1 . Travel Apps That Will Make Your Next Trip Better in Every Way

Kayak

A flight-price search engine, Kayak makes it simple and convenient to price out different flight options heading virtually anywhere in the world. You can filter (筛选) by airline, time of departure or arrival, number of stops and other variables as well. As a flight-comparison engine, it offers a quick way to determine available trip choices. It also helps you find a new flight if you’ve encountered a delay.

TripIt

TripIt is a handy app that helps keep jet-setters more organized by pulling together important information in one spot. Simply forward your trip-related reservations in the form of emails, photos and other media formats to plans@tripit.com. and the service creates a custom route that you can view online, or share with your friends and family. It’s one of the best travel apps for detail-oriented travelers, and it can save you the trouble of having to remember flight times, hotel confirmation numbers and more.

Hotel Tonight

If you’re hunting for a hotel room, Hotel Tonight is one of the best travel apps for you. It doesn’t just offer savings and deals on budget. luxury and vacation properties in thousands of cities, and it also offers steep discounts on rooms that are booked for the very same evening. Whether you’re looking for a motel or hotel, you can quickly search for and select comfortable places to stay on the fly. These features make the app a handy tool to have when you’re feeling adventurous.

If you’re traveling to a new or unfamiliar city, Google Maps can provide an overview or step-by-step directions of your surroundings. There are plenty of Google Maps tricks, but one helpful feature is the ability to download maps and access them offline, always a plus when you’re a tourist who’s out and about exploring overseas with no ready Internet connection. Real-time GPS navigation and traffic updates make it simple to track your movements or route your way to destinations.

1. What do Kayak and TripIt have in common?

A．Providing savings on budget.	B．Helping travelers deal with the delay.
C．Offering available plans for flight.	D．Giving directions of the circumstance.

2. What is a great advantage of Hotel Tonight?

A．A discount for booking online.

B．Finding a hotel room very soon.

C．A handy app for adventurous athletes.

D．To compare thousands of hotels at a time.

3. Which app best favors people who are offline?

A．Kayak.

B．TripIt.

C．Hotel Tonight.

D．Google Maps.

2 . Pet Hotels

Where to Board Your Pet During the Holiday? Here are a few comfortable pet hotels for you. Search for Pet Hotels in our app to find these listings on a map that have spaces available for the upcoming holidays. Remember to show your vaccination records in case pets are rejected.

B&M pet Hotel

Price per day: A cat, 15 dollars. Dog boarding rooms, from 28 to 68 dollars.

Booking: Contact Golden Chen via call or WeChat (GoldenChen68)

Animals allowed: Also welcomes rabbits, turtles, guinea pigs and more.

Services: Dog training, and four daily walks for dogs.

Someone’s Pet

Price per day: A dog, from 23 to 60 dollars according to size. It is 18 dollars per cat, with an additional charge of 10 dollars for each additional cat.

Booking: Call 15000386785/18917471594.

Animals allowed: Both cats and dogs are welcome.

Services: washing, grooming and pet beauty.

Pet Bamboo Mansion

Price per day: A cat, 20 dollars. For dogs, 56 dollars.

Booking: Call 13524761908 or contact Buddy Dog via WeChat.

Animals-allowed: Accommodate both cats and dogs.

Services: For dogs, there are three walks per day, and swimming facilities.

Offer a 20-40% discount for reserving them, in advance.

Cozy pet Town

Price per day: A cat, 14 dollars. A dog, ranging from 20 to 34 dollars depending on size.

Booking: Add the owner on WeChat (CozyPetTown)

Animals allowed: Only cats and dogs

Services: Swimming, training, grooming.

1. Which hotel offers the lowest price for three cats per day?

A．B&M Pet Hotel.	B．Someone’s Pet.
C．Pet Bamboo Mansion.	D．Cozy Pet Town.

2. What is special about Pet Bamboo Mansion?

A．It requires contact via call and WeChat.

B．It has various rooms for dogs based on size.

C．It offers dog walking and swimming facilities.

D．It provides a preferential price for early booking.

3. What do pet owners do to book a room at Cozy Pet Town?

A．Call the owner directly.	B．Visit the hotel in person.
C．Contact the owner via WeChat.	D．Book through the Pet Hotels app.

