1 . Escape to a New Life— Everyone’s Dream?
A TV series in Wales has become a heated issue by becoming the number one choice for teenagers to watch.
The main character is a young farmer and the series is about country life, making the popularity of the series all the more surprising. The series is calm and relaxing and really the opposite to city life. Escape to a New Life describes the Welsh countryside as a beautiful and peaceful place and its people as very caring and happy.
The series director believes that this is what young people want today. She says the success of the series is because teenagers want a happier and healthier life away from the pressures of deadlines and exams. She figures this series offers a form of escape from their fast and stressful lives.
Despite this, many parents and teachers are worried about the effect this is having on young people. Parents report that their children are just watching this series and neglecting everything else, using Escape to a New Life as an excuse for not completing homework, or refusing to revise for exams, citing a need for a happier and less stressful life.
One father, Paul McGregor, said his daughter Charlotte had changed a lot. He said, “She used to be in the school athletics team and loved the javelin, but now she only wants to watch the TV series and has been dropped from the team. She no longer completes her homework saying it doesn’t matter as she just wants to ‘escape to a new life’”.
Paediatrician, Dr. Elisa Carhart who specialises in child mental health, says that TV can influence young people’s decisions in life, but believes that if a young person reacts as strongly as Charlotte, it’s likely there are other reasons for the change in her behaviour.
1. What is the TV series Escape to a New Life mainly about?| A．How people escape from city life. | B．How a Welsh farmer lives his life. |
| C．How teenagers balance work with life. | D．How the young live a relaxing life. |
| A．Paying no attention to. | B．Making the most of. |
| C．Feeling at home with. | D．Complaining about. |
| A．Unfavorable. | B．Supportive. | C．Unclear. | D．Forgiving. |
| A．One should not jump in with both feet. |
| B．One man’s meat is another man’s poison. |
| C．We’d better be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. |
| D．We should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. |
2 . Hybrid cars (混合动力车) are cars that run on both petrol and electricity. They have a small petrol engine and a battery and electric engine to provide electric power.
The general rule of hybrid cars is that the car runs on petrol, and the electric engine kicks in when additional power is needed, for example when going uphill or speeding up. In some hybrid cars the petrol engine turns itself off when not needed, for example when the car has stopped at traffic lights, keeping only the electric engine running.
Traditional cars have large engines to deal with driving uphill and speeding up. Most of the time, this high engine power is not needed, but the engine continues burning up fuel (燃料). Hybrid cars have much smaller petrol engines, pushed by electric engines when needed, so they use less petrol. Hybrid cars are also lighter and aerodynamically (空气动力学地) designed for greater fuel efficiency.
Another way that fuel use is cut is by a system of “regenerative braking (刹车)”. The electric engine is used to slow down the car, rather than traditional brakes. The energy produced by the slowing car is changed into electrical power, which is automatically stored in the battery. In fact, the battery recharges when you brake. In traditional cars the energy produced when braking is wasted.
Car makers have been experimenting with electric and hybrid cars since the late 19th century. The first hybrid car, came out in Japan at the end of 1997. However, hybrid cars appeared in America only in 1999.
As they use less fuel, hybrid cars are cheaper to run. There are also some steps to encourage people to buy them. In some countries, hybrid car owners pay a lower rate of tax, and don’t have to pay on certain roads. In some cities around the world, hybrid cars are allowed to park for free.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?| A．Hybrid cars don’t need petrol any more. |
| B．Petrol engine and electric engine work all the way. |
| C．Hybrid cars mainly depend on electric power to run. |
| D．Some hybrid car petrol engines will quit when unnecessary. |
| A．Smaller petrol engines | B．Scientific design |
| C．Traditional brakes | D．Energy storage |
| A．Hybrid cars are cheaper to buy. | B．Hybrid car owners don’t have to pay tax. |
| C．Hybrid car owners don’t need to pay parking fee. | D．Hybrid cars will have a bright future. |
| A．To sell hybrid cars. | B．To introduce hybrid cars. |
| C．To compare traditional cars and hybrid cars. | D．To inform the development of hybrid cars. |
3 . You should try your best to create your own family library so that you and your family are always learning. “It is a great mistake to think that education is finished when young people leave school. Education is never finished even if you grow older,” said Mrs Child in The Mother’s Book. “Collecting a library of books in your home is really helpful to your family.”
