1 . Goldfish may seem like simple creatures swimming in a glass tank, but they possess a rather complicated navigation system, as discovered by researchers at the University of Oxford Led by Dr. Adelaide Sibeaux, the study aims to shed light on our understanding of how fish, and potentially humans, estimate distances using what could be described as an internal GPS.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Sibeaux and colleagues report how they created a tank in their experiment with 2cm-wide black and white vertical stripes (条纹) on the walls, connected by similar stripes across the floor. The team trained nine goldfish to swim a set distance of 70cm and then return to their starting point when waved at. The experiment aimed to investigate how the fish would estimate this distance without any gestures, under different patterns.

Over multiple trials, the goldfish averaged a swim distance of 74cm, give or take 17cm, when presented with the vertical 2cm-wide stripes. However, when the stripe pattern was altered to either narrower vertical stripes, checked patterns, or horizontal stripes, the fish’s behavior changed significantly. Narrower vertical stripes led them to overestimating the distance by 36%, while horizontal stripes resulted in highly inconsistent estimations.

According to the researchers, the goldfish appeared to be using an “optic (光学的) flow mechanism” based on the visual density of their environment. They kept track of how frequently the vertical pattern switched between black and white to estimate how far they had traveled. The study suggests that different optic flow mechanisms are used by mammals, including humans, based on angular (有角度的) motion of visual features. The study implies that the use of visually based distance information could have emerged early in the evolutionary timeline.

“This study is novel because, despite knowing that fish respond to geometric information regarding direction and distance, we don’t know how they estimate distances,” Professor Colin Lever, although not involved in the study, said, “it’s exciting to explore fish spatial mapping because fish navigation evolved earlier and better than most mammals.”

1. Why did Dr. Adelaide Sibeaux conduct the study on goldfish?

A．To test the accuracy of goldfish’s internal GPS.

B．To create an advanced navigation system for humans

C．To uncover how an inbuilt GPS helps calculate distances.

D．To explore the relationships between goldfish and humans

2. What can we learn about the experiment?

A．People gestured the goldfish throughout the experiment

B．The tank was decorated with colorful background patterns

C．Goldfish tended to underestimate distances with horizontal stripes.

D．The change in the tank setting led to the goldfish's incorrect judgment.

3. It can be concluded from the fourth paragraph that ____________.

A．optic flow mechanism is unique to humans

B．mammals developed flow mechanism long before goldfish

C．goldfish evaluated the distance with multidimensional visual information

D．visual density of the environment strengthened the locating ability of goldfish

4. What attitude does Professor Colin hold towards the study?

A．Neutral.

B．Ambiguous.

C．Disapproving.

D．Favorable.

2 . The four people have persuaded companies to give them ￡250,000 worth of toys and food for nothing. And next Monday, they are going to ____ them to every house across north London. David Goodfellow and his three friends, Benny Crane, James Hunter and Callum Teach, call themselves “The Kindness Offensive”. They specialise in ____ random acts of kindness for total ___.

According to them, it is remarkably easy to get hold of items to give away, if you ____. “You simply phone ____ manufacturers to see if they are willing to donate something.” Mr Goodfellow explains. “Our phone bills are enormous, but ____ you reach someone sympathetic.”

The four friends ____ their work together a year ago. “At first, most people were deeply suspicious,” said Mr Crane, a musician. “They didn’t think we’d ____ our promises.” But the group soon learned how to do it properly and convince people of their good ____.

Their first successful “kindness act” was to help ____ a boy’s dream of watching a football match and, last October, they gave free food to ____ seekers. “We’ve met people struggling just to live,” said Mr Hunter, “they ____ want to contribute to society but they can’t work and they don’t find it easy even to buy food.”

The Kindness Offensive goes to great lengths to ____ media exposure but they would like to see more people performing kind deeds for one another. “What I’ve learnt is that kindness is ____,” David’s father said, “____ you do good deeds, you’ll get a lot out of it and others will follow.”

1.

A．lead

B．distribute

C．attach

D．apply

2.

A．carrying out

B．working out

C．making out

D．bringing out

3.

A．children

B．customers

C．strangers

D．friends

4.

A．adapt

B．depart

C．concentrate

D．persist

5.

A．familiar

B．overseas

C．endless

D．aimless

6.

A．initially

B．ultimately

C．unfortunately

D．naturally

7.

A．launched

B．concluded

C．advertised

D．gathered

8.

A．look forward to

B．pay attention to

C．pass on to

D．live up to

9.

A．strategies

B．intentions

C．methods

D．routines

10.

A．found

B．affect

C．obtain

D．fulfill

11.

A．status

B．power

C．shelter

D．peace

12.

A．reluctantly

B．eagerly

C．patiently

D．passively

13.