3 . Where does the inspiration come from? Photographer Levon Biss got it when looking at beetles from his garden. He recently bought a microscope for his son. For fun, they placed a beetle under the lens. “It blew me away,” Biss recalls. “It was beautiful.” He wondered if he could capture that beauty in a photograph.

Until then, Biss had made a career as a commercial photographer. Insects gave his work a new goal. Around the world, insect populations are in decline because of pesticides (杀虫剂), habitat loss, and climate change. Biss thought that if people could see what he saw through his son’s microscope, they would care more about protecting insects. “I’ve got a photographic technique and a skill,” he says. “If I can do this, I should use it for a better purpose.”

Biss turned to a type of photography that involves taking close-up pictures of small things, like flowers or bugs. His pictures show the insects in all their wonderful, microscopic detail. What is more wonderful is that Biss blows them up into larger-than-life images to be displayed in his exhibitions. Some are eight feet tall.

In 2016, Biss exhibited his first insect project, Microsculpture. That’s a scientific term. For his latest exhibition, Extinct and Endangered, Biss photographed bugs from the collection at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. With the help of the museum’s scientists, he selected bugs that were either extinct or endangered. “It’s a humbling experience, when you’re holding an insect that’s extinct,” Biss says. “The human species is responsible for the current insect crisis. It’s sad to know this insect will never be on this planet again.”

Biss hopes his photographs will get people thinking the same way. “The way I work is through pictures. I communicate visually in the way a writer communicates through words,” he says. “Hopefully, these pictures can shake things up and get people to pay attention.”

1. What inspired Biss to take pictures of insects?

A．His job as a photographer.	B．The insect’s beauty he found.
C．The microscope he had bought.	D．His dream to hold an exhibition.

2. What does the underlined phrase “a better purpose” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Taking close-up pictures.

B．Practicing his relevant skills.

C．Encouraging people to protect insects.

D．Passing on knowledge about endangered insects.

3. What can we infer about Biss’ latest exhibition?

A．It’s held in the American Museum of Natural History.

B．Its theme was microsculpture.

C．It was organized by Biss alone.

D．Its pictures were much larger than normal insects.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A New Way to Take Pictures	B．Appreciate Insects in Detail
C．Achievements Biss Has Made	D．Learn More about Insects’ Present Situation

4 . The Arctic (北极) is heating up at a breakneck speed compared with the rest of Earth. And new analyses show that the region is warming even faster than scientists thought. Over the last four decades, the average Arctic temperature increased nearly four times as fast as the global average, researchers report in Communications Earth & Environment.

And that’s just on average. Some parts of the Arctic Ocean, such as the Barents Sea between Russia and Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago, are warming as much as seven times as fast, meteorologist Mika Rantanen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki and colleagues found. Previous studies have tended to say that the Arctic’s average temperature is. increasing two to three times as fast as elsewhere, as humans continue causing the climate to change.

To calculate the true pace of the accelerated warming, a phenomenon called Arctic amplification (放大), the researchers analyzed observational data from 1979 to 2021. Globally, the average temperature increasing over that time was about 0.2℃ per decade. But the Aretic was warming by about 0.75℃ per decade.

“Even the best climate models are not doing a great job of reproducing that warming,” Rantanen said. The inability of the models to realistically simulate past Arctic amplification calls into question how well the models can project future changes there.

It’s not clear where the problem lies. One issue may be that the models are struggling with correctly reproducing the sensitivity of Arctic temperatures to the loss of sea ice. Disappearing snow and ice, particularly sea ice, is one big reason why the Arctic is warming at this speed. The bright white snow and ice create a reflective barrier that bounces incoming radiation from the sun back into space. But open ocean waters or bare rocks absorb that heat, raising the temperature.

1. Which of the following can best describe the Arctic temperature?

A．It has come to its peak.	B．It has stopped increasing.
C．It is becoming as high as the global average.	D．It is increasing faster than other regions.

2. How did the researchers find out the true speed of Arctic warming?

A．By referring to a theory.	B．By concluding different views.
C．By analyzing previous data.	D．By monitoring the temperature change.

3. What can we know from the last two paragraphs?

A．The climate models are out of date.

B．Snow and ice absorb more heat than sea water.

C．It’s hard for the climate models to correctly predict the future Arctic temperature.

D．It’s clear how Arctic temperatures reacted to the loss of sea ice.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A research paper.	B．A travel brochure.
C．A geography textbook.	D．A computer magazine.

