1 . Lamar Giles is the author of several praised novels and short stories for young adults. His most recent novel is called The Getaway (Scholastic Press, 2022).
I recently spoke with Giles via video. Born and raised in Virginia, he has had a passion for writing, he told me, since he was a child. “It was just amusing to me,” he said.
Growing up in Hopewell, Giles experienced poverty and racism. He recalled a frightening moment when he and his friends were stopped by police officers. “They were pulling out really big, scary weapons,” Giles recalled, “threatening us for no reason, other than the fact that we were young, Black children.”
When Giles was in his early 20s, he met professional authors who showed him that he could make a living doing what he loved. At age 21, he saw one of his stories published in a little-known magazine. It took another decade for Giles to write and publish his first novel.
The challenges Giles met with when growing up proved to be a catalyst (催化剂) for his writing. “When something scares me, I’ll write about it,” he said. “If I write a story around it, it makes me feel better about the fear and anxiety.”
The author’s thriller (惊险小说) for young adults, Fake ID (Amistad Books for Young Readers, 2015), tells the story of Nick Pearson. The character, who is Black, faces racial profiling in his hometown, as Giles did. Nick is suspected of committing a crime because of his race and his “shady” neighborhood. In one scene, he is held at the county jail after being falsely accused by a governor of a state.
Giles is also a co-founder of We Need Diverse Books. The nonprofit organization promotes diversity initiatives in the publishing industry, supporting authors whose stories are often ignored. The goal, Giles said, is to enable all kids to see themselves in the books they read.
1. What does the underlined word “It” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Video. | B．Novel. | C．Passion. | D．Writing. |
| A．He tried his best to write books. | B．He lived in poverty and horror. |
| C．He lived under police protection. | D．He got along well with his friends. |
| A．They inspired him to write. | B．They changed his attitude to life. |
| C．They prevented him turning a writer. | D．They made him become strong-willed. |
| A．He was Giles’ best friend. | B．He devoted himself to writing. |
| C．He was wrongly imprisoned. | D．He founded a nonprofit organization. |
2 . Londoners love a market. It’s the combination of eating, chatting and browsing. Lovely stuff. Locals and tourists continue to rush to the capital’s best stalls and these days there’s a huge range of markets across London. Below you’ll find the very best markets in London.
Broadway Market
Since being reopened in 2004, this Hackney Street market has become attractive to fashion lovers. It is packed every Saturday from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. with arty students and East End creative types filling their large handbags with organic groceries, vintage clothes, fresh flowers, coffee, books and unusual handmade gifts.
Portobello Road Market
Portobello Road Market is really five markets in one, with different sections dedicated to second-hand goods, clothing and fashion, household essentials. You’ll find the greatest range of antiques stalls on Saturdays.
Borough Market
Next to London Bridge, this food market has existed in some form since at least 1014. It’s now best known as a foodie’s paradise where Londoners come to buy top-quality meats, fish, fruit and veg, fresh-baked bread, cakes and sweet treats, oils and vinegar, and pretty much anything else they desire. Borough Market is open Monday to Saturday, with Saturday the busiest day.
Brick Lane Market
The streets of East London’s Brick Lane are lined with stalls selling anything and everything on Sundays. You can find bargain fruit and veg, and electrical products, but this market’s Unique Selling Point is its unpredictability (不可预测): You could bag a second-hand bargain, or spend hours selecting through inexpensive goods.
1. Who would most likely enjoy Broadway Market?| A．Poor people. | B．Art lovers. |
| C．Those who like used items. | D．Those who have no time. |
| A．They show cultural relics. | B．They sell the cheapest goods. |
| C．They sell second-hand goods. | D．They are busy on the same day. |
| A．Borough Market. | B．Brick Lane Market. |
| C．Broadway Market. | D．Portobello Road Market. |
3 . The Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation (PPIE) was started in 1987 to raise money by organizing running events for local schools. Based in Pleasanton, California, a suburb of San Francisco, the nonprofit recently hosted a family-focused fitness event for the community.
“Our event helps to bring the community together,” said Mindy Louie, events and outreach manager for PPIE. “We have more than 3,000 participants, hard-working volunteers, and viewers.”
This year’s fitness event took place on April 30 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It featured races of two miles, five kilometers, and 10 kilometers. A new Kids Challenge consisted of a quarter-mile run to encourage younger children to participate.
When asked to describe the run, 11-year-old Jeremy Louie said, “Fun, exciting, and enjoyable.” Jeremy added that he was happy to help support his school.
The PPIE supports all 15 schools in the Pleasanton Unified School District, which includes more than 14,500 students and 800 teachers and staff. The nonprofit tries to fund education programs affected by budget cuts, while encouraging fitness and athleticism. Up to now, the PPIE has raised $1 million for the school district.
