1 . A man came home from work late to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.
“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”
“Yeah sure, what is it?” replied the man.
“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”
“If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”
Looking up, the little boy asked, “Daddy, may I please borrow $10?”
The father was angry, “If the only reason why you asked that is that you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard every day for such this childish behavior?”
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. “How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?”
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down and started to think: “Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 because he really didn’t ask for money very often.”
The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door. “Are you asleep, son?” He asked. “No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy.
“I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too strict with you earlier,” said the man. “It’s been a long day and I took out my bad feelings on you. Here’s the $10 you asked for.” The little boy sat straight up, smiling, “Oh, thank you, daddy!” Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled(褶皱的)bills.
The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father. “Why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father complained. “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied. “Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”
1. Why was the father angry at first?| A．Because he misunderstood his son. | B．Because he worked too late that day. |
| C．Because his son wanted to buy a silly toy. | D．Because his son asked for too much money. |
| A．To offer his son more money. | B．To check if his son was asleep. |
| C．To make an apology for his strictness. | D．To take out his bad feelings on his son. |
| A．That his son owed him money. | B．That his son had owned money. |
| C．That his son had told a lie to him. | D．That his son refused to talk to him. |
| A．Inspired. | B．Panicked. | C．Regretful. | D．Doubtful. |
2 . When the first digital emoticon “:-)” was posted on Sept 19, 1982, by professor Scott Fahlman at Carnegie Mellon University, US, internet history was made. Now, there are more than 3,600 emojis available for us, noted CNN.
“They offer things that words aren’t saying. They clarify that when you say ‘okay’, what kind of okay that is.” Jennifer Daniel—head of the Emoji Subcommittee for the Unicode Consortium, an organization in charge of choosing official emojis—told CNN. Daniel went on to say that emojis add natural elements of face-to-face communication to conversations, such as body language, intonation, volume and eye contact.
But the meanings of emojis are quite different geographically. For example, people in the West prefer to express their feelings through the mouth and chin; so, to show happiness, they often put great emphasis on the corners of the mouth turning up. But in the East, people are more emotionally restrained and their emotions are shown through the eyes instead.
Emojis can be used differently even within the same country. A smiley face with a waving hand is one such example. For most people, this kind of emoji is friendly while some young people use it to show the breakup of a relationship.
Just as language develops, so do emojis. The Unicode Consortium brings out new emojis every year, showing care when it comes to race, gender and other sensitive aspects in new emoji sets. In 2015, it released different skin tones. In 2016, different job emojis were added, such as teacher and firefighter—along with female versions for these jobs. In 2019, emojis of disabled people were added, including emojis of blind people and people in wheelchairs.
What is the future for emojis? They are already shaping social media as existing and new platforms evolve to respond to their expanding uses. Will the emoji evolve to become an international language with the growth of digitalization (数字化)? Or is technology changing so fast that emojis could go the way of the emoticon and fade in popularity after the next big thing comes along? It is hard to predict—even technology and language experts are divided on the subject.
1. Why do we use emojis, according to Daniel?| A．To replace body language. | B．To fully express ourselves. |
| C．To add fun to the conversation. | D．To stress what we want to say. |
| A．A face with a hand over the mouth. | B．A face with a raised eyebrow. |
| C．A smiley face with a waving hand. | D．A face with an upward curving of the mouth. |
| A．Recognized. | B．Remained. | C．Controlled. | D．Influenced. |
| A．It remains to be seen. |
| B．They will lose favor sooner or later. |
| C．They will become even more popular. |
| D．They will develop into a universal language. |
3 . We’ve all been there—you’ve sent a message and it’s marked “read”, but you haven’t heard anything back. What’s the deal? While being left on read (已读不回) can be confusing, it’s also pretty common.
Expect the best. Remind yourself that the person is probably just busy. Ask yourself if you actually know their schedule. There could be some time commitments you aren’t aware of. Here are a few other reasons for a delayed response.
Resist the temptation (诱惑) to double-text.
Read over your previous messages. See if there are any confusing texts that you need to clarify. It’s okay if you review your message again and notice that it might have been a little unclear—it happens!
| A．Put your phone away. |
| B．Fix your attention closely on text responses. |
| C．Give them a little space so they have a chance to reply. |
| D．They want to give you a longer response but can’t right now. |
| E．Ask yourself why being left on “read” frustrates or confuses you. |
| F．You can keep the situation from bothering you until you hear back. |
| G．You might feel relieved when you find something that is easy to misread. |
4 . A lunar crystal (水晶) was found in lunar basalt particles (玄武岩颗粒) collected from the moon in 2020 when the Chinese moon mission landed in Oceanus Procellarum, returning with more than 1.7 kg of lunar samples delivered safely to the Earth.