“What is really interesting about having so many books in your home is that a book you buy has a chapter about the deeper knowledge of your favorite subject at school,” said a university graduate. Researchers in a study try to find out what parents do has an influence on how well their children do on tests. One positive aspect they find is the availability of a large number of books at home. This has a stronger connection, especially when you read to your children every day. The more books your older kids have access to at home, the more likely they are just to be reading for fun, rather than having to wait for weekly trips to the library.
John Henry, one educated parent, said, “I have been homeschooling my children using the philosophy (哲理) of A Thomas Jefferson Education. This philosophy of learning is based on the reading of classic books.” Clinton Fadiman said, “When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than before.” Classic books also make you smarter and wiser! The wisdom comes in the examples in the lives of the characters.
“It is within your power to guide your children in their reading and to develop a strong wish in their hearts for good books. It is the most unfortunate if a person doesn’t have a wish for good reading. The reading habit, like charity, should begin at home,” said Mrs Child.
1. What does the author mainly want to show in paragraph 2?| A．It’s necessary to create a family library. | B．Parents should set a good example at home. |
| C．Kids don’t need to go to the library any longer. | D．It’s important to let kids pass tests. |
| A．By imagination. | B．By questioning. |
| C．By referring to others’ words. | D．By presenting research figures. |
| A．East or west, home is the best. | B．One is never too old to learn. |
| C．He who makes no mistakes makes nothing. | D．Well begun, half done. |
| A．Where to Store Your Favorite Books at Home? |
| B．When to Read the classic Books to Your Children? |
| C．Which Is Better, a Home Library or a Public Library? |
| D．Why Not Have Your Own Library of Books at Home? |
4 . After I made it to the city center, I started to feel it might be easy for a foreigner to deal with the great size of Beijing. With growing confidence, I decided to take the subway to the hotel, not realizing that the network didn’t go that far. Impressed with the cleanliness of the station, I bought a ticket and boarded the first subway that came along.
After a few minutes I asked in English a young man seated next to me where I should get off closest to the Friendship Hotel. Wearing a smart business suit and tie, he would surely speak English, wouldn’t he? Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand me but seemed very friendly. I showed him the room card with all the information of the Friendship Hotel in Chinese characters. He looked at it, and then his eyes moved quickly to the carriage (车厢) subway map. Next, he raised three fingers of his right hand.
In Australia, raising fingers at someone is not usually nice, but this man wasn’t smiling. At the next station he showed me two fingers. Now in Australia, that’s really rude, but I got the message. When we stopped at the third station, he didn’t just point to the door, but got up, took me out of the train, and led me to the top of the stairs, and out onto the street. Then he stopped a taxi and told the driver where to take me.
All this came from a man who couldn’t speak my language, and I couldn’t speak his. I was now speechless, especially when he refused my offer of money. I felt a little embarrassed having even thought he would accept a tip.
This experience made it clear I had to learn some Chinese quickly or my adventures might start turning into misadventures.
1. Why does the author decided to take the subway?| A．Because he believed in his ability to deal with the trip |
| B．Because the network covered most of the stops |
| C．Because he lived near the city center |
| D．Because he had a good impression of its cleanliness |
| A．still remained puzzled | B．understood the author well |
| C．answered the author directly | D．pointed at the subway map |
| A．helpful. | B．impolite. | C．warm-hearted. | D．responsible. |
| A．To prove the importance of being careful |
| B．To introduce a young man who didn’t know English |
| C．To complain some cultural misunderstanding |
| D．To describe one of his adventurous experiences |
5 . People who give, live longer, studies have shown. Now, a new study by University of Michigan shows that why people volunteer—not whether they volunteer—is what really counts.
For the study, Konrath and colleagues analyzed data collected in 2008 and 2012 aiming at the same random samples of 3,376 people. Overall, they found that just 2.3 percent of those who once worked as volunteers had died, compared to 4.3 percent of non-volunteers. They further found that how much people volunteered mattered as well—only 1.8 percent of regular volunteers died, compared with 2.5 percent of occasional volunteers.
