1 . Cultural heritage sites are a nonrenewable resource. Today architectural heritage sites are being destroyed at an alarming rate. They’re threatened by rising seas, pollution, overtourism, conflicts and so on. Recently, Notre Dame Cathedral has attracted international attention.
Since its main construction from 1163 to 1350, Notre Dame Cathedral repeatedly has been damaged and repaired. On April 15, 2019, the landmark’s roof caught fire, causing the collapse of its spire (尖顶) and upper walls severely damaged. Work on the site began quickly. Through the work of photographer Tomas van Houtryve, writer Robert Kunzig, and artist Fernando Baptista, people will see restoring scenes where ruins are cleared and statues saved. Even the COVID-19 pandemic caused only a two-month delay. Architects have said the expensive project is on track to be completed in 2024.
And thorny questions arise. What duty do we owe the creations of our ancestors? What lesson can we draw from their presence?
Humankind has answered that differently. In Dresden, Germany, the Frauenkirche, an 18th-century baroque church, was famous for its bell-shaped dome (穹顶). In February 1945, one of the most destructive bombing attacks of World War II reduced the city to ruins. After German reunion, the church was reconstructed using many of its original stones, as a symbol of peace and harmony. Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church also fell to bombing but had a different story. Its spire has been left a ruin on purpose to be a “warning monument” against war and destruction.
Like the Frauenkirche, Notre Dame is being rebuilt as close as possible to how it was before, including using the original, toxic metal — lead (铅) — for the roof, causing the debate about how to restore and maintain historic buildings. Actually, no one claims to have the “right” answers on preservation; there may not even be right answers. What people could do is to continuously monitor the global care of cultural heritage sites, as a matter of significance to humanity’s past, present, and future.
1. What do we know about Notre Dame Cathedral?| A．It was once threatened by conflicts. |
| B．It collapsed totally during a fire decade ago. |
| C．It has undergone repeated repairs since 1163. |
| D．It was not influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| A．Simple. | B．Tough. | C．Accurate. | D．Attractive. |
| A．To remind people the value of peace and harmony. |
| B．To warn people the influence of war and destruction. |
| C．To demonstrate different solutions to heritage site preservation. |
| D．To introduce reconstruction methods such as using original materials. |
| A．Cultural heritage sites are nonrenewable so that they are worth protecting. |
| B．Notre Dame Cathedral has been the most attractive heritage site globally. |
| C．The reconstruction of cultural heritage sites seldom causes disagreements. |
| D．The reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral after fire has been completed. |
2 . Yang He, a 64-year-old man from Yichang, Hubei, has observed the changes in finless porpoises (江豚) population with his camera for six years. As a(n)
Every day, Yang wakes up early and drives to the
The Yangtze finless porpoise is so
However, the situation has changed as
Thanks to his camera, he once discovered and
| A．leader | B．admirer | C．hunter | D．advisor |
| A．banks | B．waves | C．beaches | D．sights |
| A．suddenly | B．patiently | C．formally | D．strangely |
| A．imagination | B．anxiety | C．strength | D．beauty |
| A．follows | B．listens | C．knows | D．exchanges |
| A．belongs to | B．focuses on | C．applies for | D．adapts to |
| A．addicted | B．connected | C．convenient | D．important |
| A．threaten | B．balance | C．conduct | D．promote |
| A．crashing | B．trapping | C．tracking | D．preventing |
| A．in addition to | B．due to | C．in spite of | D．apart from |
| A．global | B．possible | C．effective | D．historic |
| A．creative | B．lucky | C．magic | D．valuable |
| A．catching | B．striking | C．kicking | D．drawing |
| A．inspired | B．approached | C．reserved | D．rescued |
| A．confirm | B．remind | C．document | D．identify |
3 . Hang your tongue out of your mouth while your eyes look upwards. Breathe loudly and use your hands to pull your head in every way. This is yoga (瑜伽) for your face.
