1 . Liao Wentao, a pet undertaker, put the body of 2-year-old Garfield on a small bed surrounded by flowers. Then he let the cat’s owner say a last goodbye before cremation (火化). “We send off 400 to 500 pets each year, and there’s a great demand for pet funerals,” he told China News.
Keeping pets has become a trend for young people in China and people are more than willing to pay for whatever their pets need. From 2019 to 2021, China’s pet market grew by almost 18% and hit 348.8billion yuan in value in 2021, according to a report by Research Consulting Group.
As the pet economy develops, animal lovers’ various needs have boosted the emergence and development of related businesses such as bathing, pet food, pet beauty and healthcare.
In addition to basic services, pet owners are increasingly paying for many new services, such as training, pet funerals, insurance, photography and entertainment. The growing pet market has also given birth to a large number of new pet-related jobs, noted CCTV News.
Liu Wei, 33, is a famous pet detective in Shanghai. He and his team work on finding families’ lost pets. “We have successfully helped find more than 1,000 pets. Besides cats and dogs, there are other pets like birds, lizards and hamsters,” Liu said. “In many big cities, cats and dogs have become an important part of many families and are taken good care of. So what we look for are not just pets, but family members.”
Apart from pet undertakers and detectives, some people work as pet food testers, pet sitters and pet trainers. According to Tu Di, secretary—general of the Hunan Pet Industry Association, the booming pet market shows people’s improved living standards.
However, there are also problems with the industry, for example, the high fees of taking pets to the vet (兽医). Many pet owners have called for stricter pricing regulations for pet medical services, reported Global Times.
1. Why is Liao’s story mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To teach readers a lesson. |
| C．To sum up the main idea. | D．To involve readers in a story. |
| A．By introducing an argument. | B．By telling some true stories. |
| C．By giving numbers and examples. | D．By focusing on basic pet—related services. |
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The low quality of services. | B．The rapid growth of the industry. |
| C．The lack of related regulations. | D．The various needs of animal lovers. |
2 . Engineers have launched a huge garbage collection device to gather plastic material floating in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii.
The plastic makes up what is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is the world’s largest spread of garbage, at twice the size of the state of Texas.
The organization Ocean Cleanup created the collection device, whose founder is Boyan Slat, a 24-year-old inventor from the Netherlands.
Slat was just 16 years old when he was moved to clean up the oceans. Last Saturday, a ship pulling the pipe-shaped floating barrier left San Francisco for the Garbage Patch. The barrier, called the floater, is 600 meters across. Attached to it is a screening skirt that hangs three meters down in the water.
The screen is designed to collect the plastic as it moves through the water. Sea animals can safely swim under the barrier.
The cleanup system also comes with lights powered by the sun, cameras, and other special devices. So the system can communicate its position at all times. That way a support ship can find it every few months to remove the plastic it has collected.
“The free-floating barriers are made to survive extreme weather conditions and damage from continue use. They will stay in the water for twenty years and in that time collect 90 percent of the garbage in the patch,” Slat added.
George Leonard is the chief scientist. He expressed concern about the cleaning project. He said even if plastic garbage can be taken out of the oceans, more continues to enter the water each year. He also raised concern that animals might be captured by the net hung below the surface.
But, Boyan Slat said he did not think that would happen. The system will act as a “big boat that stands still in the water”, with nothing for sea creatures to get caught in.
1. Why was a screen attached to the ship?| A．To gather plastic. | B．To catch see animals. |
| C．To protect the floater. | D．To give the floater power. |
| A．The support ship. | B．The floating barrier. |
| C．The plastic to be recycled. | D．The position of special devices. |
| A．It’s easy to locate. | B．It is not affected by bad weather. |
| C．It can last and work for a long time. | D．It’s popular with people. |
| A．A young inventor from Netherlands. | B．The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. |
| C．Approaches to removing garbage in oceans. | D．A huge garbage collection device. |
3 . Days after Argentina canceled all international passenger flights to protect the country from the new coronavirus, Juan Manuel Ballestero began his journey home the only way possible: He stepped aboard his small sailboat for what turned out to be an 85-day odyssey across the Atlantic.
The 47-year-old sailor could have stayed put on the tiny Portuguese island of Porto Santo, but the idea of spending what he thought could be “the end of the world” away from his family, especially his father who was soon to turn 90, was unbearable. So he loaded his 29-foot sailboat with canned fish, fruit and rice and set sail in mid-March.
“I didn’t want to stay like a coward on an island where there were no cases,” Mr. Ballestero said. “I wanted to do everything possible to return home. The most important thing for me was to be with my family.”
Friends tried to dissuade Mr. Ballestero from starting the perilous journey, and the authorities in Portugal warned him he might not be allowed to re-enter if he ran into trouble and had to turn back. But he was determined, “I bought myself a one-way ticket and there was no going back,” he said.
