1 . Want to know what is coming soon to a cinema near you? Probably not a 1.5-hour-long movie, as in the old days. On October 20th comes Killers of the Flower Moon. At nearly three and a half hours, its length is nearly double that of the average film last year. Even movie fans struggle to concentrate for that long and some viewers even nod off. Afterwards there is a mad dash for the toilets. When does watching a film become such a slog?

The Economist analyzed over 100,000 feature films released internationally since the 1930s, the start of Hollywood’s golden age, using data from IMDb, a movie database. The average length of productions rose by around 24%, from one hour and 21 minutes in the 1930s to one hour and 47 minutes in 2022. For the ten most-popular titles, the average length grew to around two and a half hours in 2022, nearly 50% higher than in the 1930s.

One driver of this trend is that studios want to squeeze the most out of their costly intellectual property (知识产权), but they are competing with streaming platforms for eyeballs. The hope is that a spectacular, drawn-out “event” movie will draw audiences away from the small screen and into cinemas. This approach has often paid off: Avengers: Endgame Marvel’s three-hour superhero masterpieces, was the highest-grossing (票房最高的) film in 2019. Last year long movies series made up most of the highest-grossing films in America.

Another explanation for longer films has to do with directors’ growing influence. Who would dare tell the likes of Mr. Nolan to cut out his masterpieces? Moreover, streaming platforms, which do not have to worry as much about the length because viewers can pause whenever they like, may attract big names by promising them sufficient fund and creative freedom. Netflix funded and released three-hour The Irishman in 2019, a film that would have benefited from a decisive editor, Irish or otherwise.

1. The underlined part “a slog” in paragraph 1 refers to a(n)___.

A．pleasure

B．effort

C．conflict

D．feast

2. What can be inferred from paragraph 2?

A．The average length affects the popularity of films.

B．Great advances have been made in film industry.

C．Hollywood starts a golden age of feature films.

D．The average duration of movies has stretched.

3. What sets the trend of longer movies?

A．Competition for the target audience.	B．Thirst for more classic productions.
C．Influence of streaming platforms.	D．Preference for decisive editors.

4. What is probably the best title for the passage?

A．Movie Enthusiasts	B．Movie Marathons
C．Movie Production	D．Movie Influence

2 . If your bookshelf is looking a little empty and collecting dust, or you’re trying to start reading more, a book box will do it all for you and send you an accurate selection from your favourites.

Finding the right book subscription can be tricky, though, which is why we’ve gathered some of the best book subscription boxes in Australia for you to enjoy.

Bionic Book Subscription, $75 per six months at Etsy

This personalized book subscription service will send you books via an algorithm (算法) that learns your taste preferences to select and send books you’ll love. You can enjoy a mix of new and recent releases across fiction and contemporary classics.

Mystery Book Subscription Box, $99.95 per quarter at Isubscribe

Enjoy a great selection of pre-loved books, coming straight to your door, with a range of extras to keep you reading comfortable. You can expect to receive three or six books sent to you month by month, according to your choice.

“Purchased as a gift subscription for Father’s Day and he absolutely loves it! Such a fantastic and unique option for a book lover yourself or a loved one,” a five-star reviewer said.

Australian Magazine Subscription, $36.99 per month at Magshop

Magshop features all of the top selling Australian magazine subscriptions in one place, making it easy for you to enjoy your favourites. You’ll find all kinds of books—from entertainment, lifestyle, fashion and beauty to games and puzzles, health and fitness, cooking, homes, and so much more.

Ultimate Mystery Book Subscription Box, $190 per year at Etsy

Sent to you month by month, each box contains three or six great books with one hand-drawn bookmark, a new handmade candle in a variety of colours, smells and containers, and a new pair of socks.

“Got 2/3 books so far and I’m loving the selection! Can’t believe I got a perfect-condition hardcover on my first go. It was an amazing surprise. The custom little bookmarks are cute too. I’d recommend this subscription in a heartbeat and can’t wait to purchase a second round,” a five-star reviewer said.

1. Which one is the least costly if you subscribe for a year?

A．Bionic Book Subscription.

B．Mystery Book Subscription Box.

C．Australian Magazine Subscription.

D．Ultimate Mystery Book Subscription Box.

2. What do we know about Australian Magazine Subscription?

A．It covers a wide range of interest.

B．It contains extra hand-made items.

C．It can be purchased as a gift subscription.

D．It learns readers’ taste preferences via an algorithm.

3. What do Mystery Book Subscription Box and Ultimate Mystery Book Subscription Box have in common?

A．A supply of top-selling books.	B．A service of monthly delivery.
C．A mix of new and recent releases.	D．A selection of amazing hardcovers.