Fumiko Takatsu, creator of the Face Yoga Method, has written six books on face yoga and has been practicing facial exercises for about 15 years. Takatsu, 50, said she came up with the idea of facial exercises after a car accident when she was 35 years old, which left her face out of its proper position. Around the same time, Takatsu said she began to notice signs of aging, but gave up using creams and beauty treatments after they became too expensive.
Koko Hayashi, 39, a face yoga instructor in Los Angeles, said she first heard of face yoga by discovering Takatsu’s work. Hayashi said she had a chin implant (下巴植入体) when she was 27 years old, but took it out because it misshaped her face. “That’s why I’m so interested in more natural beauty instead of plastic surgery (整形手术),” Hayashi said. Like others who practice facial exercises, Hayashi believes it can fix signs of aging and help reduce wrinkles (皱纹).
The question that often pops up when someone mentions face yoga is, “Does it actually work?” A study out of Northwestern University found that the exercises may help middle-aged women.
“This is a pilot study that suggests that there might be some factors of face exercise that can be helpful to at least certain patients in improving certain signs of aging,” said Dr. Murad Alam from Northwestern University.” But we need more studies to better understand exactly how much exercise is necessary to have any benefit, whether it works for men and women of different ages, and then how much exercise is needed to keep that benefit.”
Medical reporter Dr. Jennifer Ashton said that she is not sure whether face yoga works and that any benefits are most likely going to be up to the person trying it. “If you feel better after trying face yoga, it may be something you should keep doing,” she said.
1. What made Takatsu decide to create the Face Yoga Method?| A．An unexpected car accident. | B．Great interest in doing yoga. |
| C．Unaffordable beauty treatments. | D．Unsatisfactory effects of creams. |
| A．She wrote a book about face yoga. | B．She followed in Takatsu’s footsteps. |
| C．She had a plastic surgery two years ago. | D．She had always admired natural beauty. |
| A．The study is helpful but more research is needed. |
| B．Face yoga is more suitable for women than men. |
| C．Face yoga needs much too exercise to bring benefits. |
| D．The study is well-designed but the findings are worthless. |
| A．Its key point is keeping exercising. |
| B．It can stop all kinds of signs of aging. |
| C．Its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. |
| D．Its effectiveness depends on personal feelings. |
4 . The photographs that Scilla took as a 16-year-old girl on the streets of London in 1955 stayed largely in her album (相册) over the years. Scilla is now 83, and her self-developed black-and-white photos have been brought back to life after they were discovered by a teenage photographer.
Over the past year, Philip Loveday, 16, has been revisiting his grandmother’s path across the capital to carefully rephotograph the pictures. His journey through time with a camera has been especially moving, because his grandmother, Scilla, has Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔茨海默症) and has lost many of her memories.
Philip took new photos that looked like the ones Scilla took long ago, and put them in a new album. Each page of Scilla’s old album was copied and put in the new one, with Philip’s new photos on the opposite pages. Philip’s mother, Catherine Loveday, said Scilla had been happy with the new album, which had “put her back in her shoes” as a teenager.
Philip said his mother showed him the album she had found at her mother’s house. Greatly absorbed in how modern London would compare to the city photographed by his grandmother, Philip and his mother began to make trips into central London. During the trips, they had the idea of retaking the photos.
Some of the places are similar, like Big Ben. Others show how the city has modernized. Unlike Scilla’s view of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Thames, Philip’s retake has the Millenium Bridge. When Scilla photographed the John Lewis store on Oxford Street, it was a one-storey building — now it has seven floors. Philip had to use his imagination to recreate other sights. Scilla has repeatedly returned to her new album since receiving it. Philip said: “It’s nice for her to see someone taking an interest in those photos and going back over them, and also good for her to connect her past to where we are now.”