The crystal found on the near side of the moon is giving scientists hope of providing limitless power for the world forever. It is made of material previously unknown to the scientific community and contains a key ingredient for the nuclear fusion (核聚变) process, a form of power generation that uses the same forces that fuel the sun and other stars. It is transparent and roughly the width of a single human hair, and it formed in a region of the moon where volcanoes were active around 1.2 billion years ago.
One of the primary ingredients found in this crystal is helium-3 (氦-3) , which scientists believe may provide a stable fuel source for nuclear fusion reactors. The element is incredibly rare on the Earth, but it seems to be fairly common on the moon. China’s next moon mission is expected to be carried out by Chang’e 6 in 2024, which will attempt to collect the first samples from the far side of the moon, which never faces the Earth.
Although it is too early for scientists to have made financial estimates on such a fuel source, it will undoubtedly be extremely costly. There is, of course, the matter of bringing the crystals back from the moon, especially in large amounts that are needed to fuel fusion reactors.
Helium-3 produces significantly less radiation and nuclear waste than other elements. The current nuclear fusion process has raised serious safety concerns, and as a result, scientists have been searching for a way to create nuclear power from nuclear fusion. During the fusion process, radioactive waste is not produced, potentially making a securer and more efficient fuel source.
Around 25 tons of helium-3 could power the US for a year. Multiple private companies and countries with space agencies have signaled their intentions to mine the moon for helium-3, and this latest discovery could kick start the race.
1. What can we learn about the crystal?| A．It is 1.7 centimeters wide. |
| B．It is expected to power the Earth. |
| C．It is commonly found on the Earth. |
| D．It is made of previously familiar material. |
| A．Collect up nuclear waste. |
| B．Find out the elements of helium-3. |
| C．Set up lunar nuclear fusion reactors. |
| D．Take back the samples of lunar crystals. |
| A．It is low in cost. | B．It is clean and safe. |
| C．It absorbs radiation. | D．It produces no waste. |
| A．A Struggling Race to Make Crystals |
| B．An Undoubted Discovery Powering the US |
| C．An Efficient Way to Collect Crystals from the Moon |
| D．A Rare Moon Crystal Discovered by Chinese Scientists |
5 . “Few articles change owners more frequently than clothes. They travel downwards from grade to grade in the social scale with remarkable regularity,” wrote the journalist Adolphe Smith in 1877 as he traced a coat’s journey in the last century: cleaned, repaired and resold repeatedly; cut down into a smaller item; eventually recycled into new fabric. But with the improvement in people’s living standards, that model is mind-boggling in the era of fast fashion. The average British customer buys four items a month. And it is reported that 350,000 tonnes of used but still wearable clothes go to landfills in the UK each year.
Yet the gradual revival of the second-hand trade has gathered pace in the past few years. At fashion website Asos, sales of vintage clothes (古董衫) have risen by 92%. Clothing was once worn out of necessity, and now it is simply a way of life. Busy families sell used items on eBay, teenagers trade on Depop and some fashion people offer designer labels on Vestiaire Collective. Strikingly, it has become big enough business that mainstream retailers (零售商) want a slice of the action.
For some buyers and sellers, the switch to the second-hand is born of financial difficulties. Only a few have become worried about the impact of their shopping habit on the planet. But the shift is only a partial solution. Some people worry that some mainstream brands may “greenwash” — using second-hand goods to improve their image, rather than engaging more seriously with sustainability.
However, the biggest concern may be that people keep buying because they know they can resell goods, still chasing the pleasure of the next purchase but with an eased conscience (愧疚). Boohoo, a powerful fast fashion company, has seen sales and profits rise, despite concerns about environmental problems in its supply chain that led to an investigation last year.
A new Netflix series, Worn Stories, documents the emotional meanings that clothes can have: Each old item is full of memories. Actually, a handbag from a grandmother and a scarf passed on by a father are both valuable for us. A love of style is not a bad or an unimportant thing. But a committed relationship is better than a quick flash. Can we learn to appreciate our own old clothes as well as others’?
1. What does the word “mind-boggling” underlined in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Unbelievable. | B．Popular. | C．Reasonable. | D．Influential. |
| A．old clothes are more popular than new pieces |
| B．the online second-hand markets are booming |
| C．the fashion world begins to favor vintage clothes |
| D．many clothing brands are innovative in their new products |
| A．It makes people feel free to pursue fast fashion. |
| B．It makes people more cautious about their budgets. |
| C．It encourages people to choose eco-friendly clothes. |
| D．It pushes people to be more engaged with sustainability. |
| A．Old items have lost favor with the public. |
| B．Old items are worthy of being long cherished. |
| C．Older generations attach great importance to old items. |
| D．Older generations care about the quality of their clothes. |
6 . With mental health awareness more important than ever, here are the best mental wellness apps that take minority groups into consideration.