A local runners’ group called the BURN Youth Development (or B. Y. D.) participated in the fundraiser. The B.Y. D. has since grown to include more than 100 youth members, 30 of whom ran in April’s PPIE event. “The B.Y. D. was born in the darkest days of COVID-19 to keep kids running,” explained Jerry Wu, the group’s founder and lead coach. “Watching them running strong and happy makes me smile every time.”
Wu encourages teamwork and teaches the students valuable running techniques. Eighth grader Ollie Gu, a B.Y. D. member, was one of the top finishers in the 10K run. He completed the race in 40 minutes and 46 seconds and won first place in the 12-15-year-old age group.
“The race was extremely rewarding,” Ollie said. “I’m looking forward to it next year.”
1. Which race was newly created?| A．Two miles. | B．10 kilometers. | C．Five kilometers. | D．A quarter-mile. |
| A．To gather money for students. | B．To keep kids active in a hard time. |
| C．To train kids to attend competitions. | D．To help PPIE organize sports games. |
| A．He coaches them in running. | B．He teaches the lessons online. |
| C．He offers food and drinks to them. | D．He helps them fight against illness. |
| A．Benefits from Sports Activities | B．Popular Events Among Students |
| C．Running to Support Education. | D．Lending a Hand to Schools in Need |
4 . I just had the most beautiful experience with Woolworths in Gladstone Park Shopping Centre. I did an online
Five to ten minutes later I got four miss
The online gentlemen
Half hour later the lovely Adrian from Gladstone Park Woolworths, who had
| A．trip | B．order | C．dinner | D．look |
| A．unique | B．simple | C．important | D．expensive |
| A．dealt with | B．stuck to | C．let go of | D．took advantage of |
| A．materials | B．flowers | C．wines | D．groceries |
| A．talks | B．calls | C．strangers | D．pictures |
| A．message | B．speech | C．letter | D．gift |
| A．accepted | B．refused | C．questioned | D．realized |
| A．reminded | B．noticed | C．explained | D．warned |
| A．judge | B．know | C．admit | D．decide |
| A．unfortunately | B．immediately | C．exactly | D．especially |
| A．company | B．office | C．street | D．store |
| A．understanding | B．encouraging | C．helpful | D．honest |
| A．sorry | B．anxious | C．happy | D．positive |
| A．supported | B．recognized | C．seen | D．served |
| A．lent | B．gave | C．sold | D．showed |
5 . The glass armonica (玻璃琴), also known as a glass harmonica or simply armonica, is a musical instrument that produces sound by rubbing glass with wet fingers. It was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761.
The instrument consists of a series of glass bowls of varying sizes, fixed straight on a spindle (轴). The glass bowls are arranged in order of size, with the largest bowl on one end and the smallest on the other.
Franklin came up with the idea after attending a concert in Cambridge. The performer was rubbing wine glasses to produce musical notes. Franklin thought that was not efficient. He decided to invent a set of musical instruments made of glass.
So, he hired a London glassmaker to construct 36 bowls to specific thicknesses and sizes. He fixed the bowls horizontally on a spindle with the largest bowl on one end and the smallest on the other. In this way the musician can play the glass bowls like a keyboard.
The glass armonica became prevalent during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Mozart and Beethoven both composed chamber pieces for it.
But by the 1820s, it was nearly a forgotten instrument in fears that it had the power to drive the listener mad. Some armonica players became ill and had to stop playing the instrument. They complained of muscle spasms (痉挛), nervousness, cramps, and dizziness. A few listeners were also affected. The instrument was actually banned in a few towns. “The armonica too inspires the nerves, drives the player into a troublesome depression and later into a dark and sad mood that is a method for slow self-destroying.”
However, no explanation or proof was ever really given to any of these claims. Franklin himself ignored all of the argument and continued to play the instrument until the end of his life.
1. How are the glass bowls arranged to form this instrument?| A．By their thickness. | B．By their shapes. | C．By their weight. | D．By their sizes. |
| A．A failed performance. | B．An unsuccessful concert. |
| C．An unusual performer. | D．A couple glasses of wine. |
| A．Fearful. | B．Popular. | C．Strange. | D．Tiresome. |
| A．Bad remarks about the instrument. | B．Terrible sounds made by the instrument. |
| C．Bans on this instrument everywhere. | D．This instrument’s great appeal to people. |
6 . Never did I imagine I would land into a place that I used to dislike. However, my working here in Saudi Arabia has turned out to be a
One of those is
Second is the value of
The most
| A．test | B．challenge | C．blessing | D．experience |
| A．love | B．patience | C．wisdom | D．ambition |
| A．Unfortunately | B．In return | C．By accident | D．Consequently |
| A．witnessed | B．missed | C．provided | D．replaced |
| A．paused | B．finished | C．rested | D．got |
| A．pick out | B．look for | C．deal with | D．come across |
| A．strangest | B．clearest | C．strictest | D．nicest |
| A．attitude | B．promotion | C．situation | D．theory |
| A．sincerely | B．anxiously | C．cautiously | D．happily |
| A．parents | B．neighbors | C．colleagues | D．enemies |
| A．fine | B．legal | C．equal | D．casual |
| A．trust | B．respect | C．manner | D．justice |
| A．dreams | B．bases | C．plans | D．steps |
| A．offered | B．considered | C．made | D．found |
| A．accept | B．judge | C．permit | D．use |
| A．transportation | B．food | C．performance | D．tradition |
| A．less | B．different | C．worse | D．better |
| A．ambiguous | B．significant | C．abnormal | D．unbearable |
| A．required | B．called | C．warned | D．taught |
| A．tolerate | B．remember | C．appreciate | D．organize |
7 . After a Blockbuster store in Australia closes on March 31, the American city of Bend, Oregon will have the only one left on Earth.