Sailing can be a lonely passion, and it was particularly so on this voyage for Mr. Ballestero, who each night tuned into the news on a radio for 30 minutes to assess how the virus was spreading across the globe. “I kept thinking about whether this would be my last trip,” he said.
When he made it to his native Mar del Plata, on June 17, he was surprised by the hero’s welcome he received. “Entering my port where my father had his sailboat, where he taught me so many things about how to sail, gave me the taste of a mission accomplished,” he said. A medical professional administered a test for Covid-19 on the dock. Within 72 hours, after the test came back negative, he was allowed to set foot on Argentine soil.
While he didn’t get to celebrate his father’s 90th birthday in May, he did make it home in time for Father’s Day.
1. Why did Juan Manuel Ballestero start his journey?| A．To prove his bravery. | B．To be reunited with his family. |
| C．To realize his dream of sailing. | D．To avoid being infected by the coronavirus. |
| A．He failed to celebrate his father’s birthday. |
| B．He was forbidden to enter Mar del Plata port. |
| C．He was not allowed to leave Porto Santo by the authorities in Portugal. |
| D．He didn’t receive any information about the outside world during the journey. |
| A．distant | B．tiring | C．boring | D．adventurous |
| A．The man was born in Porto Santo in Argentina. | B．The man wanted to prove his bravery. |
| C．The man’s father was expert at sailing. | D．There were no cases in Mar del Plata. |
4 . Fun Summer Books for Grades 9—12
Yes, even some high-schools appreciate recommendations for vacation books. Encourage your high-school child to read with this list of approachable teen titles. Or surprise your teen with one of these books when you reach the beach and boredom sets in!
►Brown Girl Dreaming,by Jacqueline Woodson
This collection of simple poems reveals what it was like to grow up as a young African American girl in the 1960s and 1970s. Woodson’s autobiographical poetry overflows with love for her family. Brown Girl Dreaming won multiple awards, so il may be assigned class reading in coming years.
►Tunnel Vision, by Susan Adrian
Jake has a secret skill. When he holds something that belongs to another person, he can locate them, wherever they are. Once the government learns of Jake’s powers, it insists that he use his skill to find criminals. In this spy novel,Jake has to decide just how far he’s willing to risk his own safety in order to protect and help others. It is a series of modern graphic novels that have the look of classic cartoons.
►The Shadow Hero,by Gene Lu en Yang
Can your mom force you to become a superhero? That’s what Hank Chu finds out. A Chinese American teen in 1940， Hank is reluctant to stand up to the gangs(匪徒)in his neighborhood who threaten his family’s grocery store. But as the masked Green Turtle, he may just have the confidence to protect his family and fight back.
►Half My Facebook Friends Are Ferrets,by J. A. Buckle
Things aren’t exactly panning out for 17-year-old Josh. He wants lo be a heavy metal guitarist. And he and his pals wish they had girlfriends. But regular teenage obstacles like bossy parents and poor self-confidence have been holding him back.
1. Who is the text intended for?| A．Teachers. | B．Parents. | C．Teenagers. | D．Vacationers. |
| A．Tunnel Vision. | B．The Shadow Hero. |
| C．Brown Girl Dreaming. | D．Half My Facebook Friends Are Ferrets. |
| A．Both are set in the 1940s. | B．Both won several awards. |
| C．Both will be taught at schools. | D．Both reflect care for the family. |
5 . London, with countless famous sites and all manner of food, drink, shopping, history, and culture, is definitely a wonderful city to visit.
Time Zone
Greenwich Mean Time during the winter, British Summer Time during the rest of the year (starting at Daylight Saving Time).
Best Time to Go
The best time to visit London overall is in spring, when the temperatures have warmed up, the sun has started to shine and London’s gardens and parks are looking their best. However, the reality is that the best time to travel to London depends a lot on what you’re looking for. If you’re all about taking a look inside Queen Liz’s palace, you’d better make it in summer, while winter is beautiful and festive for those looking to get their fill of Christmas markets and traditional cheer.
Things to Know
Londoners, and English people in general, have a much different manner of interacting with one another than Americans do while an American might think nothing of smiling at a stranger they pass on the sidewalk or asking about work in the first few minutes of a conversation, Londoners might consider it impolite or strange. Don’t mistake this for unfriendliness ;it’s just a cultural difference. Instead, talk about things like movies, TV shows, books, your travels, and the like, instead of work or family.
How to Get Around
Getting around London is unbelievably easy thanks to the well-maintained and extensive Underground. The Underground, unlike American transportation systems which often pay per ride or pay per length of trip, are paid in zones. Fare also varies based on time of day and the method you use to pay. It’s worth getting an Oyster card to make your life that much simpler.