1. What did Philip do for Scilla during the past year?| A．He taught her how to use a camera. |
| B．He took her to visit London streets. |
| C．He found a new way to treat her disease. |
| D．He recreated photos of London she had taken. |
| A．It inspired her to take photos. | B．It made her think of her teenage days. |
| C．It encouraged her to travel across London. | D．It raised her confidence to fight off illness. |
| A．Troubled. | B．Interested. | C．Experienced. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．A teenager sensed the great changes of London. |
| B．An old lady suffered a lot from Alzheimer’s disease. |
| C．A teenager and his mother travelled to London for fun. |
| D．A teenager’s photos helped recover his grandmother’s memory. |
5 . Soap (肥皂) might seem like a reasonable way to avoid mosquito bites (蚊子叮) on the basis that if mosquitoes can’t smell you, they can’t bite you. However, a recent study has found that rather than protecting you, certain soaps might actually make you more attractive to mosquitoes.
In the study, conducted at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, four volunteers were asked to wear a sleeve before and after washing with four different brands of soap. The researchers then watched female mosquitoes as only females feed on blood landing on the fabric sample to show their preference. They found that some people washing with some brands of soap, increased their attractiveness to mosquitoes, while washing with other brands of soap tended to repel (驱除) mosquitoes. The repellent effect of some soap may be due to its coconut scent, as coconut oil is known to act as a natural mosquito repellent. The reason behind this attraction is believed to be related to mosquitoes’ sugar intake. When mosquitoes are not feeding on blood, they add their diet with plant juice or sweet water from flowers, “The fact we are taking those flowery and fruity smells and putting them on our bodies means that now the same object smells like a flower and a person at the same time,” said Clément Vinauger, who led the study. It would be like waking up and smelling the smell of coffee and bread, very attractive.
Interestingly, the effects of the soap varied among people, possibly due to the interaction (相互作用) between the soap and each person’s unique body scent. “It’s remarkable that the same person that is extremely attractive to mosquitoes when he is unwashed, but he becomes even more attractive to mosquitoes with one soap, and then become repellent to mosquitoes with another soap,” said Vinauger. Further research is needed to better understand the interaction between different soap and body scents, as well as to develop more effective mosquito repellents.
1. What has the study found?| A．Soap attracts many mosquitoes. | B．Male mosquitoes feed on blood. |
| C．Some plants drive away mosquitoes. | D．Not all soap can stop mosquito bites. |
| A．By observing the mosquitoes’ behaviour. | B．By exploring the history of mosquitoes. |
| C．By interviewing a lot of volunteers. | D．By examining old studies. |
| A．To stress the importance of breakfast. |
| B．To discuss their probable health benefits. |
| C．To compare the difference of objects used in the study. |
| D．To prove the attractiveness of some soap to mosquitoes. |
| A．Health. | B．Chemistry. | C．Sports. | D．Tour. |
6 . Everyone deserves healthy meals. However, unfortunately, not everyone has
A teenager named Lauren Schroeder
“I wanted people to get the nutrition they needed from fresh vegetables,” Lauren said. This
To kick-start her project, Lauren got economic
But all her efforts
So far, she has spent over 1,000 hours working in the garden, producing 7,000 pounds of vegetables. “I want to
| A．invitation | B．access | C．admission | D．ticket |
| A．especially | B．actually | C．obviously | D．extremely |
| A．confirmed | B．appreciated | C．recognized | D．identified |
| A．Arranging | B．Determining | C．Struggling | D．Pretending |
| A．musical | B．familiar | C．unique | D．low-income |
| A．recommended | B．reminded | C．inspired | D．requested |
| A．aware | B．confident | C．certain | D．free |
| A．took up | B．looked into | C．applied for | D．went over |
| A．guidance | B．support | C．pressure | D．benefit |
| A．organizes | B．expects | C．promotes | D．demands |
| A．amazing | B．specific | C．professional | D．tough |
| A．worked out | B．paid off | C．broke off | D．wore out |
| A．reward | B．rescue | C．honour | D．donation |
| A．impact | B．impress | C．challenge | D．observe |
| A．discovery | B．profit | C．difference | D．intention |
Han Jing’s World
So this is it—senior high school at last! I’m not outgoing so I’m a little anxious right now. I want to make a good first impression. Will I make any friends? What if no one talks to me?
