3 . Dolly Parton was one of the six honorees to receive the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy on Thursday night at Gotham Hall in New York. She was celebrated for her extraordinary contributions that make the world a better place.

It is thought that Dolly Parton has been quietly paying for the band uniforms of many Tennessee high schools for years. She used the songwriting payment she earned from Whitney Houston’s version of I Will Always Love You to purchase a shopping center in Nashville to support the surrounding black community in Houston’s honor.

Her “Imagination Library” provides children under age 5 with a free book every month. The library aims to inspire a love for reading through funding shared by Dolly Parton and local community partners in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. Currently, Parton sends out about 2 million free books each month. Parton has also donated many books to disaster relief. In 2021, she even raised $700,000 to help residents impacted by the terrible flooding in Middle Tennessee.

In her Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy speech, Parton said she didn’t really have a strategy for her donations. “I just give from my heart. I never know what I’m going to do or why I’m going to do it. I often see a need, and if I can meet it, then I will,” she said.

This year, Parton also carried out the Care More Program at her Dollywood Parks and Resorts, which gives employees a day off to volunteer at a nonprofit of their choice. Parton said, “I hope the program will let people realize that when they help somebody, they help themselves more.” “That’s what we should do as human beings,” she said. “I’ve never quite understood why we have to let religion and politics and other things stand in the way of just being good human beings. I think it’s important just to feel like you’re doing your part and doing something good and right.”

1. Why did Parton buy a shopping center?

A．To give aid to others.	B．To honor black leaders.
C．To pay for songwriting.	D．To support her music career.

2. What is the main purpose of “Imagination Library”?

A．To sell children’s books.

B．To collect money for disaster relief.

C．To motivate children’s interest in books.

D．To promote international financial cooperation.

3. What can we learn about Parton from paragraph 4?

A．She was forced to do charity.

B．She made donations occasionally.

C．She always helped those in need.

D．She used to make well-planned donations.

4. What does Parton want to tell people through the Care More Program?

A．Giving is receiving.

B．Employees come first.

C．It is important to tell right from wrong.

D．Religion stands in the way of volunteering.

4 . “Running is so natural—it’s something we’ve been doing for thousands of years, and it’s something very enjoyable.” The words of Tao Geoghegan Hart, a professional (专业的) cyclist. As an ambassador (大使) for The Daily Mile, a movement that calls for one simple thing—15 minutes of daily exercise, where children run, walk, jog or skip one mile—he encourages any form of exercise and movement.

Geoghegan Hart sees schools as key to setting young people up for life with good sporting habits. “When you’re school age, sport can encourage you and take hold of you and change you more than at any other age,” he explains. “Yes, we all go on journeys with sport, but when you look back at those journeys, they start with your childhood.”

One big attraction of taking part in The Daily Mile is that it is a cost-free way in which schools can encourage regular exercise. Geoghegan Hart says he hopes The Daily Mile will encourage children to try and be more active in the future. “Something as simple as The Daily Mile can lead to much more,” he says.

At Cowley Hill Primary School, head teacher Louise Thomas says that they’ve found the movement has had a great positive influence upon the lives of their learners. Charlie Honour, year-5 teacher and PE subject leader at St Peter’s School, says that although the activity takes place out on the field, it has classroom benefits (效益,受益), too. “I find that the children are more willing to complete class work,” says Honour. “I think it is because they know they will soon be outside and getting some fresh air.”

1. What can be learned about The Daily Mile from paragraph 1?

A．It is a sports club.	B．It is a cycling race.
C．It is a call for exercise.	D．It is a plan for running tests.

2. Why does Geoghegan Hart want children for The Daily Mile?

A．They are easily encouraged.

B．They are more likely to benefit.

C．They have more time for sports.

D．They have teachers to coach them.

3. What does Geoghegan Hart expect of The Daily Mile?

A．It’ll attract more schools to it.

B．It’ll start more similar projects.

C．It’ll get more support from the government.

D．It’ll push children to lead a more active life.

4. What do the two teachers’ words show about The Daily Mile?

A．Its influence on students.

B．Its influence on teachers.

C．Its differences among schools.

D．Its differences among players.

5 . A 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the Indonesian coast sent a wall of water racing toward Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Lang was on the island of Ko Phi Phi, just south of Phuket, Thailand, shopping on Main Street with her friend Rubina Wong, when suddenly everything changed. “People started running inland. From where we were, we could not see the beach so we had no idea what was going on,” she said.

Lang and Rubina started running inland in the same direction as everyone else, when she noticed water flooding into the island, but so strong and fast that she could no longer lift her feet to run. Rubina had gone down a side street. Lang never saw her alive again.

Lang was stuck underwater between debris (碎片) with the surface just above her face. “The more I struggled (挣扎), the tighter I was stuck. I could not reach the surface. I thought I came here on my vacation to die, and then I got really annoyed,” she said. “I must have blacked out because the next thing I remember is waking up underwater.”