A．avoid

B．double

C．encourage

D．oppose

14.

A．complex

B．reasonable

C．influential

D．accurate

15.

A．though

B．unless

C．until

D．if

3 . I was never very neat. Yet, when I arrived at college, my roommate didn't seem to appreciate my _________. I am not sure why they_________us together. Kim was extremely organized. She_________everything and each item she owned had its place. We were always having a hard time with each other. She would be mad at my dirty clothes and I would_________washing powder headaches. She would push my clothing over to one side and I would lay one of my books on her_________desk.

However, it all came to an end one late evening and I didn't even know why we had both returned to each other's_________. When the phone rang, she picked it up and I could tell from her end of the conversation that her father was_________ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled under her covers and I could hear her quiet_________. Though I didn't mean for it to happen, I could feel the warm feelings of_________rising up in my heart. It was something no girl should__________alone. What to do? I smiled as I got the idea.

Slowly, I began to clear up my side of the room. I took back the__________I had set on her desk. I got so__________in my work that I didn't even notice Kim had come out from under the covers. She was watching my every move, her tears dried and her expression one of__________. When I was finally done, I went and sat at the end of her bed. Her hand was warm as it__________over to grasp mine. I looked up into Kim's eyes and she smiled at me.

Kim and I stayed roommates for the rest of that year. We didn't always see eye to eye, but we learned the__________to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.

1.

A．untidiness

B．dignity

C．privilege

D．capability

2.

A．persuaded

B．stuck

C．limited

D．recorded

3.

A．recognized

B．acquired

C．simplified

D．labeled

4.

A．puzzle about

B．inquire about

C．complain about

D．joke about

5.

A．newly-furnished

B．neatly-arranged

C．fully-occupied

D．well-designed

6.

A．annoyance

B．company

C．responsibility

D．absence

7.

A．deadly

B．slightly

C．moderately

D．gradually

8.

A．breathing

B．murmuring

C．warning

D．sobbing

9.

A．forgiveness

B．anxiety

C．understanding

D．comfort

10.

A．sort out

B．come across

C．switch off.

D．go through

11.

A．book

B．sock

C．clothing

D．pencil

12.

A．absorbed

B．relieved

C．overwhelmed

D．deserted

13.

A．disappointment

B．nervousness

C．disbelief

D．frustration

14.

A．knocked

B．reached

C．swept

D．got

15.

A．aim

B．agreement

C．objection

D．key

4 . In September, thousands of monuments, civic buildings and private homes throw open their doors to offer a rare glimpse of normally of-limits spaces. Here are some less-known treasures around the UK.

Guided tour of Gladstone’s Library, Hawarden

Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden will be running special tours as part of the Open Doors-Wales festival. It was built as a memorial to prime minister Wiliam Gladstope, Take a tour of beautiful Reading Rooms housing 150,000 books.

September 16, 10 am-2 pm, booking required.

Britannia Panopticon Music Hall, Glasgow

The atmospheric Britannia Panopticon will be showing off its collection of theatrical relics, props and costumes. Sample Victorian items at the world’s oldest surviving music hall without booking.

September 15 and 16, 11 am-5 pm and September 17, 12 pm-5 pm

Gothic Temple, Stowe Gardens

Visitors to Stowe Gardens will be offered a rare chance to see inside the 18th century Gothic Temple. Though it’s normally rented as a holiday let, its circular rooms and mosaic ceilings will be open to prebooked visitors for one weekend.

September 16 and 17, 10: 30 am-4: 30 pm, free of charge

Appleton Tower: School of Informatics, Edinburgh University

As part of Scotland’s Doors Open Days festival, Edinburgh University’s Appleton Tower will be offering tours of the world-leading School, including a visit to the study suite on Level 9 which offers far-reaching views of the Edinburgh skyline.

September 23, 11 am-2 pm, booking in advance.
1. What can visitors do at Britannia Panopticon Music Hall?

A．They can appreciate theatre-related items

B．They can listen to the oldest surviving music

C．They can visit a study room with far-reaching scenery.

D．They can read in Reading Rooms with 150,000 books in store.

2. Which of the following will appeal to architecture fans?

A．Gothic Temple. Stowe Gardens

B．Britannia Panopticon Music Hall, Glasgow.

C．Guided tour of Gladstone’s Library. Hawarden

D．Appleton Tower: School of Informatics, Edinburgh University

3. What do Guided tour of Gladstone’s Library and Appleton Tower have in common?

A．They both last for four hours.	B．They both require early reservations
C．They both honor world famous figures	D．They both offer special views to visitors.

6 . Humans are not the animal kingdom's only fashionistas. Tits ( ill雀) can be fashion followers, too, apparently. A latest study shows that, given the chance, they decorate their nests with this season's must-have colour.

