1 . Beauty and Well-being Benefits of Handed Massage Guns
What are they?Originally beloved by athletes, massage guns are gaining popularity as a stress or pain-relieving tool. A quick and convenient alternative to a traditional deep-tissue massage, many offer detachable heads to target calves, ankles or the top s of shoulders, available in a range of sizes and speeds.
What are the supposed benefits?If you often find yourself aching after the gym or a long day of work, a massage gun may well be your new best friend. Sending pulses at a steady frequency that is difficult to achieve manually, they allow you to target a specific area of tightness, loosening lactic acid buildup muscle and allowing for greater mobility and muscle flexibility. Even if you’re not so physically active, a couple of minutes of regular massaging can do wonders for your complexion.
Through vibration frequency, the movement of a massage gun will encourage blood and lymphatic (淋巴的) circulation, giving a new vibrancy and comfort to skin as toxins (毒素) drain out and oxygen flows through. If you’ve been feeling heavy or struggling to unwind, massage guns are also thought to be a useful tool in the rehabilitation (康复) of depression, anxiety, digestive disorders and stress-related insomnia.
Do they actually work?Once you get used to the quiet humming noise, the swift, targeted relief a gun can offer more than justifies the initial spend. Leading the market is the Lola, a lightweight handheld gun in a sleek matte finish with four speeds that tucks easily into the pocket of an overnight bag. The key is to operate within your own comfort-be sure to fit the adjustable heads firmly and work through the speed functions slowly, building up to higher pressures only if necessary. While concerns about suitability for specific conditions or injuries should always be discussed with a doctor, the massage gun is certainly proof that both internal and external beauty can be achieved by listening that little bit closer to our bodies.
1. What is not the supposed benefits of handed massage guns?| A．To target a specific area of tightness. |
| B．To allow for greater mobility and muscle flexibility. |
| C．To encourage blood and lymphatic circulation. |
| D．To help lactic acid build up in muscles. |
| A．Many offer fixed heads to target diverse muscles. |
| B．The initial spend is too high to be justified by their functions. |
| C．They can help rehabilitate people with depression and anxiety. |
| D．Their suitability for specific conditions and injuries is certain. |
| A．To show the beauty and well-being benefits of handed massage guns. |
| B．To inform us the availability of different sizes of handed massage guns. |
| C．To share with us the popularity of handed massage guns among athletes. |
| D．To compare handed massage guns with doctors on suitability for injuries. |
2 . What are pillows really stuffed with? Not physically, but symbolically? The question occurred to me with the photos of the international pillow fight in the news and social media from the 50 cities around the world. Armed with nothing more than bring-our-own pillows, strangers struck heavily each other from Amsterdam to Atlanta, Warsaw to Washington DC. But why? Is there anything more to this delightful celebration?
Actually, since at least the 16th century, the soft pillow has been given symbolic meanings. The Chinese playwright, Tang Xianzu, told a famous story in his work, Handan Notes. It was about a wise man who met a depressed young scholar at an inn and offered him a magic pillow. The scholar had a sweet afternoon nap on this pillow, dreaming that he had a more fulfilling life. When the young man awakened to discover that all was just a dream. The magic pillow’s power shifts from wonder to terror. What’s more, the 19th-century English novelist, Charlotte Bronte, poetically observed “a ruffled mind makes a restless pillow”. Perhaps Bronte learned this from the philosopher, Montaigne, who once insisted that “lack of thoughts in mind is the softest pillow on which a man can have a good rest”. On Montaigne’s thinking, intelligence and happiness compete against each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win.
With the above information, we can perhaps more easily measure the attraction of the global pillow fight. Just like a ceremony of release, the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing, a brushing off of daily worries: an emptying of the world’s restless mind.
1. How did the writer lead into the topic of the passage?| A．By giving reasons. | B．By telling stories. |
| C．By using sayings. | D．By raising questions. |
| A．To state how pillows help people take a good rest. |
| B．To explain why pillows connect with people’s minds. |
| C．To claim that pillows can symbolically convey the meaning. |
| D．To describe that pillows always symbolize the good dreams. |
| A．A mind without any thoughts. | B．A mind with messy thoughts. |
| C．A mind that is peaceful. | D．A mind that is simple. |
| A．It mainly celebrates daily worries. |
| B．It contains a profound meaning of history. |
| C．People will feel relieved during the fight. |
| D．People will lose their inner peace during the fight. |
3 . In the live-streaming (直播) channel of Yang Weiyun, no singing or dancing is performed nor are products sold. Yang teaches pinyin, reading and writing, something that has been most familiar to her for the past 50 years. The difference is her students are mostly adults.