Reju
Reju is another meditation and self-care app, launched to respond to the rapid growth in mental health challenges in African American communities. Reju offers a wealth of motivational content to reduce stress, improve mental health, and lead users towards better living. Best of all is the welcoming Reju community for free, where you can connect with peers and get support with issues they’re also facing.
Spoke
Spoke is a meditation (冥想) app designed to deliver mental health support for music lovers. Created by a group of musical artists working with scientific advisers in London, it cleverly combines mental health tools like mindfulness, CBT, and positive psychology with binaural and hip-hop beats, nature sounds, ambient music, and guided lyricism.
Liberate.cx
Liberate.cx is a daily meditation app specifically for the BIPOC community (黑人社区), with mindfulness resources that address topics such as race, microaggressions, anxiety, and self-worth. It draws on expert teachers from diverse cultures to offer wisdom everyone can benefit from.
Headspace
Renowned mental health app, which is only for women. Headspace has launched the Headspace Women’s Collection to provide welcome meditation resources for women. These cover a wide range of issues, including sex and relationships, self-worth, and solidarity. A series of body-supportive sessions are aimed at helping women healing after a miscarriage or struggling with fertility.
1. If a music fan has mental health, which app is appropriate for him?| A．Reju. | B．Spoke. | C．Liberate.cx. | D．Headspace. |
| A．It is merely for female users. | B．It’s a free mental health app. |
| C．It provides meditation resources. | D．It appeals to a wider customer base. |
| A．To advertise these apps to attract more users. |
| B．To arouse more and more attention of the society. |
| C．To offer wisdom to everyone from diverse cultures. |
| D．To recommend mental wellness apps for minority groups. |
7 . When going shopping with a friend, Gail Heyman found herself quite awkward (令人尴尬的) when her friend asked her which dress she liked best. Her friend had a clear favorite — a dress that Heyman happened to dislike. “In that case, I lied and said that I like the same one,” said Heyman.
As Heyman’s experience shows, it might not matter all that much if you tell a white lie to make a friend feel good at times. But when it comes to the most meaningful relationships in your life, protecting a friend’s feelings at all costs can sometimes make them fail. For example, if a person is practicing for a job interview and it’s a few days before his interview, and he gives an answer that you think is not good at all and you don’t tell him because you don’t want to hurt his feelings, that’s really not very nice to him, right? Because he has an opportunity to fix that thing.
If you know that lies can have results, why do you still lie often? A study carried out by Tali Sharot, a professor at University College London, found that it’s because people just get used to it. One little lie can turn into bigger and bigger lies over time. “If you habituate emotionally, it will change your behavior,” says Sharot.
Sharot notes that if you’re worried about lying a bit too much, try and notice when you want to bend the truth (歪曲事实). She thinks it’s best to do so when you’re not actually responding to those triggers (诱因). Moving your attention away from shame and focusing more on your values can be a healthy way to start looking at this more actively.
1. How does the author start the text?| A．By raising a question. | B．By giving an example. |
| C．By expressing an opinion. | D．By comparing different views. |
| A．Be careful about lying. | B．It’s OK to tell a white lie. |
| C．Never should a person tell lies. | D．A meaningful relationship matters. |
| A．They are used to lying. |
| B．They don’t behave well. |
| C．They lose track of others. |
| D．They don’t want to hurt others’ feelings. |
| A．Try to bend the truth. |
| B．Change our behavior. |
| C．Say sorry to the one we lied to. |
| D．Concentrate more on our values. |
8 . About twenty years ago, a new yoga teacher with related qualifications (资格) began her day practicing yoga on the beach. Over time, a few local beach lovers joined in and before she knew it, she was leading classes every morning and evening. After the word spread, local teachers offered to assist and the unique yoga classes were born. After that, the teacher moved to India, but her legacy (遗留) lives on. We aim to ensure people can come into contact with and afford yoga 365 days a year. Classes are all donation based. Our teachers offer yoga from the heart and do not get paid.
Our Approach
People around the world have practiced yoga for thousands of years, and millions of people currently enjoy its health benefits. Being outside can enhance the yoga experience in many ways, since nature inspires all the things — focusing awareness, breathing deeply, practicing stillness. We attach great importance to outdoor practice, through which you can feel the union with nature. Through every practice, we help some people who want to change.