Dr. Wild and Dr. Aplin were following up on a study published in 1934 by Henry Smith Williams, an American naturalist. He noticed that when he put various coloured balls of yarn (纱) out in his garden, almost always one and only one became popular that season for being included into local birds' nests. But which particular color was favoured varied from season to season. This suggested that the colour chosen by one of the early birds was spotted and copied by others.

Williams's work was, however, forgotten until they came across it while following up on a different study, published by a team at the University of Toulouse, suggesting fashion-following, too. Dr. Wild and Dr. Aplin therefore set out to re-run Williams's experiment, but this time to collect some actual numbers.

The birds they followed were part of a well-monitored population of blue tits in a wood near the institute. Most birds in this wood carried tracking devices fitted to them after their capture in mist nets. That allowed the institute's researchers to keep track of a vast number of individuals by recording their arrival at food containers throughout the wood. Instead of food, these containers were loaded with wool of different colors. Interestingly, researchers soon found that most nests of blue tits included only the color of the wool first chosen by a nestbuildcr.

Tits, then, do seem to be “on trend”, when it comes to nest-building materials. Why that should happen remains obscure. Dr. Wild and Dr. Aplin suspect the fashion leaders are older birds, and that evolution favours younger ones copying their elders since those elders have evidently survived what fortune has to throw at a tit. Williams’s original work, though, suggests such initial choices are at random-a bit like those of the leaders of human fashions.

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?

A．Dr. Wild and Dr. Aplin contributed to William's work.

B．Early birds' color preference was copied by their fellows.

C．The yam was the most popular material to decorate local birds' nests.

D．The color of the yam favored by local birds was fixed throughout the year.

2. How did Dr. Wild and Dr. Aplin improve William's experiment?

A．They observed the blue tits.

B．They studied the habits of blue tits.

C．They adopted the data-collecting method.

D．They fitted tracking devices to food containers.

3. What does the underlined word “obscure” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Hidden.

B．Evident.

C．Complicated.

D．Shallow.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Birds favor certain colors in decoration.

B．Young birds follow their elders in fashion.

C．Young birds are just as intelligent as people.

D．Birds are just as fashion-conscious as people.

7 . Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a fashion word in recent years, and its impact on society is growing rapidly. AI refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. This technology is transforming every industry, from healthcare to finance, and is expected to revolutionize the future.

One area where AI is making significant strides is healthcare. AI-powered tools can analyze vast amounts of medical data and help doctors make more informed diagnoses and treatment decisions. This technology is particularly useful in fields such as radiology, where AI algorithms can analyze medical images to detect abnormalities that may be missed by human eyes.

In finance, AI is being used to analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns and predict market trends. This technology can help traders make more informed decisions and reduce the risks of financial losses. Similarly, AI -powered chatbots are being used in customer service, helping to improve response times and provide personalized support.

As the use of AI grows, concerns about job displacement have also arisen. Some fear that AI-powered machines and robots will replace human workers, leading to mass unemployment. While this is a possibility, it is also important to note that AI will create new jobs in fields such as data analysis, software development, and robotics.

Another major concern about Al is the potential for bias and discrimination. AI algorithms are only as good as the data they are trained on, and if that data contains biases, the algorithms will also be biased. This issue is particularly concerning in fields such as criminal justice, where AI-powered systems are being used to make decisions about sentencing. If these algorithms are biased, they could make existing inequalities continue in the criminal justice system.

Despite these concerns, the benefits of AI are numerous and undeniable. However, to ensure that these benefits are accessible to all and to address concerns about bias and discrimination, it is crucial to continue researching and developing moral AI.

1. Al outweighs humans in healthcare in that it          .

A．stops financial risks.	B．ensures precise judgement.
C．recognizes market tendency.	D．offers personalized services.

2. What is one of the major concerns of AI?

A．New jobs will be unavailable.	B．Algorithms will be out of date.
C．Unfairness may arise in criminal justice system.	D．A large number of human workers will be laid off.

3. How does the writer mainly develop this text?

A．By stating facts and citing quotes.

B．By showing different ideas and giving reasons.

C．By presenting influences and listing examples.

D．By comparing research results and offering suggestions.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Artificial Intelligence: Becoming a Fashion Word

B．Artificial Intelligence: Revolutionizing the Future

C．Artificial Intelligence: Bettering Decision Making

D．Artificial Intelligence: Improving Human Abilities

8 . In a world of music streaming services, access to almost any song is just a few clicks away. Yet, the live performance lives on. People still fill sweaty basements, muddy fields and gilded concert halls to hear their favourite musicians play. And now neuroscientists might know why—live music engages the brain’s emotion centres more than its recorded counterpart.