5 . Are your keys not in the spot you thought you left them? Can’t recall the title of a book? I’ve had those moments. Such instances of “brain freeze” remind us that we should do everything in our power to keep our brains sharp.

A new study finds Tai Chi study can help slow cognitive (认知的) decline and protect against dementia (痴呆). The study included about 300 older adults, in their mid-70s on average, who had all reported that their memory was not as good as it used to be.

As part of the study, all the participants took a 10-mirrute test called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. A normal score is 26-30. A person who scores between 18 and 25 is considered to have mild impairment (损害), which means they don’t have dementia but they’re not as sharp as they used to be and may need to work harder to maintain everyday activities. Once their score drops under 18, people experience quite a bit of impairment from memory loss and cognitive decline.

The average score of participant s at the start of the study was 25. The study found that people who practiced a simplified form of Tai Chi twice a week for about six months improved their score by 1.5 points, meaning that they’re going to get three extra years before they hit that decline into dementia.

Researchers also tested a more stricter type of Tai Chi, called Cognitively Enhanced Tai Chi, where they provided extra challenges. For example, participants were asked to spell a word, backward and forward, as they moved through a series of Tai Chi moves. The people who practice this type of cognitively enhanced Tai Chi improved their scores by about 3 points, meaning they are given six extra years of cognitive function.

The theory on why Tai Chi is effective is that it combines the memorization of the movements, known as forms, almost like composing dancing moves.

1. Why are two questions raised in the first paragraph?

A．To present the author’s doubts.	B．To expect answers from readers.
C．To analyze the causes of forgetfulness.	D．To introduce the main topic of the text.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．Cognitive assessment methods.	B．The process of running the test.
C．Cognitive measurement criteria.	D．The test results of the participants.

3. What does the pre-best average score of the participants imply?

A．Most of them suffer from, dementia.	B．They remain as quick-minded as before.
C．Many of them have slight cognitive decline.	D．They can protect themselves against dementia.

4. Why does Tai Chi have a positive impact?

A．It helps resolve challenges.	B．It involves mind-body movements.
C．It puts off cognitive decline by three years.	D．It improves the participants academic level.

6 . In 2012, Laura Eshelman man was in the middle of a mental unsettlement. She was having ________ in finding work. “I was leaving a downtown business where I had another job application ________. I was feeling pretty ________ and decided to go to the Whole Foods across the street,” Eshelman recalled.

As she crossed the street, Eshelman ________ a man asking tor money on the corner. But he was ________ by passersby. As Eshelman ________, he purmed to her, and asked if he could have a little bit of money. She was ________ and said: “Leave me alone. I don’t have anything to give you. Get away!”

Eshelman ________ into the grocery store. But suddenly she realized how ________ she bad been to the man. Eshelman rushed outside to find him. She apologized and ________ some coins from the bottom of her _________.

As she ________ him the change, the man said, “It’s OK. Everything ________ will disappear.” And all of a sudden, she felt like somebody was seeing her ________, and she started to cry.

“That moment on the street was one of the few ________ in that extremely dark period of my life,” Eshelman later said.

1.

A．fun

B．trouble

C．experience

D．luck

2.

A．rejected

B．submitted

C．displayed

D．followed

3.

A．relaxed

B．awkward

C．nervous

D．depressed

4.

A．remembered

B．guided

C．spotted

D．comforted

5.

A．ignored

B．touched

C．rewarded

D．cheated

6.

A．hesitated

B．waited

C．escaped

D．approached

7.

A．active

B．impatient

C．anxious

D．desperate

8.

A．slid

B．struggled

C．got

D．looked

9.

A．helpful

B．rude

C．strict

D．particular

10.

A．set aside

B．put away

C．dug out

D．used up

11.

A．heart

B．pocket

C．store

D．drawer

12.

A．handed

B．lent

C．returned

D．awarded

13.

A．dangerous

B．normal

C．unpractical

D．unpleasant

14.

A．pain

B．choice

C．effort

D．privilege

15.

A．instants

B．chances

C．differences

D．flashes

7 . Off Australia’s northern coast, the remains of ancient coral reefs (珊瑚礁) form the bedrock of wooded islands, which are home to diverse animals and plants, including mangrove (红树林) forests that blanket their coasts and serve as vital habitats and carbon storers. A recent survey shows that expanding seas might have led to a massive mangrove increase, researchers report November 1 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Mangroves absorb carbon dioxide and store it as “blue carbon”, a term for carbon that is hidden away in ocean environments. “There’s a lot of interest in using mangrove blue carbon to lessen climate change,” says Kerrylee Rogers, an environmental scientist at the University of Wollongong in Australia. But there remain a lot of questions around their capacity to adapt to sea level rise.