But what really made a difference were people’s motives for volunteering. The researchers asked people to rate how important they found various reasons for volunteering, and they found that the more important people rated reasons such as feeling pity for people in need, the more likely they were to be alive. Those who rated motives related to personal benefit as more important were more likely to have died, and just as likely to die as those who didn’t volunteer at all. These reasons included volunteering because they enjoyed the social contact, to escape their own problems, or to explore their own strengths.
Konrath says the current findings suggest it may be a poor idea to encourage people to volunteer because it’s good for them. “Volunteering is increasingly being encouraged in schools and organizations. Some groups say that it’s okay to want benefits for yourself, and encourage people to think of volunteering as an exchange for personal interests. Some groups emphasize the health benefits received through volunteering.” Konrath added, “Of course, it’s reasonable for volunteers to expect benefits for themselves. But the potential health benefits of volunteering are significantly reduced if self-benefit becomes a person’s main motive.”
1. What does the new study mainly find?| A．How we volunteer makes sense to others. | B．How often we volunteer makes a difference. |
| C．Whether we volunteer decides our well-being. | D．Why we volunteer has an impact on our health. |
| A．By analyzing statistics. | B．By rating volunteers’ performances. |
| C．By doing lab experiments. | D．By grouping participants randomly. |
| A．To develop abilities. | B．To make more friends. |
| C．To help the poor people. | D．To solve personal problems. |
| A．Practical suggestions on further studies. | B．A further explanation of the current findings. |
| C．Potential applications of the research method. | D．A reasonable doubt about the research results. |
6 . While many of us may have been away somewhere nice last summer, few would say that we’ve “summered.” “Summer” is clearly a noun, more precisely, a verbed noun.
Way back in our childhood, we all learned the difference between a noun and a verb. With such a tidy definition, it was easy to spot the difference. Not so in adulthood, where we are expected to “foot” bills, “chair” committees, and “dialogue” with political opponents. Chances are that you didn’t feel uncomfortable about the sight of those verbed nouns.
“The verbing of nouns is as old as the English language,” says Patricia O’Conner, a former editor at The New York Times Book Review. Experts estimate that 20 percent of all English verbs were originally nouns. And the phenomenon seems to be snowballing. Since 1900, about 40 percent of all new verbs have come from nouns.
Even though conversion (转化) is quite universal, plenty of grammarians object to the practice. Some most leading experts, William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, in The Elements of Style—the Bible for the use of American English—have this to say: “Many nouns lately have been pressed into service as verbs. Not all are bad, but all are questionable.” The Chicago Manual of Style takes a similar standpoint, advising writers to use verbs with great care.
“Sometimes people object to a new verb because they resist what is unfamiliar to them,” says O’Conner. That’s why we’re comfortable “hosting” a party, but we might feel upset by the thought of “medaling” in sports. So are there any rules for verbing? Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, doesn’t offer a rule, but suggests that people think twice about “verbifying” a noun if it’s easily replaceable by an already existing popular verb. Make sure it’s descriptive but not silly-sounding, he says.
In the end, however, style is subjective. Easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English “English”. Not every coined word passes into general use, but as for trying to end verbing altogether, forget it.
1. What can we learn about the verbing of nouns?| A．It hasn’t recently been opposed by many grammarians. |
| B．It is more commonly accepted by children than adults. |
| C．It hasn’t been a rare phenomenon in the past century. |
| D．It can be easily replaced by existing verbs in practice. |
| A．Cautious | B．Objective. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Predictable. | B．Practicable. |
| C．Approaching. | D．Impossible. |
| A．Are 40 Percent of all new verbs from nouns? |
| B．Are Summering and Medaling Annoying? |
| C．Are You Comfortable about a New Verb? |
| D．Are There Any Rules for Verbing? |
7 . Endangered polar bears are breeding (繁殖) with grizzly bears (灰熊), creating “pizzly” bears, which is being driven by climate change, scientists say.
As the world warms and Arctic sea ice thins, starving polar bears are being forced ever further south, where they meet grizzlies, whose ranges are expanding northwards. And with that growing contact between the two come increasing hybrids (杂交种).