Concerts are immersive (沉浸式的) social experiences in which people listen to and feel the music together through crescendos, key changes and rhythmic drops. Moreover, they are dynamic — artists can adapt their playing according to the crowd’s reaction.

It was this last difference that led neuroscientists, based at the Universities of Zurich and Oslo, to study the brain responses of people listening to music. In the “live” experiment, participants lay in an MRI scanner listening to the music through earphones, while a pianist was positioned outside the room. The pianist was shown the participant’s real-time brain activity as a form of feedback. In the recorded condition, participants listened to pre-recorded versions of the same tunes.

The scientists were interested in how live music affected the areas of the brain responsible for processing emotions, particularly the amygdala, an area deep inside the brain. The results, just published in the journal PNAS, revealed that live music had a significantly greater emotional impact. Whether the music conveyed happiness or sadness, dynamic live performances led to increased activity not only in the amygdala but also other parts of the brain’s emotion processing network. The researchers also found that participants’ brain activity tracked the acoustic (声学的) features of the music, like tempo and pitch, far more closely when it was played live.

While the study didn’t fully recreate the live concert experience, the findings suggest that artists’ ability to adjust their performance in real time contributes to the emotional resonance (共鸣) of live music. Some musical acts now attempt to recreate live concerts, such as ABBA Voyage, an immersive pre-recorded VR concert, but without artists’ capacity to read audience’s mood and respond accordingly, it will never quite match the real thing.

1. Why do people attend live shows despite music streaming services?

A．Because they prefer being with friends at a concert.

B．Because they enjoy the process of finding popular music.

C．Because they intend to meet their favorite musicians in person.

D．Because they value the emotional connection live music brings.

2. The role of the pianist play in the “live” experiment is to _______.

A．observe the participants’ brain activity as feedback

B．compare the effectiveness of live performances and recorded ones

C．provide live accompaniment to participants inside the MRI scanner

D．demonstrate their ability to read and respond to the audience’s mood

3. What did the study published in PNAS find about the impact of live music on the brain?

A．Live music affected only the amygdala of the brain.

B．The brain responded more intensely to acoustic features of live music.

C．Live music had a reduced emotional impact compared to recorded music.

D．The participants’ brain activity was especially sensitive to dynamic music.

4. What does the author suggest by mentioning ABBA Voyage in the last paragraph?

A．It fails to create a perfect performing atmosphere.

B．It matches the sound quality of live performances.

C．It greatly stirs up the audience’s emotional response.

D．It lacks artists’ response based on audience’s feedback.

10 . The world awaits. Where will you go next? The following are among the most exciting destinations to visit. Grab your bags and go!

Puebla, Mexico

Founded in 1931, the Mexico’s fourth-largest city is a stronghold of Baroque architecture. In Puebla’s citycenter, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are a large number of gorgeous 17th- and 18th-century Baroque buildings. Many are decorated with colored titles, the use of which illustrates the combination of Puebla’s local and European colonial styles. In 2017, an earthquake shook the area, leading to restorations of facilities throughout the city afterward. Despite that, Puebla remains rooted in tradition.

Telč, Czech Republic

The storybook town was probably founded in the mid-14th century. Stone walls and a system of man-madeponds help protect Telč historic town center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The triangular market square is bordered by a rainbow of light-colored houses, which were originally built of wood and rebuilt in stone after a fire in the late 14th century.

Göbekli Tepe, Turkey

Estimated to date back to the 10th-9th millennia B.C.E, the monumental limestone pillars at Göbekli Tepe had been hiding in plain sight for several thousand years. The detailed exploration of these giant stones only began in the 1990s. What have been revealed — primarily massive stones decorated with bas-reliefs (浅浮雕) of animal — comprise the world’s oldest known temple complex. The extraordinary discoveries made here have rewritten the story of how the first civilizations began.

Guatemala

Archaeologists have found long-hidden ruins of an extensive pre-Columbian civilization here, confirming that Guatemala is the place to dive into Mayan culture, then and now. Ancient roots run particularly deep in the northernmost Peten region. In modern, multicultural Guatemala, people with Mayan origin make up about half the population, making the country the only one in Central America with a native cultural majority.

1. Where can tourists enjoy architecture exhibiting a combination of native and foreign styles?

A．Guatemala.	B．Göbekli Tepe, Turkey.
C．Puebla, Mexico.	D．Telč, Czech Republic.

2. What has made Guatemala special?

A．The long-hidden ruins.

B．The deeply rooted Mayan culture.

C．The modern and multicultural society.

D．The only Central American country with Mayan population.

3. According to the text, what do the above destinations have in common?

A．They have historic sites.	B．They are in Central America.
C．They were once destroyed by fire.	D．They were discovered in recent decades.