2 . If you have a thought in mind that you can achieve the same goal within less amount of time and hard work by cheating to achieve success, then you shall feel bad later in future. You may have achieved a goal but you choose a wrong path. So, always remember that the path you choose in your life chooses your destination and then you shall not have an option to change it.

It is good to fail though it may take you to terrible feelings of life but in return, you will learn many things that life offers. The struggle is true but after that, the sweet of the fruit will build up your confidence to face any kinds of problem in the future. But if you prefer cheating, then you shall always live in fright.

Honour is like a coat, which you can wear confidently. If you cheat to achieve a goal, then you cannot hide it. Billy was lazy in hard work and used to delay all his work. He always thought of taking a fake degree to enter a big company. When the company CEO asked him to write a program for a certain topic, then he was quite shocked as he was unable to do the work, because he had no knowledge on the programming language and had faked his certificate.

Honour teaches you how to be disciplined. Being well-educated people, we should know what is good for us. It is always good to fail because at the end of the day, you will learn something new that will help you grow much stronger rather than cheating to achieve success, which will make you regret sooner or later.

All in all, success can be achieved via shortcuts but honour can never be. It’s better to live everyday with honour than to cheat.

1. Which opinion does the author agree with?

A．No option can be changed.

B．You can’t achieve without cheating.

C．Your path determines your end.

D．With a thought in mind you can realize your dream.

2. What can we conclude from the second paragraph?

A．Those things that hurt, instruct.

B．There is honour among thieves.

C．You’ll fail if you stop trying.

D．Face the problem and you’ll succeed.

3. Why is Billy mentioned in the passage?

A．To make you believe hiding is cheating.

B．To prove honour makes you feel confident.

C．To encourage you to wear a coat confidently.

D．To advise you to learn the programming language.

4. Which is the best title of the passage?

A．No pains, no gains.

B．Success and honour.

C．Failure is the mother of success.

D．Honour is second to success.

4 . Nuclear bombs. That’s the go-to answer for incoming space objects like asteroids (小行星) and comets, as far as Hollywood is concerned. Movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon rely on nuclear weapons, delivered by stars like Bruce Willis, to save the world and deliver the drama.

But planetary defense experts say in reality, if astronomers spotted a dangerous incoming space rock, the safest and best answer might be something more subtle, like simply pushing it off course by crashing it with a small spacecraft.

That’s just what NASA did on Monday evening, when a spacecraft headed straight into an asteroid called Dimorphos, which is around 7 million miles away and poses no threat to Earth. It’s about 525 feet across and orbits another larger asteroid.

In images streamed as the impact neared, the egg-shaped asteroid grew in size from a little spot on screen to having its full rocky surface come quickly into focus before the signal went dead as the craft hit right on target.

Events happened exactly as engineers had planned, they said, with nothing going wrong. “As far as we can tell, our first planetary defense test was a success,” said Elena Adams, the mission systems engineer, who added that scientists looked on with “both terror and joy” as the spacecraft neared its final destination.

The impact was the peak of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a 7- year and more than $ 300 million effort which launched a space vehicle in November of 2021 to perform humanity’s first ever test of planetary defense technology. It will be about two months, scientists said, before they will be able to determine if the impact was enough to drive the asteroid slightly off course, probably shortening its original orbit.

NASA plans to launch an asteroid-hunting space telescope named NEO Surveyor in 2026. “We’ve tracked lots of space rocks, especially the larger ones that could cause extinction-level events. Thankfully, none currently threatens Earth. But many asteroids the size of Dimorphos haven’t yet been discovered, and those could potentially take out a city if they came crashing down.” explains Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer.

1. How did scientists know the craft hit the asteroid successfully?

A．The little spot on the screen suddenly disappeared.

B．The signal from the craft was lost as it hit the target.

C．They monitored the craft with satellites in space.

D．They recorded the whole process with a telescope.

2. What is the purpose of launching the spacecraft?

A．To save the world and deliver a drama.	B．To search for evidence of alien life.
C．To test technology for defending Earth.	D．To end the asteroid’s threat to Earth.

3. What can be inferred about Dimorphos?

A．It is expected to blow up after the impact.	B．It may orbit the same asteroid after the hit.
C．It is an egg-shaped asteroid around Earth.	D．It is a dangerous incoming space rock.

4. Which statement will Lindley Johnson probably agree with?

A．Larger asteroids will no longer threaten Earth.

B．NASA is responsible for the safety of Earth.

C．Asteroids are equally destructive whatever the size.

D．NEO Surveyor is aimed to track smaller asteroids.