7:00 a.m.
I just had my first maths class at senior high school! The class was difficult, but the teacher was kind and friendly. He even told us a funny story, and everyone laughed so much! I found most of my classmates and teachers friendly and helpful.
12:30 p.m.
This afternoon, we had our chemistry class in the science lab. The lab is new and the lesson was great, but the guy next to me tried to talk to me the whole time. I couldn’t concentrate on the experiment. I really wanted to tell him to please be quiet and leave me alone!
5:32 p.m.
What a day! This morning, I was worried that no one would talk to me. But I was wrong. I didn’t feel awkward or frightened at all. I miss my friends from junior high school, but I believe I will make new friends here, and there’s a lot to explore at senior high. I feel much more confident than I felt this morning. I think that tomorrow will be a great day!
10:29 p.m.
Read the text on Page 4 carefully and then choose the best answer.
1. How was the maths teacher?
| A．Kind and friendly. |
| B．Strict and cold. |
| C．Learned and handsome. |
| D．Outgoing and kind. |
| A．She is much more frightened. |
| B．She is afraid to go to school. |
| C．She is much more confident. |
| D．She is unwilling to make friends. |
| A．Because she didn’t like chemistry. |
| B．Because she didn’t feel well. |
| C．Because the teacher was not friendly. |
| D．Because a guy tried to talk to her all the time. |
| A．In a newspaper. | B．In WeChat Moments. |
| C．In a diary. | D．In a report. |
8 . Is there a friend of yours who always sings out of tune but never realizes it? Don’t blame them-they may have amusia (失歌症), a disorder in the brain.
Apart from singing out of tune, people with amusia may also find it hard to recognize music they’ve heard before without the help of song lyrics. Amusia can range from difficulty in recognizing melodies to a total inability to distinguish between different musical notes, according to Live Science. However, people with amusia can recognize common environmental sounds as well as the high and low sounds in human voices, meaning that this inability can be specifically related to music.
In many cases, people who have amusia are born with it, as 46 percent of these individuals’ relatives were found to have similar conditions, according to a 2017 study. Brain imaging shows that their brains receive and respond to music pitch (音高) information, but it is not reaching conscious awareness, meaning that the mind can’t understand the information.
Scientists at the University of Otago in New Zealand also think that amusia is related to people’s spatial (空间的) processing skills. They invited people with amusia, musicians and students from non-musical backgrounds to perform a task related to spatial imagination. They were asked to judge whether pairs of images are the same object rotated (旋转) or mirror images.
The result showed that the amusia group made more mistakes than the other two groups. Amusia might be related to the way the brain stores information about the high and low notes in melodies, according to the study.
Although those who aren’t confident about their singing skills often say they are “tone-deaf”, people with amusia only make up about1. 5 percent of the population, as estimated by the2017 study. “Like dyslexics (诵读困难者) can learn how to read, those with amusia should be able to improve their ability to recognize tones if they start early enough,” Isabelle Peretz, a professor of psychology from the University of Montreal in Canada, told Live Science.
1. According to the article, what do people with amusia find easy to do?| A．Recognizing melodies. | B．Recognizing tunes. |
| C．Identifying human voices. | D．Distinguishing between different musical notes |
| A．Amusia is a result of brain damage. | B．Amusia is common among children. |
| C．Many individuals with amusia are born with it. | D．Those who are tone-deaf often suffer from amusia. |
| A．People with amusia have strong spatial imagination skills. |
| B．People with amusia struggle to judge the shape of images |
| C．Amusia may be related to one’s level of music education. |
| D．Amusia may be linked with how the brain stores note information. |
| A．Learn how to read earlier in life. | B．Start to explore and learn music early. |
| C．Seek medical treatment. | D．Sing frequently with friends. |
9 . An American company has developed a new technique (技术) to make bread stay fresh for 60 days.