The 73-year-old comes from Huainan city of Anhui province and is an experienced educator. She had been a Chinese teacher in an elementary school for 50 years. In retirement, Yang also wanted to do something meaningful. The rise of short video platforms gave her the idea of continuing her education attempt through live-streaming online. The retiree opened her live-streaming account in May 2021 and offered free pinyin courses designed for kindergarten pupils about to attend primary schools. However, she gradually learned among her viewers there are a lot of illiterate (文盲) adults.
Yang said she found many illiterate adults develop a sense of lack of confidence. They are afraid to go to new places, worried that they couldn’t teach their children or read their boss’s instructions. So, she added targeted content to meet their needs. “Many illiterate adults didn’t have the chance to go to school when they were young. They are the ones in urgent need of becoming literate. I wanted to give them a new starting point,” Yang said.
According to the seventh national census (人口普查) carried out last year, there are 38 million illiterate adults in China. Yang’s live-streaming channel offers an easy and private way for those who want to overcome adult illiteracy.
Yang said students learning through her live-streaming channel each have their own demands. So she always prepares her classes carefully after concluding a live-streaming session. She has tried her best to figure out what ways the students can learn and remember better, and her biggest wish now is to see these students graduate from her classes.
1. What’s Yang’s original purpose when she attempted teaching online?| A．To teach retired adults Chinese. |
| B．To spread Chinese character culture. |
| C．To teach kids before primary school. |
| D．To sell products in her live-streaming channel. |
| A．She was an experienced and respectable teacher. |
| B．Many people believe her classes are beneficial for their children. |
| C．Her class is vivid and lively with singing or dancing performance. |
| D．Many illiterate adults can learn Chinese in an easy and private way in her class. |
| A．Devoted and helpful. | B．Caring and brave. |
| C．Warm-hearted and strict. | D．Persistent and honest. |
4 . Usually, someone would come up and ask, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” This kind of question is often raised when we have
Well, it started out being a cowboy or super hero. Later it was fireman, policeman, lawyer... As I grew older, my dreams of the future
By then, I had my heart set on
However, for many, there is a “thief”, which goes around
We find ourselves just about reaching our
| A．difficulties | B．challenges | C．memories | D．gatherings |
| A．changed | B．reduced | C．developed | D．disappeared |
| A．live | B．major | C．believe | D．bring |
| A．discovering | B．cheating | C．becoming | D．awarding |
| A．spent | B．wasted | C．decided | D．took |
| A．planning | B．teaching | C．planting | D．reading |
| A．sensitive | B．objective | C．passive | D．positive |
| A．disappoint | B．reflect | C．perform | D．achieve |
| A．reaching | B．throwing | C．stealing | D．abandoning |
| A．thief | B．teacher | C．robber | D．guider |
| A．parents | B．ourselves | C．relatives | D．themselves |
| A．homes | B．limit | C．dreams | D．potential |
| A．possibly | B．quickly | C．frequently | D．gradually |
| A．outcome | B．failure | C．moment | D．difference |
| A．precious | B．original | C．faithful | D．ordinary |
5 . Imagine living in a cool, green city alive with parks and threaded with footpaths, bike lanes and buses which transport people to shops, schools and service centers in a matter of minutes.
This fancy dream is behind the idea of the 15-minute city, where all basic needs and services are within a quarter of an hour’s reach, improving public health and lowering vehicle emissions.
Artificial intelligence could help urban planners realize that vision faster, with a new study from researchers at Tsinghua University in China demonstrating how machine learning can generate more efficient spatial layouts (空间布局) than humans can.
Automation scientist Zheng Yu and his colleagues wanted to find new solutions to improve our cities which are fast becoming blocked. They developed an AI system to tackle the tough tasks of urban planning and found it can produce urban plans that outperform human designs by about 50 percent in three aspects: access to services, green spaces and traffic levels.
Starting small, Zheng’s team tasked their model with designing the urban area only a few square kilometers in size (about 3×3 blocks). After two days of training, the AI system searched for the ideal road designs and land use to fit with the concept of the 15-minute city and local planning policies and needs.
While the AI model has some capabilities that could extend its use for planning larger urban areas, designing entire cities will be more complex. Drafting a neighborhood consisting of 4×4 blocks contains twice as many planning decisions as designing 3×3 blocks, the researchers said. But automating even a few steps in the planning process can save huge amounts of time: the AI model can compute in seconds certain tasks that take human planners between 50 to 100 minutes to work through.
Rather than AI replacing people, Zheng and his colleagues think their AI system can work as an “assistant” to urban planners, who could generate concept designs optimized (优化) by the system, and reviewed, adjusted and evaluated by human experts based on community feedback.