3 . My son “graduated” from elementary school this week. I put the word in quotations(引语)because as a rising 6th grader, he wasn’t receiving a _______ —and because the school used a _______ term to describe the milestone. On reflection, the school’s term felt even more _______ than the traditional name of the _______ of one stage of a person’s education: they called it Moving On.

At the Moving On Ceremony, each member of the 5th grade class _______ one sentence of reflection on what they were thankful for or would _______ about their primary school years. One _______ words caught my attention — he said he was _______ for what he called “a step on the ladder”. I was really _______ by this 11-year-old’s ability to summarize the emotional heart of the “moving on” moment. That was totally beyond my imagination.

Growing up is the work of a ________ — a ladder that has no top. And the gift of a “moving on” moment is that we get to celebrate the firm foothold   (立足点)we’ve gained on our ________ step, even as we reach upward toward the next. We get to ________ —not beyond what we’ve learned and accomplished so far, ________ because we are able to build on today’s experiences to move ahead toward tomorrow.

We look forward to our son ________ more graduations in his lifetime. But perhaps more than that, we pray that he will have the ability to recognize many “moving on” moments to celebrate and enjoy with ________ .

1.

A．prize

B．letter

C．degree

D．gift

2.

A．normal

B．different

C．traditional

D．popular

3.

A．interesting

B．successful

C．creative

D．meaningful

4.

A．end

B．goal

C．process

D．task

5.

A．translated

B．learned

C．shared

D．completed

6.

A．complain

B．miss

C．worry

D．imagine

7.

A．teacher’s

B．parent’s

C．cleaner’s

D．student’s

8.

A．responsible

B．grateful

C．concerned

D．famous

9.

A．struck

B．confused

C．inspired

D．disappointed

10.

A．moment

B．month

C．year

D．lifetime

11.

A．current

B．previous

C．future

D．upward

12.

A．work out

B．calm down

C．think over

D．move forward

13.

A．but

B．though

C．and

D．also

14.

A．holding

B．preparing

C．discovering

D．experiencing

15.

A．kindness

B．gratitude

C．bravery

D．patience

4 . PREVIEWS AND OPENINGS

Queen of the Mist
Charing Cross Theater
Previews from Saturday, 15 August. Opening Wednesday, 19 August.

Queen of the Mist, directed by Elizabeth Margolius, will have its first showing at the Charing Cross Theater. The musical is based on the true story of Anna Edson Taylor, who in 1901 set out to be the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel (桶) of her own design.

The Son
Duke of York’s Theater
Previews from Monday, 24 August. Opening Wednesday, 2 September.

Written by internationally known Florian Zeller who is praised by The Guardian as “the most exciting dramatist of our time”, The Son, which focuses on intergenerational relationships, family relationships and teenage depression, is directed by Michael Longhurst.

The Fishermen
Trafalgar Theatre Studio Two
Previews from Thursday, 3 September. Opening Saturday, 5 September.

In a small town in Nigeria, Ben and his three older brothers go to fish at a magical river. Unnoticed and carefree, they continued until the predictions of a mad man change the course of their lives forever. The Fishermen is based on the Man Booker Prize novel by Chigozie Obioma, who appears as an original new voice of west African literature. The play is directed by Jack McNamara.

Groan Ups
Vaudeville Theater
Previews from Sunday, 20 September. Opening Saturday, 10 October.

Directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward, Groan Ups is a completely new play which looks at how people grow up and develop. Are we the same at 30 as we were 13?

1. What is the play directed by Elizabeth Margolius probably about?

A．A risk-taking trip.	B．A birthday party.
C．A career as a designer.	D．A person’s entire life.

2. Who directs a play set in a Nigerian town in Africa?

A．Michael Longhurst.	B．Chigozie Obioma.
C．Jack McNamara.	D．Kirsty Patrick Ward.

3. When does the play about personal growth and development open?

A．On Wednesday, 19 August.	B．On Wednesday, 2 September.
C．On Saturday, 5 September.	D．On Saturday, 10 October.

5 . What strategy do you use to make tough life decisions like whether to end a relationship, quit your job, or go back to school? Maybe you weigh the advantages and disadvantages. Maybe you go with your sixth sense. Or maybe, if you’re like most people, you simply do nothing. After all, we have a tendency to prefer the status quo (现状), and focus more on the potential losses involved with change rather than the potential benefits.

But here’s a simpler strategy: When you’re indecisive about a big life decision, choose the path of change. That’s the takeaway of research recently published by Steven Levitt, an economist at the University of Chicago.