With characteristics that could give the hybrids an advantage in warming northern habitats, some scientists guess that they could be here to stay. “Usually, hybrids aren’t better suited to their environments than their parents, but these hybrids are able to search for a broader range of food sources,” Larisa DeSantis, an associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, told Live Science.
The rise of “pizzly” bears appears with polar bears’ decline: their numbers are estimated to decrease by more than 30% in the next 30 years. This sudden fall is linked partly to “pizzly” bears taking up polar bears’ ranges, where they outcompete them, but also to polar bears’ highly specialized diets.
“Polar bears mainly consumed soft foods even during the Medieval Warm Period, a previous period of rapid warming,” DeSantis said, referring to fat meals such as seals. “Although all of these starving polar bears are trying to find alternative food sources, like seabird eggs, it could be a tipping point for their survival.” Actually, the calories they gain from these sources do not balance out those they burn from searching for them. This could result in a habitat ready for the hybrids to move in and take over, leading to a loss in biodiversity if polar bears are replaced.
“We’re having massive impacts with climate change on species,” DeSantis said. “The polar bear is telling us how bad things are. In some sense, “pizzly” bears could be a sad but necessary compromise given current warming trends.”
1. Why do polar bears move further south?| A．To create hybrids. | B．To expand territory. |
| C．To relieve hunger. | D．To contact grizzlies. |
| A．Broader habitats. | B．More food options. |
| C．Climate preference. | D．Improved breeding ability. |
| A．A rare chance. | B．A critical stage. |
| C．A positive factor. | D．A constant change. |
| A．Polar bears are changing diets for climate change. |
| B．Polar bears have already adjusted to climate change. |
| C．“Pizzly” bears are on the rise because of global warming. |
| D．“Pizzly”bears have replaced polar bears for global warming. |
8 . Many animals move from one place to another at certain times of the year. This annual movement is called migration. For an adult African elephant, migrating is no easy task.
While they face scarce water supplies and 120-degree temperatures on their track, people are their number-one problem. Warfare destroys food on which migrating elephants depend and creates dangerous areas where elephants cannot travel safely. Worse still, many African people have traded nomadic (游牧的) lifestyles for farming. Unfortunately for elephants, farmers set up fences to protect crops and domestic animals, many of which block regular migration paths.
Roads also disturb elephant migration. Those outside national park boundaries are prior poaching (偷猎) spots. Elephants know unguarded roads are dangerous. During one study of 28 elephants in Central Africa, only one female crossed an unprotected road. When she finally crossed, she moved 14 times faster than she did when crossing a protected road inside a park.
To help, medical procedures are taken to keep male elephants from breeding, which reduces the number of births and the environmental pressure on regions where elephants cannot migrate. Even though African elephants are the largest land animal, the role that its migration plays in the entire ecosystem is not fully understood. GPS tracking collars can help these elephant “travel agents” map which routes elephants use most. Dr. Michael Chase, the founder of Elephants Without Borders, tracks elephants in 22 countries with technology. “If we are able to identify how elephants move, we can link up habitats from one country to the other,” he says. In many poor areas of Africa, since no other paying work is available, poachers illegally kill elephants and sell irony (象牙) to feed their families. When poachers become park staff, they will have money to feed their families and meanwhile elephants will be protected.
The elephant is the ambassador for conservation. Protecting elephant migration routes will allow these gentle giants to thrive.
1. Why is it tough for the elephants on the move?| A．The weather is changeable. | B．Water supplies are sufficient. |
| C．Wars disturb regular migration. | D．Migration is affected by nomadic lifestyles. |
| A．Elephants. | B．Unguarded roads. | C．Poachers. | D．Migrations. |
| A．The elephants are in serious trouble. |
| B．The migrations of wild animals are mysterious. |
| C．Measures can be taken to safeguard the future of the elephants. |
| D．There may come a time when the number of elephants rises again. |
| A．The habitats of elephants will be completely destroyed. |
| B．It is impossible to track the migrations of elephants. |
| C．Migration routes are identified to keep elephants from moving. |
| D．It has far-reaching impact to unlock the secret of elephants’ migrations. |
9 . After a booming summer season, the tourism market has seen an upsurge (激增) in both the supply and demand sides, especially because the coinciding (重合) of Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day resulted in an “eight-day Golden Week” holiday.