1. Where is this text most probably taken from?| A．A survey. | B．A travel journal. | C．A research paper. | D．A guidebook. |
| A．Spring. | B．Summer. | C．Autumn. | D．Winter. |
| A．Daily entertainments. | B．Future plans. |
| C．Personal relationships. | D．Annual incomes. |
6 . Most 5-year-olds are just learning their ABCs but one little girl from the UK has actually written a book that was published in January 2022. Bella-Jay Dark from Weymouth, is the world’s youngest female to be published and was awarded the title by Guinness World Re-cords. Her book, The Lost Cat tells the story of Snowy, a cat who got lost after going outside alone at night. She hopes the book will teach children not to go outside at night alone.
While many adult writers find inspiration for their books from life experiences, Bella’s creative vision actually came from one of her drawings. “It started off as a picture. My daddy said I could make a book and a story came from the picture,” Bella said.
Her mom, Chelsie Syme, was surprised that the book turned out as well as it did. “I am just really proud of her; I did not think it was going to go this far, so I’m just proud and want to see her get the acknowledgement she deserves.”
But how do you get a child’s homemade book published? According to Syme, they took Bella’s book to a book fair and found a publisher willing to take a chance on it. Syme helped Bella with proofing copies and making necessary changes. To earn the Guinness World Record title of The World’s Youngest Published Author, female, the book has to be published by a commercial publishing house and have at least 1,000 copies printed and sold. Bella’s book met the criteria, so she was awarded the title.
Besides being an accomplished author, Bella is just a regular kid who enjoys reading, swimming, and playing on her tablet. In her free time, she is currently working on a sequel(续篇)to Snowy’s story. Who knows what pearls of wisdom will come next?
1. Who is Snowy| A．Bella’s pet. | B．A lost child. |
| C．A cat in Bella’s work. | D．A talented female writer. |
| A．Her life experiences. | B．A picture she painted. |
| C．Her interest in animals. | D．A story from a book. |
| A．Her father is a painter. |
| B．Her mother is strict with her. |
| C．She wants to help children with her book. |
| D．She pays much attention to protecting animals. |
| A．The World’s Youngest Author |
| B．The Smallest Female Publisher |
| C．A 5-year-old Girl’s Book—The Lost Cat |
| D．A Pet Cat——Snowy |
7 . Have you ever thrown a camel? Camels are large and heavy animals, so it would be hard to do so. But in the French-speaking Democratic Republic of the Congo, “to throw a camel” is a way of saying “to make a spelling mistake”. In the past, a phrase like that was not accepted by the French government as an official French term. But recently, the French Ministry of Culture worked on a new kind of dictionary that accepts the idea that many people in other countries and regions speak the language. The language has changed as time goes by and is different in places like Ivory Coast in West Africa or Quebec in Canada, compared to how it is in Paris.
The new online French dictionary includes new French words from around the world. It was released (发布) on March 18—just in time for International Francophonie Day on March 20. After its release, it is updated (更新) on a regular basis. It now contains about 600,000 terms. The French Culture Minister says the dictionary is not just for France’s 67 million citizens, but for the 300 million French speakers worldwide.
Supporters say the new dictionary is more democratic (大众化的) than earlier French dictionaries that only showed the way highly educated French people spoke. Official dictionaries produced by the French Academy in Paris were first published hundreds of years ago and are regularly updated. The online dictionary, however, has a new part you cannot find in a book. If you live in Senegal, for example, you can search the dictionary, and it will give you the meaning of a word based on its use in that country.
“The French no longer have a monopoly (独占) on French,” a French magazine that supports the dictionary wrote recently. “And that is good news”.
1. What do we know about the phrase “to throw a camel”?| A．It tells us camels are too large to be thrown. |
| B．It can be found in an ancient French dictionary. |
| C．It is a phrase still not accepted by the French government. |
| D．It can be used when you see someone makes a spelling mistake. |
| A．It needs updating regularly. | B．It is mainly for non-French speakers. |
| C．It takes in worldwide French usages. | D．It includes few official French terms. |
| A．It helps spread standard French. | B．It’ll attract more people to learn French. |
| C．It’ll benefit French’s development. | D．It brings 300 million French speakers. |
| A．Culture. | B．Opinion. | C．Technology. | D．Lifestyle. |
8 . A Georgia mom is winning praise for the way she’s teaching her children, aged 13,10 and 6, about money.
Shaketha MeGregor, a single mother in Dublin, Georgia, knew she needed a solution after frequent requests from her three kids for things like new toys and money to do things with their friends.
She came up with the unique idea to host a “job fair(就业展览会)”for her three children, Jahkeem, in seventh grade, Takeia, in fifth grade, and Serinity, in first grade. The three positions at the job fair were the kitchen manager, lead housekeeper and laundry supervisor(洗衣房主管).Children had to earn their pocket money by doing a job.