For years, Blockbuster was a big name in the video rental business. The company had thousands of stores in the United States and around the world. But Blockbuster began to lose money during the 2000s. By 2014, all company-owned stores had closed. Since then, locally owned Blockbusters have closed, one by one.
Operating the last Blockbuster Video on Earth is not easy. The computer system uses old disks that only the store’s general manager knows how to use. The video rentals are recorded on a kind of aging tape. The tape cannot be replaced because Radio Shack, another once famous store, went out of business.
Sandi Harding has worked at the Blockbuster in Bend for over 15 years and is the store’s general manager. She says “stubbornness” is part of the reason the store is still open. “We did everything we could to cut costs and keep ourselves relevant,” she said.
Zeke Kamm lives in Bend. He is making a documentary about the store with his friend. He notes that many people who rented videos over the years want to share memories of their experiences Kamm explained how Blockbuste were once an important part of small town in America. The Blockbuster was the only place that was open past nine at night, and a lot of them stayed open much later.
Recently, Harding has noticed that more children are coming to the store, brought in by their parents who like remembering the past. Jerry Gilless and his wife, Elizabeth, on a trip to Oregon, recently brought their two children, aged 3 and 5, to the store in Bend. They watched with a smile as their children walked from row to row, looking at movies. “How could we not stop? It’s the last one,” said Gilless. “They need to see that not everything’s on the iPad.”
1. What is the third paragraph mainly about?| A．The popularity of the video rental business. | B．The special computer system of the last store. |
| C．The value of the last Blockbuster on Earth. | D．The difficulties of running the last Blockbuster. |
| A．It has a long history in all Blockbuster stores. | B．Its employees try their best to keep it running |
| C．Its general manager is very stubborn woman. | D．It is a place where people can watch old movies. |
| A．People’s experiences of sharing their own memories. |
| B．Zeke Kamm’s work with his friend in the Blockbuster. |
| C．People’s memories of renting videos in the Blockbuster. |
| D．Blockbusters’important role in a small town of America. |
| A．Oregon Will Have the Last Blockbuster on Earth | B．Different Opinions About the Last Blockbuster |
| C．People Are Interested in the Last Blockbuster | D．A Documentary About the Last Blockbuster |
8 . When my 8-month-old cries, I ask him if he’s hungry, or wet or just needs a hug.
“Babububuu,” he says.
What I need is a baby cry translator. That’s just what a team of researchers say they’ve developed.
“Experienced nurses or pediatricians (儿科医师) can identify why baby is crying because they have experience, says Lichuan Liu, a professor of electrical engineering at Northern Illinois University, who conducted the research.” We talked to them, and they mentioned that based on the cry’s’ sound there’re’ some clues (线索).”
So Liu set out to identify the features of cries that can help mark them as expressions of pain or discomfort. These features include differences in pitch (音高) and frequency. The team then developed an algorithm (算法) based on automatic speech recognition to detect and identify these features. This “cry language recognition algorithm” was trained on recordings of baby cries taken from a hospital. It uses compressed sensing, a process that reconstructs a signal based on incomplete data. It can identify a baby cry against a background of, say, adult speech or loud television sounds. By classifying different cry features, like pitch, the algorithm can suggest whether the cry is due to sickness or pain, and identify the degree of urgency.
The team had experienced pediatric care providers assess forty-eight baby cry recordings for probable cause of crying hunger, tiredness, etc. They then compared these to the algorithm’s assessments. The algorithm agreed with the humans 70% of the time. Generally, so-called “uncommon cry signals”—signs of pain or sickness—are high-pitched and very loud compared to ordinary crying.
Liu and her team continue to train the technology for greater accuracy. They also plan to add more features, like the ability to identify and classify movement and facial expressions. This could help give more detailed reading of baby’s emotional (情感的) and physical state. They also hope to begin human trials in the near future.