5 . Coming into the town of Santa Catarina Palopó, in the highlands of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, the first thing you notice is the bright colors. Most of the buildings along the main street are eye-catching, deep blues and greens, dotted with red and yellow to form diverse patterns and designs.

Santa Catarina Palopó was once a sleepy town of 5, 000 people, most of them dependent on agricultural work. But as agriculture began to dry up here, poverty came. To deal with poverty and promote econ on growth through tourism, a small but creative group of laborers, artisans, domestic workers and stay-at-home moms created the Pintando Santa Catarina Palopó project.

The project aimed to paint all 850 homes and buildings in bright colors to change the hillside town into a work of art. “We wanted to paint the houses with colors and figures that represent the community” says the project’s executive director Stephany Blanco. “Families can choose designs for their house that are representative of the family.”

One of the most representative characteristics of the region is the blue huipil, a traditional blouse which has been worn commonly by local women since the 16th century. That deep sky blue was chosen the primary color-for the Pintando project, with secondary colors found in the sunsets and the nearby lake to make the design more attractive. Inspiration was also found in local culture, symbols such as volcanoes, flowers, and the national bird of Guatemala.

Each week, local artists, community members and tourists pick up paintbrushes to make buildings colorful. “At first, the idea of the project was uncertain, but now you can see a considerable difference in the town,” Melissa Whitbeck said. “The color of the buildings is believed to improve the quality-of life of the people. It uplifts the people’s mood and encourages them to be proud of their hometown.”

1. Why was the Pintando Santa Catarina project started?

A．Because of a workforce shortage.	B．Due to the poor economic conditions.
C．Thanks to the increase in population.	D．For the old-fashioned farming ways.

2. What is the project about?

A．Building family art galleries in Guatemala.	B．Creating job opportunities for local artists.
C．Developing local tourism by selling artworks.	D．Changing the town into a cultural destination.

3. What is the inspiration of the primary color for the project?

A．The surrounding volcanoes.	B．Mayan-styled butterflies.
C．A type of traditional clothing.	D．The national bird of Guatemala.

4. What is Melissa’s attitude towards the project?

A．Positive.

B．Reserved.

C．Concerned.

D．Negative.

6 . Temperatures in the Norwegian capital regularly drop to -10℃ during winter. _______ in the cold winter without wearing a coat, a boy wrapped his arms around himself on a bus stop bench.

It’s _______ scene, but the actions of the ordinary people who witnessed the dilemma of 11-year-old Johanne was both joyous and _______.

A young woman sitting next to the boy noticed him rubbing his arms. She immediately asked him, “Don’t you have a _______?” “No. Someone stole it,” he replied. She _______ and learned he was on a school trip and was told to meet his teacher at the bus stop. She asked him the name of his school and where he was from as she _______ draped (披上) her own coat around his shoulders.

Later, another woman gave him her scarf and then _______ him in her large overcoat. Throughout the day, more and more people _______ to give him gloves and even the coats off their backs as they waited for their bus.

_______, Johanne’s experience was an experiment by Norwegian charity SOS Children’s Villages. Carried out by a ________ camera, it was part of their winter campaign to gather ________ of much-needed coats and blankets to help Syrian children through the winter. Many of the refugees (难民) have left their homes ________ winter clothing.

“People should care as much about children in Syria as they are ________ about this boy,” Synne Ronning, the information head of SOS Children’s Villages Norway, told The Local. She also ________ that the child was a volunteer who was never in any danger during the ________.

1.

A．Thinking

B．Jumping

C．Sleeping

D．Trembling

2.

A．heartbreaking

B．breathtaking

C．effort-making

D．history-making

3.

A．upsetting

B．inspiring

C．troublesome

D．wise

4.

A．schoolbag

B．companion

C．jacket

D．parent

5.

A．inquired

B．explored

C．begged

D．confirmed

6.

A．kindly

B．pretendingly

C．tiredly

D．purposely

7.

A．carried

B．found

C．placed

D．wrapped

8.

A．attempted

B．desired

C．offered

D．chanced

9.

A．Interestingly

B．Actually

C．Amazingly

D．Naturally

10.

A．expensive

B．public

C．hidden

D．mobile

11.

A．donations

B．suggestions

C．demands

D．funds

12.

A．despite

B．without

C．in

D．for

13.

A．curious

B．confused

C．careful

D．concerned

14.

A．noted

B．concluded

C．quoted

D．believed

15.