For the study, Levitt asked people who were facing tough decisions to flip(抛) a digital coin on the website FreakonomicsExperiments.com. The coin tosses were randomized, with one side representing change, the other status quo. The study asked more than 20,000 participants to make whichever decision the coin toss directed, and then report back on how things played out after two and six months.

Of course, not everyone followed through. The two-month survey found that participants chose change less frequently than they had initially predicted they would. After six months, however, this tendency toward inaction disappeared. But most surprising were the results on well-being. At both the two and six-month marks, most people who chose change reported feeling happier, better off, and that they had made the correct decision.

The study had some limitations. One is that its participants weren’t selected randomly. Another limitation is that participants whose decision didn’t play out well might have been less likely to report back on their status after two and six months. Still, the study does suggest that people who are on the edge of a tough decision are probably better off going with change. Levitt isn’t suggesting you flip a coin to make all decisions. But coin-flipping does seem to have some benefits. Levitt notes that some people might prefer giving in to their fate to randomness in order to avoid regret. But you can also use randomness a bit more sensibly. When facing a tough decision, you could flip a coin and, upon seeing the outcome, notice whether you feel relief or fright. If you feel relieved, that’s probably the path you should choose.

1. What is most people’s priority when making hard choices?

A．Calculating potential losses.

B．Valuing potential benefits.

C．Following inner voice of one’s mind.

D．Making a change to the status quo.

2. What are the findings of the two surveys?

A．Making changes brought most participants happiness.

B．All participants gave immediate feedback on their status.

C．Participants’ action agreed with their initial prediction.

D．More participants remained inactive after six months.

3. What is a limitation of the study?

A．The randomness of picking study subjects.

B．The incorrect method of flipping a coin.

C．The insufficiency of study statistics.

D．The insensible outcome of the analysis.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Coin flips are beneficial to making hard choices.

B．When facing a hard decision, choose the status quo.

C．A study justifies making hard choices with randomness.

D．A study offers a strategy for making hard decisions.

6 . The Chinese written language originated very early. However, people began to like the art of writing, and pay attention to the creator’s thinking and spirit since the period between the Late Han Dynasty and Wei Jin Dynasty. The Chinese calligraphy fonts(字体) gradually evolved from oracle, Chinese bronze inscriptions and silk manuscripts to the following five main schools:

School	Representative Master	Feature
Seal Script	Li Si	There are Big Zhuan and Small Zhuan. The Big Zhuan includes all the ancient Chinese calligraphy fonts before Qin Dynasty. The Small Zhuan are the characters commonly used by officials after Qin united China. These characters feature balanced left and right parts and a bit complicated structures.
Official Script	Cai Yong	A simplified form of script since seal characters were too complicated for officials to use when copying documents.
Regular Script	Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan	Also named Zhenshu or Zhengshu, Kaishu is regular with a tight structure and fluent strokes.
Cursive Hand	Zhang Xu, Huai Su	Caoshu is characterized by sketchy, simplified forms of characters, often distorted or exaggerated to achieve an internal rhythmic appearance within the compositions of characters.
Running Hand	Wang Xizhi, Yan Zhenqing; Su Shi	Xingshu is something between the regular script and the cursive scripts in the initial period and now is between the official script and cursive(草写体的)hand. Chinese masters have always compared the three styles of writing, Kaishu, Xingshu, Caoshu to people standing, walking and running respectively.

1. The difference between Seal Script and Official Script lies in ______.

A．the difficulty to write	B．their function in use
C．who often wrote them	D．how cursive they are

2. Which school is compared to people walking according to the text?

A．Official Script.	B．Running Hand.
C．Cursive Hand.	D．Regular Script.

3. If you want to practice both Regular Script and Running Hand, who is a better choice to choose based on this article?

A．Ouyang Xun.	B．Yan Zhenqing.
C．Zhang Xu.	D．Wang Xizhi.

7 . I have been volunteering for Tri-County Wildlife Care (TCWC) for 7 years. The job is emotionally demanding, and even more _________ for a migraines(偏头痛)sufferer．So why do l throw myself into it? Because at the most difficult time in my _________,saving wildlife saved me too.

I have had migraines for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it was a(n) _________to attend school. I would have to put my head _________ my desk to reduce the pain. So I chose to study at home. But being disconnected from the rest of the world made me feel _________.

“I can’t_________this anymore!” When Mum came to get me from the clinic, I nearly _________.

Then on our way back home, I _________a fallen nest. Two baby birds lay on the ground. Were they still alive? I _________closer. Thankfully they were__________! “You’re going to be okay,” I said to the birds. “I promise.”