1. The author mentions the 8-month-old child to ________.| A．draw attention to baby cries | B．prove baby cries are common |
| C．lead in a translator for baby cries | D．show the use of cry translators |
| A．Pediatric care workers’ words. | B．The pediatricians’ strong requests. |
| C．Her own nursing experiences. | D．Her doubts about the previous research. |
| A．They collected baby cries from big hospitals. |
| B．They got 48 baby cry recordings evaluated. |
| C．They created an automatic speech recognition. |
| D．They analyzed cry features with compressed sensing. |
| A．It has been widely used in daily life. |
| B．It’s mainly meant for hungry cry signals. |
| C．It has been proved effective on babies. |
| D．It’s only been tested on recorded cries now. |
9 . Genetic modification (基因改良) dates back to ancient times, when humans influenced genetics by selectively breeding organisms (培育生物) according to an article by Gabriel Rangel, a public health scientist at Harvard University. When repeated over several generations, this process leads to great changes in the organisms.
Dogs were likely the first animals to be purposefully genetically modified, with the beginnings of that effort dating back about 32,000 years, according to Rangel. Wild wolves joined our hunter-gatherer ancestors in East Asia, where the aggressive canines were kept in the household and bred to become docile and easier to get along with. Over thousands of years, people bred dogs with different desired character and physical characteristics, eventually leading to the wide variety of dogs we see today.
The earliest known genetically modified plant is wheat. This valuable crop is thought to have originated in the Middle East and northern Africa in the area known as the Fertile Crescent, according to a 2015 article published in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine. Ancient farmers selectively bred wheat grasses beginning around 9000 B. C. to create improved varieties with larger grains and hardier seeds. By 800 B.C., the cultivation (培养) of improved wheat had spread across Europe and Asia. The continued selective cultivation of wheat resulted in the thousands of varieties that are grown today.
Corn has also experienced some of greatest genetic changes over the past few thousand years. The main crop was changed from a plant known as teosinte, a wild grass with tiny ears and only a few seeds. Over time, farmers selectively bred the teosinte grasses to create corn with large ears bursting with seeds.
Beyond those crops, many of the fruit and vegetables we eat today, including bananas, apples and tomatoes, have experienced several generations of selective raising, according to Rangel.
In 1973, researchers also modified bacteria to be used as drugs. In 1982, human insulin (胰岛素) made from genetically engineered bacteria, became the first genetically engineered human drugs approved by the FDA.
1. What does the word “docile” in paragraph 2 most probably mean?| A．Gentle. | B．Loyal. | C．Smart. | D．Ambitious. |
| A．Through selective cultivation. | B．By editing its genes constantly. |
| C．Through mixture with teosinte. | D．By planting it in large numbers. |
| A．It is rarely seen in daily life. | B．It was quite difficult to accept. |
| C．It is hardly influenced by humans. | D．It played a role in medical field. |
| A．Health. | B．Lifestyle. | C．Science. | D．Agriculture. |
10 . The Berkshire Riding Centre Ltd is a highly recommended riding school. Everyone is welcome. Whether you are an absolute beginner or have dreams of becoming an Olympic champion, we can design the right riding lesson program for you.
Riding lessons for beginners
We help kids from the age of 4 and adults learn to ride. We start beginners with half-hour private lessons while they learn the basics. Once you ride independently (usually after 4—6 lessons), your instructor will recommend a suitable group.
Private lessons
We offer 1-to-1 private tuition (讲授) for riders of all levels. We start beginners with half-hour private lessons while they learn the basics and build their confidence. The more experienced riders will benefit from personal tuition too. Whether you want to improve specific aspects of your riding, or just enjoy riding, private lessons are tailored to your specific requirements.
Group riding lessons
We offer broad range of group riding lessons, from child or adult beginner to advanced dressage (花样骑术) lessons and jumping lessons. Call the office to discuss the weekly Group Lesson Schedule on 01344 884992.
Riding lessons on your own horse
We also welcome horse owners who would like to bring their own for either one-off lessons or a concentrated course of lessons to improve their riding. Your horse is going or to prepare you both for competitions. Pricing is the same.
How to book your riding lesson
Call the office on 01344 884992 or email us on info@brc. co. uk.
We are open 7 days a week and have evening riding lessons on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Our three all-weather schools, two outside and one inside, make us have good all-year-round riding.
Note: All new riders, regardless of their abilities, must have a 30-minute assessment lesson so that we can design the most appropriate plan for them.
1. When are beginners likely to ride on their own?| A．Before having three private lessons. | B．Before building up their confidence. |
| C．After meeting with their instructors. | D．After taking about five riding lessons. |
| A．By making calls to the office. | B．By visiting the riding school in person. |
| C．By writing to group members. | D．By writing emails to their instructors. |
| A．Take four evening riding lessons. | B．Get assessed for proper programs. |
| C．Spend half an hour riding horses. | D．Offer plans on how to ride horses. |