A．cheating

B．filming

C．walking

D．training

7 . Ann, 15, Lakeside High School　USA

My name is Ann Wells and I’m a Grade 10 student at Lakeside High School. I’m an active person and I love sports. I’m curious about everything. I often ask questions, but I learn best by doing. My favourite subject is physics. Dancing and skating are my hobbies, and I also like to read short stories. I plan to become an engineer in the future.

Thando, 16, South Hill High School　South Africa

I’m Thando Gowon. I’m 16 this year. I come from South Africa. I’m a Grade 10 student at South Hill High School. I look good, think fast, and play hard.

You’ll never see me without a book or a pen. If I’m not in class, I’m either in the library or in the computer lab. At the weekends, I play computer games if I’m not busy studying. My dream is to start my own IT company!

1. What subject does Ann like best?

A．English.	B．Chinese.
C．Chemistry.	D．Physics.

2. Which is NOT Ann’s hobby?

A．Skating.

B．Reading short stories.

C．Dancing.

D．Chatting with others.

3. What’s Thando’s dream?

A．Playing computer games.

B．Running a company.

C．Buying a new computer.

D．Becoming an engineer.

8 . In recent years American society has become increasingly dependent on its universities to find solutions to its major problems. It is the universities that have been to blame for developing the expertise to place men on the moon; for dealing with our urban problems and with our worsening environment; for developing the means to feed the world’s rapidly increasing population. The effort involved in meeting these demands presents its own problems. In addition, however, this concentration on the creation of new knowledge significantly impinges on the universities’ efforts to perform their other principal functions, the transmission and interpretation of knowledge-the imparting of the heritage of the past and the preparing of the next generation to carry it forward.

With regard to this, perhaps their most traditionally acknowledged task, college and universities today find themselves in a serious situation. On one hand, there is the American commitment, especially since World War Ⅱ, to provide higher education for all young people who can profit from it. The result of the commitment has been a dramatic rise in enrollments(登记入学) in our universities, coupled with a striking shift from the private to the public sector of higher education.

On the other hand, there are serious and continuing limitations on the resources available for higher education. While higher education has become a great ”growth industry“, it is also at the same time a tremendous drain(耗竭) on the resources of the nation. With the vast increase in enrollment and the shift in priorities away from education in state and federal(联邦的) budgets, there is in most of our public institutions a significant decrease in expenses for their students. One crucial aspect of this drain on resources lies in the persistent shortage of trained faculty(全体教师), which has led, in turn, to a declining standard of competence in instruction.

Intensifying these difficulties is, as indicated above, the concern with research, with its increasing claims on resources and the attention of the faculty. In addition, there is a strong tendency for the institutions’ organization and functioning to fulfill the demands of research rather than those of teaching.

1. According to Paragraph 1, what should be the most important function of American universities?

A．Sparing no effort to create new knowledge for students.

B．Enhancing students’ competence of tackling social problems.

C．Making experts on advanced industries out of their students.

D．Preparing their students to transmit the knowledge of the past.

2. In American universities, there is a contradiction between________.

A．more students and less investment	B．education quality and economic profit
C．low enrollment rate and high education demand	D．private ownership and American commitment

3. A serious outcome brought about by the shortage of resources is that________.

A．many public institutions have to cut down enrollments of students

B．teachers are not competent enough to perform satisfactorily in class

C．some institutions are forced to reduce the total expenses on research

D．there is keen competition for resources between public and private institutions

4. What worsened the severity of the problems faced by American universities?

A．The improper distribution of American universities’ resources.

B．The increasing argument over American universities’ primary task.

C．The inability of American universities’ organization and fulfillment.

D．The growing focus on American universities’ function of research.

9 . My Day of No Plastic

Since its invention, plastic has affected every aspect of our lives. It has made possible thousands of conveniences, but it has come with downsides, especially for the environment. In a 24-hour experiment, I tried to live without it to see what plastic stuff we can’t do without and what we may be able to give up.

At the start of my no-plastic day, I made my way toward the bathroom, only to stop myself before I went in. “Could you open the door for me?” I asked my wife. “The handle is plastic.” She opened it for me, letting out a “this is going to be a long day” sigh (叹气).

My morning routine was a headache. I couldn’t use my toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo or soap, all of which were made of plastic or put in plastic containers. Getting dressed was also a challenge, given that so many clothing items include plastic.

When I went out, I brought along two glass containers and cloth bags of various sizes. I walked to a sandwich shop. “Can you make the salad in this glass container?” I asked. The manager said OK but then rejected my request to use my steel spoon.

After lunch, I took the subway to Central Park, which scored me more violations (违规), since I need a MetroCard and the trains themselves have plastic parts. But at least I didn’t sit in one of those plastic seats.