Before the holiday, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism took multiple measures to enhance the quality of cultural and tourism products, such as improving products on the theme of family reunion. For the benefit of businesses and the public, it has extended financial support for “cultural and tourism consumption action plan” in a hundred cities and districts which provides consumer subsidies (补贴), ticket discounts.
The tourism industry saw an explosive upsurge during the eight-day holiday. The railways, before the holiday, said they expected to record about 190 million passenger trips. The airlines, on the other hand, expected more than 21 million passenger trips during the holiday.
And Ctrip reported more than a four times increase in domestic hotel searches compared with the same period in 2022 and 120 percent more than the 2019 holiday season. Also, long-distance travel and family trips remained popular choices while cultural performances and museums drew more young tourists.
The relaxation of traveling abroad has created favorable conditions for the recovery of the foreign tourism sector. In August, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the group tourism to 78 countries, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States, raising the total number of such countries to 138.
Yet the surge in the tourism market is both a blessing and a challenge for tourist spots. Overcrowding in scenic spots, difficulty in obtaining tickets for certain attractions and museums, potential risks, and unsatisfying tourism services are still common. To address these challenges, we propose the following.
1. What did the Ministry of Culture and Tourism do to promote tourism industry?| A．To provide budget-friendly options for people. |
| B．To launch more cultural and tourism products. |
| C．To create more business opportunities for the public. |
| D．To make a cultural and tourism consumption action plan. |
| A．People are willing to travel abroad. |
| B．More people book hotels through the Internet. |
| C．A day trip with friends is still preferred by people. |
| D．The cultural tour is gaining popularity among the youth. |
| A．Approving. | B．Objective. | C．Doubtful. | D．Critical. |
| A．The challenges tourism market will face. |
| B．The features that mark the eight-day holiday. |
| C．The confidence in the tourism industry’s future. |
| D．The suggestions of enhancing visitors’ experience. |
10 . The heroes helping the stars shine
The 19th Asian Games, which comes to a close on Sunday, has witnessed the great contribution of people from all walks of life.
Liu Shuyi
The security staff member has been responsible for the protection of rifle (步枪) and pistol ammunition (手枪弹药) for events such as shooting and modern pentathlon (现代五项运动).
“Due to the varied gun control policies in different countries, we worried that athletes might not understand the local rules. However, those concerns were all relieved when everyone showed understanding and cooperation.” Liu said.
Lu Baolin
“I wake up every day at 2:00 am, set off at 4:30 am, drive more than 30 kilometers to take athletes to the competition venue, and then return to the Asian Games Village. Each round trip takes almost two hours, and on each competition day, I make the journey three times,” Lu said.
His son is also involved in the Games, providing security services. Due to their work commitments, they hardly see each other these days. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, the family spent over an hour chatting via video call, celebrating the festival together online.
Shi Futian
As a sports reporter at English-language newspaper China Daily, he said “I feel very lucky to participate in such a huge event as a journalist. I also hope that through our media coverage, more people will get to know the athletes and understand their stories.”
Li Guanlin
A volunteer at the Basketball Arena in Shaoxing Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, and his job is to ensure that the court is free from debris (碎片), sweat stains and watermarks, and to ensure the smooth progress of the matches by helping prevent athletes from slipping and avoiding any unnecessary injuries.
“When I am on duty at the court, my family will look for me during the live broadcast.
They told me that seeing me busily working makes them realize how much I’ve grown up.”
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9981. What can we learn about Lu Baolin?
| A．He is in charge of the security service. |
| B．He has to make a journey among different cities. |
| C．He sacrificed time spent with family due to his duty. |
| D．He doesn’t need to be an early riser during the Games. |
| A．Liu Shuyi. | B．Lu Baolin. | C．Shi Futian. | D．Li Guanlin. |
| A．A sports magazine. | B．An online forum. |
| C．A government report. | D．A history textbook. |