Our Classes
We provide you with mostly two kinds of classes. Private beach classes include yoga, stretching, and partner yoga. We tailor the class to your requirements. If you are planning a corporate event or yoga classes, we can help make it fun, motivating and exciting.
What to Bring?
•An open mind, an open heart and a sense of fun
•A large towel or blanket — mats tend to get very sandy
•Sunglasses and sunscreen — in the morning there is shade
•Water-hydrate (水合物)
•Layered clothing in the winter — mornings can be cool
Get in Touch
You are invited and welcomed in our community! To know more information, you can click the link we provide. You can also email us for further questions or to request a private class.
1. What is the purpose of the unique yoga classes?| A．To call on people to protect the beach. |
| B．To help yoga lovers gain qualifications. |
| C．To raise the awareness of keeping healthy. |
| D．To make yoga accessible and affordable to people. |
| A．It lowers the risks of diseases. | B．It is more beneficial to the old. |
| C．It can make people keep active. | D．It can expose people to nature. |
| A．Business. | B．Opinion. | C．Health. | D．Travelling. |
9 . From going to work to traveling, here are some backpacks you can use in several different situations.
SZLX backpack
This backpack is described as “designed for travel” and you can see why—as unzipped and open, it looks a bit like a carry-on bag. It has two zip pockets and an inside compartment (隔层). With a shoe compartment and a bag for wet clothes, it is a great choice for traveling and regular use.
Della Gao backpack
This backpack will have you feeling safe, with lockable zips (拉链). It has three main compartments and at 17 inches, has a large overall space for keeping important items. It’s a wise choice for business travel, university or if you’re going on holiday with high-value items.
Lekesky backpack
Looking like a cross between a lunch bag and a backpack, the Lekesky bag is actually a bit of both, with two pockets alongside a main compartment. The bag also has a separate lunch compartment, able to store food for nine hours with an ice bag. The bag comes in black/white as well as green/white.
Maxtop backpack
If what you’re after in a backpack is a lot of space, then this bag will be the one for you. It comes with metal zippers and a USB port, plus it can be folded up when not in use. It also has a D-ring for you to hang a key or other items if desired.
1. Which backpack best suits a person carrying expensive items?| A．Della Gao backpack | B．Lekesky backpack |
| C．SZLX backpack | D．Maxtop backpack |
| A．It comes in four different colors. |
| B．It is great for keeping food. |
| C．It can be folded up when not in use. |
| D．It has a bag for wet clothes. |
| A．Sports. | B．Health. | C．Lifestyle. | D．Culture. |
10 . You may study English for years and still not understand a native speaker of English when you meet one. Many language learners know that native speakers say a lot of things that you can’t find in a dictionary. Well, here’s a secret for you: A lot of British people can’t understand each other either!
Across the UK, a number of regions have different dialects. There are many different accents (口音) in London, because it is not just where a person is born in the UK that decides their accent. Language and accents also change across social class and level of education. Therefore, “Multicultural London English” was created at the end of the 20th century.
Other factors are also important in the invention of new accents and ways of speaking. These include the influence of people from different countries and different age groups, too.
“Yoof culture” is an example. The word “yoof” is a slang (俚语) spelling of “youth”. Young people are creating their own language, ideas and identity. By using words that their parents don’t understand, children can talk about things that their parents might not agree with. For example, instead of saying something like “That’s good!” or “I understand”, yoof will use a single adjective like “Safe!”, or “Sorted!” Yoof would use “kind-a-thing” or “sort-a-thing” to replace “if you understand what I’m saying”. In this way, they are starting to find freedom, independence and self-expression.
As learners of English, we may wonder how well we can talk to a native speaker, but perhaps we should worry less about this. Research by the British Council shows that 94 percent of the English spoken in the world today is spoken between non-native speakers of the language. In fact, when we think about “international English”, there is no such thing as a native or non-native speaker. The UK no longer owns the English language.
1. What do we know about “Multicultural London English”?| A．It was invented by Londoners in the 1900s. |
| B．It is now spoken by people around the world. |
| C．It’s a dialect specific to a particular social class. |
| D．It’s a modern accent that crosses educational levels. |
| A．A mix of many different cultures. | B．The way to simplify English spelling. |
| C．Young people’s desire to express themselves. | D．Young people’s longing for more attention. |
| A．Got it! | B．No way! | C．With pleasure! | D．No worries! |
| A．Mastering English is next to impossible. |
| B．The English language is always changing. |
| C．Don’t worry if you cannot understand native speakers. |
| D．It helps for a non-native speaker to talk to a native speaker. |