The water was still and black. Lang looked up and could see that at the top, there was a small circle of light. She started swimming through the water and made it to the surface of the water. She pulled herself onto a floating door and could see that the whole island was flooded and a lot of buildings were gone. She could see a house not far away and a man on its roof. She encouraged herself to climb over the floating objects to the balcony (阳台) of the house. From there she saw the water start to slowly go back to the ocean.

1. What was Lang doing when the tsunami happened?

A．She was running in a race.	B．She was playing on the beach.
C．She was shopping in the street.	D．She was looking for her friend.

2. Why was Lang unable to run?

A．There was a wall in the way.	B．She feared she would get lost.
C．She had to wait for her friend.	D．The racing water was too powerful.

3. What can we learn about Lang from paragraph 3?

A．She didn’t want to struggle.	B．She was trapped underwater.
C．She didn’t regret going on vacation.	D．She kept awake all the time in the water.

4. How did Lang manage to save herself?

A．By calling for help.	B．By hiding in a house.
C．By climbing up a tall tree.	D．By making use of floating objects.

7 . Have you ever wondered how mosquitoes are so good at finding you? A new study has just identified a new way they home in on us. It’s visual. Mosquitoes just like the look of our skin.

Claire Rusch and her colleagues have been working to uncover ways to avoid mosquito bites. And this biologist knows plenty about that. After all, to study mosquitoes, “you get bitten a lot,” she notes. “It’s not easy to work with an animal that preys(捕食) on you.”

To test whether a mosquito has color preference, Rusch got help from a software engineer who designed a test box that was 450 mosquito-body-lengths long. Lined with cameras, it recorded the insects’ flight patterns. Two small colored disks were laid on the floor of the box.

The researchers released about 50 starved mosquitoes into the box. Mosquitoes don’t start hunting until they’ve smelt carbon dioxide(CO₂). So, the team sprayed(喷) CO₂ inside the box as part of the experiment. Cameras recorded where’ the mosquitoes flew and how they interacted with the colored disks. Whichever disk the mosquitoes flew around longer would be the color the insects preferred.

They found before CO₂ was sprayed, the mosquitoes ignored all the colored disks. With CO₂, mosquitoes ignored any disk that was green, blue or purple. But the insects did fly toward disks that were red, orange or light blue. These colors, apparently, were inviting. The mosquitoes seemed to especially like red.

The result was beyond the researchers’ expectations because scientists long thought that mosquitoes relied mostly on body smells and heat to find humans. Now, they know that vision also plays an important role.

There is still much to learn about how mosquitoes see their world. It seems logical that mosquitoes might be attracted to red since that is the color human skin appears to them. Still unknown is why they are also attracted to light blue. And, importantly, how might these new data on color preferences be used to design better mosquito traps?

1. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．identifying various mosquitoes.	B．Teaming up with other colleagues.
C．Avoiding being bitten by mosquitoes.	D．Uncovering ways to catch mosquitoes.

2. Why did the researchers use carbon dioxide in the experiment?

A．To stop mosquitoes flying away.	B．To track mosquitoes more easily.
C．To make mosquitoes hunt actively.	D．To put more pressure on mosquitoes.

3. What was the discovery of the new study?

A．Mosquitoes track people by smelling.	B．Mosquitoes are good at finding their targets.
C．Mosquitoes see the world in a different way.	D．Mosquitoes can use eyes when hunting food.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The things remaining to be explored.	B．The world in the eyes of mosquitoes.
C．The color preferences of mosquitoes.	D．The practical application of the findings.

8 . The “little voice in your head” can be your worst critic and greatest supporter. It’s been known to help with directions, give advice, and even remind you to put potatoes on the grocery list.

But does everyone have an inner monologue(独白)? For a long time, it was assumed that an inner voice was simply part of being human. But it turns out, that’s not the case—not everyone processes life in words and sentences.

“By inner monologue, we mean that we can have private speech that’s addressed to ourselves and that is carried out without any sound,” said Helene Loevenbruck, a senior neurolinguistics researcher at CNRS.

With true inner speech, you almost “hear” your inner voice, she told Live Science. You’re aware of its tone and intonation (语调). For example, the voice can “sound” angry or worried.

This long-held assumption was first challenged in the late 1990s by Russell Hurlburt, a psychologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Hurlburt studied participants’ inner speech by asking them to wear a beeper(传呼机). Whenever the device beeped, they had to write down what they were thinking or experiencing in their mind just before the sound.

Perhaps the participant wrote down, “I need to buy some bread.” He would then ask if that’s what they actually thought. “Or did you think ‘bread’? Or were you hungry?” Loevenbruck explained. After several meetings, participants got better at articulating (流利连贯地表达)their true thoughts, she said. Eventually, this method revealed that some people had inner speech every time the device beeped. But others had less inner speech than usual, and some didn’t have inner speech at all. They experienced images, sensations and emotions, but not a voice or words.

The lack of an inner monologue has been linked to a condition called aphantasia (心盲症)sometimes called “blindness of the mind’s eye.” People who experience aphantasia can’t mentally picture their bedroom or their mother’s face. Many times, those who don’t experience visualizations don’t experience clear inner speech, either, Loevenbruck noted.