Scientists found that a kind of mould (霉菌) caused bread to go bad. The new technique kills the mould and keeps the food for longer time. This means there will be less waste of food in the world in future.
Food waste is a big problem in most developed countries. In the US, an average (普通的) family throws away 40% of the food they buy, which adds up to $165bn every year, about 330 million tons in weight. Bread takes a larger part. In the UK, 32% of the bread they buy is thrown away as waste when they can still be eaten.
The bread usually goes mouldy (发的) in around 10 days, but the American company says the new technique will keep the bread free from mould for two months.
”We treated a piece of bread in a special machine. At 60 days it had the same amount of mould as it was first made,“ says Mr. Stull, the leader of the company.
Although there are a lot of bread makers interested in the new technique, few customers like the idea. They say they don’t think a piece of bread which lasts for 60 days tastes good.
”We’ll have to make our customers accept the idea. But it will take some time,“ says Mr. Stull.
1. What is the key point of the new technique?| A．It can prevent the world from wasting food. |
| B．It kills the mould and keeps bread fresh for longer time. |
| C．It keeps the same amount of mould. |
| D．It makes bread taste good. |
| A．Nearly half. | B．A quarter. | C．More than half. | D．About one-third. |
| A．Food waste can be reduced immediately (立刻) with the new technique. |
| B．We will buy bread that can last longer. |
| C．Few customers are sure about the technique. |
| D．Poor countries are in great need of food. |
| A．A new technique has been invented to keep bread fresh longer. |
| B．There is great waste of food in developed countries. |
| C．There is a kind of mould that causes food to go bad. |
| D．Customers don’t like food that lasts for two months. |
10 . My kitchen may be the best kitchen on the planet. That is because when I look out of its window can see the west side of Grandeur Peak. Grandeur Peak is one of the most attractive mountains in central Wasatch, with its animals, trees, morning clouds, evening sunset, and the mountain’s paragliders (滑翔伞运动员).
The number of paragliders flying above Grandeur Peak has grown over the past 15 years, so much so that they have become part of the mountain. But during the past year they have largely disappeared. Some paragliders told me that the wind became too strong to fly in. The wind is too strong! Is this another character of our changing climate (气候)? Will paragliding be a sport affected by a warming planet? Utah has been much windier in the past few years. For me, a scientist who studies living things, it is easy to believe that our future will be windier. This year it’s getting super-hot, and the planet is warming faster than scientists expected. I can’t help but worry that the future of paragliding in Utah is not bright.
I’m writing to the brave people who fly from Grandeur Peak with beautiful wings. I want you to join Clean The Dam Air, a group that’ s working hard to fight climate change and air pollution — I’m part of it too. We are introducing a measure, which aims to remove the state sales tax (税) on grocery store food and put a carbon tax on fossil fuels (化石燃料) in its place: gas, electricity produced from fossil fuels, and natural gas. The goal isn’t to make taxes higher. The idea is to encourage everyone to reduce their use of fossil fuels. So, paragliders, join us. Now is the time to take care of our planet. If we succeed, then Utah can be an example to others in fighting climate change.
1. Why does the author mention his kitchen?| A．To share his love of cooking dishes. |
| B．To bring back his memories of paragliding. |
| C．To introduce Grandeur Peak’s paragliding. |
| D．To describe his adventures around Grandeur Peak. |
| A．The author saw less paragliding. | B．Few people visited Grandeur Peak. |
| C．Air pollution became serious in Utah. | D．Strong winds stopped people going outside. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Supportive. | C．Positive. | D．Worried. |
| A．Buy those foods that are taxed less. |
| B．Reduce flying with wings in Grandeur Peak. |
| C．Join him to support a program about taxing. |
| D．Join a group to improve their paragliding skills. |
