so interesting. Where did their ideas come from about what they wanted to do when they grew up?Are the children influenced by what their parents do, by what they see on television, or by what their teachers say?How great is the effect of a single important event? Many film directors, including Stephen Spielberg, say that an early visit to the cinema was the turning point in their lives. Dr Margaret McAllister, who has done a lot of research in this area, thinks that the major factors are parents, friends, and the wider society.

1. What does the text mainly discuss?

A．New ways to make a TV program interesting.

B．The importance of television programs to children.

C．Different ways to make childhood dreams come true.

D．The influence of childhood experiences on future lives.

2. In the TV program Seven Up, we can meet   .

A．different groups of people at different periods of their lives

B．different groups of people at the same period of their lives

C．the same group of people at different periods of their lives

D．the same group of people at the same period of their lives

3. What are the examples in Paragraph 2 meant to show?

A．Many people’s childhood hopes are related to their future jobs.

B．There are many poor children in India who need help.

C．Children have different dreams about their future.

D．A lot of people are very sad in their childhood.

4. Spielberg’s story is meant to show that   .

A．going to a movie at an early age helps a child learn about society

B．a single childhood event may decide what one does as a grown ­up

C．parents and friends can help a child grow up properly

D．films have more influence on a child than teachers do

10 . Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel. And he surely deserves additional praise: the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism.

I say clever because anti-slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War. H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is only the most famous example. These early stories dealt directly with slavery. With minor exceptions, Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely. He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.

Again and again, in the postwar years, Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race. Consider the most controversial, at least today, of Twain’s novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s most widely read tale. Once upon a time, people hated the book because it struck them as rude. Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel “trash and suitable only for the slums (贫民窟).” More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim, the escaped slave, and many occurrences of the word nigger. (The term Nigger Jim, for which the novel is often severely criticized, never appears in it. )

But the attacks were and are silly — and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery. Jim’s search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction — a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”

There is much more. Twain’s mystery novel Pudd’nhead Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior (低等的) to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth. A slave gave birth to her master’s baby and, for fear that the child should be sold South, switched him for the master’s baby by his wife. The slave’s light-skinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave-holding class. The master’s wife’s baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.

The point was difficult to miss: nurture (养育), not nature, was the key to social status. The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice — manner of speech, for example — were, to Twain, indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.

Twain’s racial tone was not perfect. One is left uneasy, for example, by the lengthy passage in his autobiography about how much he loved what were called “nigger shows” in his youth — mostly with white men performing in black-face — and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them. Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality. His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.

Was Twain a racist? Asking the question in the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln. If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the “wisdom” of the considered moral judgments of the present, we will find nothing but error. Lincoln, who believed the black man the inferior of the white, fought and won a war to free him. And Twain, raised in a slave state, briefly a soldier, and inventor of Jim, may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.

1. How do Twain’s novels on slavery differ from Stowe’s?

A．Twain was more willing to deal with racism.

B．Twain was openly concerned with racism.

C．Twain’s themes seemed to agree with the plots.

D．Twain’s attack on racism was much less open.

2. What best proves Twain’s anti-slavery stand according to the author?

A．Jim grew up into a man and a father in the white culture.

B．The slave’s voice was first heard in American novels.

C．Twain suspected that the slaves were less intelligent.

D．Jim’s search for his family was described in detail.

3. What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 7 refer to?

A．The attacks.

B．The shows.

C．White men.

D．Slavery and prejudice.

4. What does the author mainly argue for?

A．Twain’s works had been banned on unreasonable grounds.

B．Twain’s works should be read from a historical point of view.

C．Twain was an admirable figure comparable to Abraham Lincoln.

D．Twain had done more than his contemporary writers to attack racism.