1. According to the text, which of the following is NOT a benefit of the “15-minute city” concept?| A．Better public health. | B．Lower vehicle emissions. |
| C．Decreased access to green spaces. | D．Fast and convenient service. |
| A．High levels of pollution. | B．Limited access to public services. |
| C．Shortage of affordable housing. | D．Rising crowding and traffic problems. |
| A．It can design entire cities efficiently. |
| B．It takes longer to train for larger urban areas. |
| C．It can complete tasks much faster than human planners. |
| D．It is limited to planning only a few square kilometers at a time. |
| A．Designing better cities with AI |
| B．The 15-Minute City: A Dream or Reality? |
| C．Improving Public Health with Greener Cities |
| D．The Role of Machine Learning in Urban Design |
6 . How do we make good things out of bad? How do we look at ourselves? Can there be a
There was an elderly woman who needed to walk down to the river every morning to
One of the buckets was newer, perfectly sealed (密封) and
One day, on the walk down to the river, the cracked bucket that had always felt like it wasn’t as good as the other bucket said to the elderly woman, ‘‘I want you to know that water has been
We all have a few cracks, but choose to see how it’s exactly those
| A．riper | B．wiser | C．broader | D．brighter |
| A．order | B．fetch | C．drop | D．boil |
| A．carried | B．repaired | C．searched | D．lost |
| A．store | B．school | C．cottage | D．farm |
| A．purified | B．held | C．hid | D．heated |
| A．leak | B．absorb | C．pollute | D．empty |
| A．reasonably | B．suddenly | C．amazingly | D．typically |
| A．running | B．escaping | C．spilling | D．climbing |
| A．ordinary | B．comfortable | C．boring | D．difficult |
| A．mark | B．replace | C．reward | D．combine |
| A．smiled | B．sighed | C．shouted | D．defended |
| A．wall | B．tree | C．path | D．border |
| A．abandoned | B．saved | C．booked | D．planted |
| A．picked | B．watered | C．removed | D．spread |
| A．characteristics | B．buckets | C．cracks | D．strengths |
7 . We can picture a future world where machines will enlarge our human abilities and help us make better life choices, from health to wealth, as we live longer and longer and technology continues its rapid development. Through our dialogue and digital pieces, AI (人工智能) will understand our life goals and wishes, our duties and limitations. It will help us plan different life events, so we can spend more time enjoying life’s moments.
The ability for AI to understanad the complexities (复杂性) and slight differences of human conversation is, however, one hurdle (障碍). There are several thousand known living languages in the world today. Adding to the difficulties are the varied ways words are shared and used across different cultures, including grammar, levels of education and styles of the speakers. Google Duplex, the technology supporting Google Assistant, which places phone calls using a natural-sounding human voice instead of a robotic one, is an early attempt to address such challenges in human communications. But these are just initial whispers in voice of AI’s long journey.
Beyond making reservations and conducting simple dialogues, virtual assistants will need to become far more useful and further fit into the parts of our everyday lives. Not only will they need to foresee what we need before we ask, they also need to understand the context of our conversations and react accordingly. Imagine a snow day when school is canceled for the kids. Knowing that you must now stay at home with your children, your phone would remind you, asking if you’d like your meetings moved to the following day. Or imagine how much more pleasant your journey home from a business trip would be if your phone could automatically arrange for a ride waiting to pick you up at the airport, based on your travel plan, location, and habits. The possibilities are endless.
1. What do we know about AI?| A．It narrows our abilities. | B．It limits our better choice. |
| C．It helps us enjoy life better. | D．It doesn’t know our limitations. |
| A．Imperfection of AI. | B．Low level of speakers. |
| C．Similarities between languages. | D．Varieties of languages and cultures. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Approving. | C．Negative. | D．Critical (批判的). |
| A．AI Will Replace Humans | B．AI Will Set Goals for Us |
| C．AI Will Meet Challenges | D．AI Will Be Part of Our Daily Lives |
8 . Walking is the best form of exercise. It is good for the upper respiratory (与呼吸有关的) system and the legs. It helps us control our weight and blood sugar. Walking is also a good way to help you make more friends, bringing chances to see new things and meet new people. Personally I try to walk at least 5 miles daily.
As well as walking, I also cycle around Xiamen. Cycling is great for weight loss and helps to build stamina (耐力). However, cycling does not allow for the same level of social contact as a walk. It is for this reason that I will strongly suggest that you try long-distance walking if you want to be physically healthy. I originally started walking around Xiamen because I didn’t have a car, but I soon started to enjoy the walking for its own sake.
I have also made many friends during my walks. It’s not uncommon for my 5-mile walk to sometimes take as long as 2 or 3 hours, because I stop to chat with different shop owners along my route. These days, if I skip my walk for even one day, the people in the shops may want to know why I didn’t come.