1. What was previously assumed about the inner monologue?

A．It rarely existed in humans.	B．It could help solve all kinds of problems.
C．It was something everyone was born with.	D．It was mainly displayed in the form of writing.

2. What does Loevenbruck say about an inner monologue?

A．It lacks tone and intonation.	B．It is delivered in public.
C．It can be heard by others.	D．It can convey emotions.

3. What did Hurlburt do in his study?

A．He used a beeper to note down participants’ inner speech.

B．He required participants to describe their grocery lists.

C．He checked participants’ notes and asked about their true thoughts.

D．He placed something in participants’ heads to record their inner speech.

4. Why do some people never experience an inner monologue?

A．They suffer serious brain damage.	B．They cannot distinguish what they see.
C．They misunderstand their true thoughts.	D．They fail to mentally picture what they see.

9 . Summertime, i.e. vacation season, is quickly approaching. And whether your ideal getaway is R&R on the beach, outdoor adventuring, or exploring a new city, it pays to plan.

I’d love to get away. How do I save for a vacation?

You’re not alone. One study says 71% of Americans are planning to take a trip for leisure in 2022. And they’re planning on spending 29% more than they did pre-pandemic in 2019. But you don’t have to go broke (身无分文) to get a break. Before you even start planning your travel, here’s how to make the trip you’ve been waiting for a reality.

● Make a sinking fund. These funds are where you set aside money with an intention to spend it on a big goal.

● Timing is everything. Research the cheapest places to go when the temperature rises, and plan accordingly. You’ll also get more bang for your buck by checking out destinations with a favorable exchange rate. For somewhere further east, your dollars will go far in Thailand or the Philippines.

● Book smart. Renting a home is often a better deal than booking a hotel. Not only will you save on the price tag, but you can cook instead of eating out for every meal.

How do I keep saving while I’m on vacation?

True story: travel doesn’t feel like real life, so it’s easier to splurge (挥霍). And if you’re visiting a popular tourist location, everything costs more. Here’s how to see the sights without losing sight of your budget.

● Set a daily spending limit and track what you buy to avoid overdoing it. Using cash or a prepaid debit card instead of a credit card can also help.

● Food is a money vampire. If you have access to a kitchen where you’re staying, make breakfast, pack lunch, and cook dinner when you can. If not, hit up a supermarket or farmer’s market for an easy, cheap breakfast. And when you do eat out, go for lunch or appetizers, where the menu items tend to be less expensive.

1. According to the passage, which of the following may help make your dream trip a reality?

A．Preparing enough fast food.	B．Borrowing money from friends.
C．Researching the cheapest places to go.	D．Carrying credit cards from different banks.

2. To keep saving while on vacation, you’d better ________.

A．go out for meals	B．avoid using cash
C．set a daily spending limit	D．visit popular tourist locations

3. What’s the purpose of the passage?

A．To help travellers save money.	B．To report some survey results.
C．To advertise some tourist attractions.	D．To compare different travel plans.

10 . In recent times, with the advent of electric cars, the idea to fuel them with solar energy also gained momentum. Electric cars—even though they run on electricity and don’t use fossil fuels—are still NOT GREEN! People suffer from the misconception that not using fossil fuel means “green” which is kind of absurd, considering the electricity we use is generated by burning the very same fuels!

However, what if your car had solar panels that could charge it? Now that would indeed be a green machine! Basically, as much as we would like to incorporate this energy source into our car, the efficiency of the currently used solar panels is subject to the fulfillment of different criteria.

Firstly, solar panels occupy a large amount of area. An average car has an area of 10-25 sq. ft. on the roof. which can generate between 50-150 W under ideal conditions. This is hardly enough power to illuminate a light bulb! Also, moderate sunny temperature needs to be ideal, as extremely high temperatures can reduce the efficiency of the solar panels. Cars must work in all weather conditions, so if a solar panel limits the car’s functionality, it becomes practically useless. More importantly, the cost of the panels and development required to power the electronics using the sun’s energy outweighs the benefits that solar panels provide.

Most cars today that have solar roofs, use the solar energy to power only a few basic functions of the car. While there is still time before we will be able to drive cars fully powered by solar energy, there are some alternatives, such as solar power stations, which are being designed to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels for electricity.

Solar-powered vehicles are surely the future, but not the near future. As the cost of solar panels continues to fall and their efficiency increases, things will begin to look much “brighter” for this alternative and sustainable option!

1. Why aren’t electric cars environmentally friendly?

A．They won’t work as well as the common cars.

B．They are not powered by solar energy.

C．They run on electricity produced by burning fuels.

D．They cause more pollution to the world.

2. What can we learn from the third paragraph?

A．Temperatures have little effect on solar panels.

B．Powering the electronics costs little.

C．A car’s roof generates enough power to light a bulb.

D．The performance of current solar panels depends on various factors.

3. What can we infer about solar energy in the car industry?

A．Most cars have solar roofs.

B．Cars can be currently powered from solar power stations.

C．Cars partly powered by solar energy are on the road.

D．Solar cars will soon be available.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．What do solar cars look like?

B．Why don’t we power the car with solar energy?

C．How do solar cars work?

D．Could solar cars replace the electric cars?