In 2021,a team led by Wollongong environmental scientist Sarah Hamylton visited the Howick Islands to do a related research. They walked through the seawater to assess the plant diversity and measure individual trees. Using the measured widths and heights of several mangroves, the team calculated tree widths for the rest of the forest from the data to estimate the total mangrove quantity. The islands host nearly 54,000 metric tons of mangroves, the team estimates, which is roughly 10,000 more metric tons than there was in 1973.

The Howick Islands are uniquely suited to supporting mangroves as the ocean rises. At the end of the Last   Glacial Maximum, around 12,000 years ago, water levels rose around northern Australia, and coral reefs grew   upward to fill the space that had opened for them.

When sea levels fell thousands of years later, the exposed reefs became sediment (沉积物). With sea levels now rising again, the mixture of saltwater and sediment makes a perfect home for the salt-tolerant mangroves.

Rogers and Hamylton are now working on a bigger effort to study mangoves around Australia. “If we’re going to invest in mangroves to provide us blue carbon and to protect shorelines, we need to understand how dynamic they are,” Rogers says.

1. What can be known about blue carbon?

A．It is produced by ocean water.	B．It is massively present in the air.
C．It is friendly environment.	D．It is nutritious for mangroves.

2. What is the purpose of Hamylton’s research?

A．To measure the size of mangroves.

B．To figure out where to plant mangroves.

C．To confirm whether local natural environment is polluted.

D．To see how the mangroves respond to sea level rise.

3. What makes the Howick Islands the suitable habitats for mangroves?

A．The diversity of ocean life.

B．The increase of coral reefs.

C．The combination of salt water and sediment.

D．The formation of the bedrock of wooded islands.

4. What is the suitable title of the text?

A．Climate Change Causes Sea Level Rise

B．Sea Level Rise Helps Mangroves Boost

C．Environment on Australia Islands Is Improving

D．Climate Warming Poses Dangers To Mangroves

8 . Language gives us the power to describe countless actions, properties and relations that compose our experiences, real or imagined. As for how languages were created, scientists found iconicity might play a key role.

People can’t bridge language gap and understand each other without iconicity. When playing a game of charades (猜字谜) , we act out our meaning, using our hands and bodies to describe the sizes and shapes of objects. The key to this process of forming new symbols is the use of iconicity. Not limited to gesturing, iconicity appears in our visual communication too. Traffic signs, food packaging, maps. . . wherever there are people communicating, you will find iconicity.

According to our research, iconicity might also exist in our voices. We organized a contest in which we invited contestants to record a set of sounds to express different meanings. The winner of the contest was determined by how well listeners could guess the intended meanings of the sounds based on a set of written options. Critically, the sounds that contestants submitted couldn’t include actual words or onomatopoeias (拟声词) .

Listeners were remarkably good at interpreting the meanings of the sounds. Yet, all of the contestants and listeners were speakers of English. Thus, it was possible that listeners’ success relied on some cultural knowledge that they shared with the speakers. Did the listeners also understand the speakers from completely different cultural backgrounds?

Later, an Internet survey translated into 25 different languages was carried out. Participants listened to each sound from the English speakers and guessed the meaning by choosing from six written words. Guessing accuracy for the different groups ranged from 74 percent for English speakers to 34 percent for Portuguese speakers. It is far from perfect, but well above the chance rate of eight percent expected by us.

Taken together, these studies show that our capacity for iconic communication has played a critical role. Without this special talent, language would likely never have gotten off the ground.

1. Which of the following can explain “iconicity” ?

A．A skill in foreign language learning.	B．The process of acting out our meanings.
C．The connection between form and meaning.	D．A barrier between different language speakers.

2. What can we know about the contest?

A．It required sounds containing meanings.	B．Its winners were creative in recordings.
C．It aimed to prove iconicity in words.	D．Its entries were familiar to listeners.

3. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

A．English pronunciations differ.	B．The research has a limitation.
C．The cultural gap is narrowing.	D．Listening skills vary in cultures.