I’ll never forget the first time some people followed me when I was walking, and asked if it was okay for them to walk with me, I really didn’t know what to say, so I just replied that I didn’t mind. I have been invited for lunch, dinner and sometimes just to sit and drink tea with total strangers. There is nothing more pleasant than walking past a schoolyard and hearing all the kids say hello to me.
1. Why did the author have to take a walk at the very beginning?| A．He wanted to build up his strength. | B．He enjoyed walking. |
| C．He had no car. | D．He wished to make friends. |
| A．Jump lightly. | B．Give up. | C．Leave out. | D．Change quickly. |
| A．Cycling allows for no social contact. | B．Walking is better than cycling. |
| C．To be healthy, it’s better to cycle. | D．The author prefers walking to cycling. |
| A．To share the unforgettable experience with us. |
| B．To show the meaning of walking in social contact. |
| C．To tell us how to develop the habit of walking. |
| D．To explain why a usual walk takes him as long as 2 or 3 hours. |
9 . Leif Richardson, who is a conservation biologist, and I are out with the goal of piecing together a picture of where wild bees live, and which species are in trouble in the home range of a native bee called Crotch’s bumble bee (大黄蜂). That bee is protected by the state law, and it’s one of the many species under survey.
Our journey began at the foot of a mountain in Leo Carrillo State Park. It was a cloudy morning. We set off for a short hike, armed with bee nets and a cooler to cool any bees we would catch. It’s a harmless way to temporarily calm the bees, and to allow for more careful study and photos.
Just a minute later, as Richardson walked into a meadow (草地), I heard him scream, followed by a snake! He stood there frozen for a moment before backing away towards the path, and then the snake went away.
We were a little more careful with the possibilities then, as we prepared to catch our first bees. They were not hard to find—I could hear them buzzing everywhere, and soon Richardson said it was time for me to catch one.
He told me to pinch (捏住) the tip of my net and held it upright, while slowly lowering it over a flower where our bumble bee was standing. As soon as the bee realized what was going on, it buzzed furiously inside my net, and then slowly climbed up the net towards the tip right where my finger was.
It all seemed like a high possibility to get stung (被蜇). But Richardson assured me I would be fine. He had some advice for holding it. “You’re going to pinch harder than you think you need to, but not so hard that you hurt the bee.” As my fingertips got closer to the bee, it felt like I could hear it buzzing louder and louder. Richardson performed this whole process in seconds. For me, on the other hand, it was a nervous act of much concentration. But it paid off—and soon, I got my very first bee!
1. What did Richardson come across on the way?| A．A sudden rain. | B．A snake. | C．A bee net. | D．A cooler. |
| A．The process of bee-catching. | B．The present situation of bumble bees. |
| C．The challenge of finding a bumble bee. | D．The purpose of studying bumble bees. |
| A．He failed. | B．He got stung. | C．He was nervous. | D．He was professional. |
| A．A Love of Nature | B．A New Law for Bumble Bee |
| C．An Outing for Bumble Bee | D．A Trip to Leo Carrillo State Park |
10 . A Japanese candy company has been making national news headlines for its idea to produce gummy candy (软糖) that tastes like an “imaginary fruit” called Kiraspika.
Last year was a great one for gummy candy producers, and the market continued to expand throughout 2023, with fruit-flavored (水果味的) gummies being the most popular. There are plenty of fruit flavors to choose from, but companies are still limited to the fruits that can be found in our world. However, what if someone started making candy that tastes like imaginary fruits? That was the strange idea that a Japanese sweets maker recently came up with. Two months ago, the company created a new type of gummy candy that tastes like fruit “Kiraspika no Mi”, an imaginary fruit with an original flavor, design, and even a story.
According to the story, the star-shaped Kiraspika only grows in the mountainous area of Blue Knife, where temperatures drop to —50℃ in winter. It is very difficult to get. Everything about Kiraspika was invented in the fruit lab where its flavor experts mixed various existing flavors to create a totally original one that tastes like nothing you’ve ever eaten.
According to its designers, the Kiraspika-flavored gummy candy has a unique sweetness mixed with a kind of sourness (酸味), but many of those who have tried it have their own description of the taste.
To some, the Kiraspika flavor can be compared to that of an energy drink, while others say it tastes a bit like a spicy apple. It is the mystery of the flavor and the personal explanations that make this product liked by many people.
1. What does the underlined word “expand” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Disappear. | B．Shorten. | C．Struggle. | D．Grow. |
| A．It can’t be found in real life. | B．It grows on the plain. |
| C．It can be planted easily. | D．It needs high temperatures. |
| A．Its shape. | B．Its taste. | C．Its origin. | D．Its designer. |
| A．A news report. | B．A health magazine. |
| C．A biology book. | D．An old story. |