The next day Mum and I __________took them to a wildlife care center. For the first time in a long time, I felt helpful instead of helpless. It was as if the baby birds' __________for me was stronger than my pain. I did find something__________ to do.

Then I began volunteering for TCWC. Every time I hold a bird in my hands, I feel a sense of __________, because it brings me so much __________to help these homeless animals.

1.

A．puzzling

B．comforting

C．challenging

D．interesting

2.

A．training

B．work

C．study

D．life

3.

A．honour

B．adventure

C．struggle

D．commitment

4.

A．into

B．against

C．above

D．over

5.

A．useless

B．clumsy

C．shallow

D．fearless

6.

A．stand

B．own

C．follow

D．support

7.

A．threw up

B．broke down

C．set out

D．turned back

8.

A．took

B．caught

C．destroyed

D．spotted

9.

A．jumped

B．drove

C．walked

D．flew

10.

A．singing

B．breathing

C．recovering

D．waiting

11.

A．gratefully

B．carefully

C．modestly

D．frequently

12.

A．need

B．lack

C．search

D．love

13.

A．necessary

B．creative

C．normal

D．meaningful

14.

A．victory

B．regret

C．gratitude

D．guilt

15.

A．trust

B．justice

C．imagination

D．joy

8 . From the roar of a crowd to the quiet of a library, sound and silence might seem like polar opposites. However, according to a new research, our brains perceive them in the same way. Silence may not be a sound, but scientists say we can truly hear it.

In this new study, researchers examined how people experience silence using well-known auditory illusions (错觉). The illusions are meant to test the perception of noise, but for the study, the team adapted them to measure people’s response to silence, instead.

“If you can get the same illusions with silences as you get with sounds, then that may be obvious that we literally hear silence after all.” Chaz Firestone, a co-author of the study and cognitive scientist at Johns Hopkins University, says in a statement.

In the study, participants were tricked by these “silence illusions” in a similar way to how people are typically fooled by the sound versions of the experiments.

The researchers prepared seven experiments and tested them on 1,000 study participants. In one experiment, researchers played a recording that sounded like background noise in a crowded place. In the first half of the recording, the background noise was interrupted by two separate periods of silence. In the second half, one continuous period of silence was inserted (嵌入). Researchers asked participants which silence felt longer- the combination of the first two periods of silence, or the second uninterrupted one. Most participants thought the continuous silence was longer, but it was actually the same length as the two shorter silences combined.

These results were consistent with previous research that examined auditory illusions, which used two separate sounds and one continuous sound. With that illusion, people also perceived the continuous sound as longer than the two separate ones together.

Similar findings across the seven experiments suggested that humans experience silence and sound in much the same way: They can distort (扭曲) our perception of time.

1. Why did researchers use auditory illusions in the new study?

A．To help people perceive sounds.	B．To test people’s adaptability to noise.
C．To measure how people respond to silence.	D．To remind people to be quiet in the library.

2. What can we infer from paragraph 5?

A．Illusions of silence fool people’s brains.

B．The three periods of silence are of the same length.

C．Sound is usually difficult for people to perceive.

D．Participants chose a recording and played it.

3. Where is this text most likely from?

A．A diary.

B．A journal.

C．A novel.

D．A guidebook.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．We can truly hear silence like a sound.

B．Sound and silence are actually the same.

C．Auditory illusions affect our perception ability.

D．Our brain has the ability to perceive sound and silence.

9 . Academic Year (学年) at Newcastle University in the UK

If you’re staying with us for the next academic year, you might be wondering about term dates and assessment (测评) periods. Here’s how the next academic year will look.

Term 1

There will be a one-week training course on the week beginning on 18 September this year. Teaching on most programmes will start on 25 September.

Teaching in this term will last for 12 weeks, with an enrichment week, allowing you to stop and think of your learning, or to explore new skills. During the enrichment week we’ll be running many events for you to take part in.

After the Winter Break, there will be a two-week assessment period beginning on 8 January next year, followed by a one-week break from 22 January.

Term 2

Teaching in Term 2 will begin on 29 January and will last for 12 weeks, including a revision week, allowing you to focus on your studies and to catch up.

The assessment period for Term 2 will begin on 20 May and will last for three weeks.

Term 3

For our students on Postgraduate Taught programmes, Term 3 will begin on 21 June and finish on 13 September.

1. What’s special about Term 1?

A．There is a training course.

B．It has no assessment periods.

C．It has the longest teaching weeks

D．It includes Postgraduate Taught programmes.

2. When will Term 3 start?

A．On 8 January.	B．On 20 May.
C．On 21June.	D．On 13 September.

3. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A DIY course.	B．A history book.
C．A school calendar.	D．A travel guide.