Back home, I recorded some of my impressions. By my count, on my day of no plastic, I had made 164 violations. I felt defeated. And also uncertain. The next day I called Gabby Salazar, a scientist who studies what motivates people to support environmental causes, and asked her for advice.

“You can drive yourself crazy,” she said, “but it’s not about perfection. It’s about progress.” Believe it or not, individual behavior matters. It adds up. “Remember,” she continued, “it’s not about plastic being the enemy. It’s about single-use as the enemy.”

I promised to try, even after my not successful attempt. I’ll start with small things, building up habits. I can take cloth bags to the grocery. I might start packing my glass water bottle and steel spoon. And from there, who knows?

1. The author conducted the 24-hour experiment because ________.

A．he was tired of using plastic stuff in his daily life

B．he tried to call upon people to ban plastic products

C．he wondered how much plastic he consumed each day

D．he wanted to figure out how to use plastic stuff wisely

2. Why did the author’s wife sigh?

A． Because she didn’t know his intention.

B． Because she worried about her husband.

C． Because she thought it hard to avoid using plastic.

D． Because she didn’t realize the downsides of plastic.

10 . A New Chapter

The day I heard that the Rainbow Bookstore was closing after 50 years of business, I was heartbroken. The bookstore, which was a legendary fixture in the neighborhood, was a place where anyone could drop in and connect through their love of books.

When I hurried to the store, I saw that the books were al already being packed into boxes. I had a long chat with Casey, the store’s elderly owner. Sighing deeply, he told me how it was becoming difficult to run an independent bookstore. Most young people preferred reading e-books on tablets. More and more customers were being attracted by chain stores and online discounts. I tried to think of some words of sympathy, but I had to admit that the Rainbow Bookstore couldn’t stay in business much longer.

Childhood memories came back to me so clearly, as if the events had happened only yesterday. A bunch of us kids would frequently drop by the store after school. We’d look at the new books, or just chat with Old Casey. He knew every book in the store and would always pick the perfect one for us from a dusty shelf. We spent hours reading, seated on the store’s old but comfortable furniture. Casey encouraged us to share our ideas and comments on the books, by writing them on a large board in one corner of the store.

When I left the bookstore, it was becoming cold and dark outside. I turned to wave goodbye to Casey, but both he and his bookstore were already hidden in a thick mist. It made me realize that the bookstore and all that Old Casey had given to the community could soon disappear for good.

A few months later, I was back in the neighborhood during my spring break and was surprised to see that the Rainbow Bookstore was still there and open for business. Its old brick exterior hadn’t changed, but inside it was like a different world. In one area, a book reading was being delivered. Nearby, customers were poring over shelves selling stationery, posters and other best-seller-themed gifts. The large board in the corner had been replaced by a big screen, where customers comments on the month’s best-seller were being displayed. Clearly, the Rainbow Bookstore was in good, creative hands.

I was told that the community had decided to work together on a campaign to save the Rainbow Bookstore. The campaign had been led by Jennifer Oakley, a saleswoman who had grown up in the neighborhood and who had now taken over the bookstore from Casey.

Under Jennifer’s leadership, the bookstore was being turned into a place for literature-loving members of the community to get together. It had a café selling organic food, and there were now more community events such as book readings, poetry recitals and even jazz concerts and movie nights, where people could gather to share an experience that couldn’t be downloaded.

I joined Casey, who was looking up at the screen on which readers’ comments kept popping up. “Well, as you can see, corporate knowledge combined with creativity has brought my humble bookstore into the 21st century! I’m so pleased to see that everything I wanted it to offer to the community is still here.”

1. What caused the Rainbow Bookstore to be closing?

A．It was an independent bookstore.

B．It was affected by online reading.

C．People in the community didn’t support it.

D．Casey was too old to manage the bookstore.

2. Why did the bookstore matter so much to the author?

A．Because it was his family business.

B．Because he and the store's owner were friends.

C．Because there were many unforgettable childhood memories in the bookstore.

D．Because the bookstore offered him many new books.

3. Which of the following word can best describe Jennifer Oakley?

A．Creative.

B．Determined.

C．Ambitious.

D．Enthusiastic

4. Which of the following memories didn’t cross the author’s mind?

A．Children’s going to the library in groups.

B．Spending hours in the bookstore reading.

C．Children helping Casey clean the bookshelf.

D．Casey’s encouragement for children to share their opinions.

5. The new Rainbow Bookstore________.

A．is going with the tide of the time

B．will not be more attractive than ever

C．is worthy of much sympathy

D．will disappear as the old one