4. What is the significance of the research?

A．Clarifying the influence of sounds.	B．Proving the necessity of exchanges.
C．Uncovering the origin of languages.	D．Identifying the function of gestures.

9 . Over 40 students with low vision study at a school in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It was designed by Anand Sonecha, founder of an architecture company. Featuring a bright yellow entrance door, which stands out against the white walls, the school is decorated with a variety of sweet-smelling plants everywhere. Inside the classrooms, the walls feel smooth in contrast to the rough outside of the building. These all help students familiarize themselves with the area straightforwardly, without any trouble.

The school provides an open space serving as a platform for the visually-challenged students to play, perform, or celebrate festivals and the students are easy to orient themselves according to the sound, smell, sight and touch. “The idea behind the design was to make the school more accessible to the students,” Sonecha says, “They come from remote villages and towns in Gujarat, and I am eager to help them.”

During the construction, Sonecha used contrasting colors so that students could easily distinguish between the elements. Blue was used for all classroom doors, yellow for the entrance gate, black for switch buttons, and yellow and green for the furniture. All these colors contrasted with the white walls of the school, helping the students locate different elements. Different areas are of different height and width, which makes the sounds and noises change according to the echo (回音) produced in these spaces. Furthermore, he cooperated with fellow landscape architect Lokendra Balasaria to plant more than 1,000 plants of 37 species. These sweet plants have been grown not only to lead the children to move in the school through smell but also to attract butterflies and birds, and provide shade.

“The structure of the building is designed similarly to any other school building, only with a few clever elements. My intention was to avoid making it look distinct from other schools,” Sonecha explains, “I hope that there are no different schools for such students. Instead, all these elements should be added to public spaces for them. And my follow-up efforts may be there.”

1. Why did Sonecha design the school in Gandhinagar?

A．To explore architecture styles.	B．To raise funds for his company.
C．To offer convenience to the students.	D．To improve students’ learning ability.

2. What does the underlined word “orient” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Relax.

B．Waken.

C．Cheer.

D．Direct.

3. How does the school help students perform daily routine?

A．By expanding activity areas.	B．By stimulating multiple senses.
C．By offering behavioral guidelines.	D．By strengthening safety measures.

4. What will Sonecha probably do in the future?

A．Promote accessibility in the public regions.	B．Modernize architecture with smart devices.
C．Build special schools for disabled students.	D．Decorate schools with traditional elements.

10 . Born with no right leg, Anthony Robles, one of the best wrestlers in the NCAA, started wrestling when he was in high school. When his cousin first ________ him to wrestling, Robles wasn’t a/an ________. However, he gradually fell in love with it and he has been doing it ever since .

While some people might have ________ his decision to take on the sport, his family was a huge ________ of support and encouragement. He said: “They ________ in me from a young age that I could do whatever I ________ my mind to. “They didn’t give me any special ________. They raised me like others.”

While the physical aspects of the sport seemed to be the most challenging part, at one point Robles realized he needed to be ________ tougher. After ________ seventh at nationals in his junior year, he took a ________ from wrestling for a little while. He said. “I was ________. That really just helped me to mentally get back to the sport.”

Then came the last match. Robles was so scared that he was almost starting to cry. When he defeated defending national champion 7-1, the ________ were quite different. “I couldn’t even ________ it.” He said, “It was just a great experience.”

Now Robles is ready for the next page in his life, “I really want to help other people achieve things in their lives that others might say are ________.” Robles plans to put his amazing attitude and energy to ________ as a motivational (激励) speaker.

1.

A．showed

B．recommended

C．introduced

D．attracted

2.

A．partner

B．fan

C．master

D．audience

3.

A．questioned

B．admired

C．honored

D．affected

4.

A．amount

B．source

C．flood

D．supply

5.

A．planted

B．breathed

C．delivered

D．registered

6.

A．exchange

B．improve

C．bury

D．apply

7.

A．effect

B．credit

C．confidence

D．treatment

8.

A．gradually

B．obviously

C．formally

D．mentally

9.

A．succeeding

B．going

C．finishing

D．becoming

10.

A．break

B．job

C．bus

D．flight

11.

A．cut out

B．left out

C．stressed out

D．checked out

12.

A．decisions

B．emotions

C．approaches

D．goals

13.

A．impressed

B．concentrated

C．design

D．believe

14.

A．useless

B．extra

C．confusing

D．impossible

15.

A．rest

B．place

C．use

D．test