Jahkeem, Takeia and Serinity each picked the job they wanted to apply for, filled out the application and had interviews with their employer-their mom.
“My oldest and my youngest both applied for the lead housekeeper,” McGregor said.“ As to my 6-year-old daughter Serinity, I was more impressed with her application and her interview than my 13-year-old son Jahkeem.”
”I want them to be familiar with the process when they are older,“ she said. ”Whether they’re applying to a school or for a new job. they can look back and say, “I did this with Mom years ago.” As a parent you want to protect your children as much as possible, but you know that eventually they’ll have to experience it on their own and a child’s greatest lesson in life is going through the process.
MeGregor’s post on Facebook where she shared her job fair idea now has more than 200,000 likes. She said she hoped it inspired other parents to think outside of the box and let their kids’ voices be heard.“ What I’m realizing is that kids just want to be part of something. The first-hand experience is the best way to educate children,” McGregor said.
1. What do you know about McGregor’s solution?| A．It is creative. | B．It’s uninteresting |
| C．It is strange. | D．It’s traditional. |
| A．By doing housework. | B．By behaving well. |
| C．By getting good marks. | D．By listening to McGregor. |
| A．Serinity was awarded a new toy. |
| B．Serinity got the position as a kitchen manager. |
| C．Takeia became the lead housekeeper at the fair. |
| D．Jahkeen didn’t get the job he had applied for. |
| A．Children should always listen to their parents views. |
| B．Parents should pay their children for anything. |
| C．MeGregor’s post is well received online. |
| D．MeGregor’s idea is suitable for all families. |
9 . Scott Edwards paused his cross-country bike trip when he saw a flash of black, white and red. It was a red-headed woodpecker (啄木鸟). He saw their black and white wings while riding. He was phoning to his friend from his tent in Illinois later that night. “I got my first good look today. I hadn’t seen the red head until that day, so was very excited,” he said.
Edwards is a bird researcher at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Over this past summer, he rode across the United States. In some degree, he did go to see the country. But he also used the trip to do some serious bird-watching, which is something he’s been doing for more than 40 years.
When he was growing up in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, there were lots of trees. When he was 9 or 10, a neighbor took him bird-watching. Edwards has been doing it ever since. But finding those birds is getting more difficult. “The number of birds is dying down,” he says. And Edwards is hardly the only one to notice it, Scientists around the world have been finding the same thing. A 2018 study by Bird Life International concluded that birds around the world are in trouble. There are about 1,000 species of birds. Four in every 10 species of them are decreasing in number, the study found. That’s true for all kinds of birds living in all types of habitats.
Some birds, such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and California condor, are specially endangered. Only a few members of these species remain in the wild. Others are often seen at backyard gardens. But even common birds are less common than they were just 50 years ago. And that’s now true almost everywhere.
1. Why did Edwards feel excited?| A．He found his tent. |
| B．He took a bike trip. |
| C．He got his first tent. |
| D．He saw a woodpecker. |
| A．Traveling around the United States. | B．Going on a trip. |
| C．Doing bird-watching. | D．Studying at Harvard University. |
| A．Birds are in crisis. |
| B．The interest of Edwards is meaningful. |
| C．Birds try to adapt to new habitats. |
| D．The childhood of Edwards is wonderful. |
| A．Humans should save birds by raising them in gardens. |
| B．Humans should protect birds from dying out. |
| C．Humans should set up a large habitat for birds. |
| D．Humans should know more about birds’ habitats. |
10 . I was never very neat while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but my always hid somewhere. She even labeled (贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Overtime, Kate got neater and I got my merriser. She moved to push my dirty clothing over and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.
Who broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! why under my bed!” Suddenly I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.
The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up. She quickly crawled (爬) under her covers, crying. Obviously. that was something she could not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy (同情) rose up in my heart.
Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bad. Cleaned the suckers and swept the floor even on her side. I got so absorbed into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching. Her tears dried and her expression was such disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me. “Thanks.”
Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.
1. What made Kate so angry one evening?| A．She couldn’t find her books. |
| B．She heard the writer shouting loud. |
| C．She got the news that her grandma was ill. |
| D．She saw the writer’s shoes beneath her bed. |
| A．Because she was scared by Kate’s anger. |
| B．Because she hated herself for being so messy. |
| C．Because she wanted to show her care. |
| D．Because she was asked by Kate to do so. |
| A．By analyzing courses. |
| B．By showing differences. |
| C．By describing a process. |
| D．By following time order. |
| A．My Friend Kate. |
| B．Hard Work Pays off. |
| C．How to Be Organized? |
| D．Learning to Be Roommates. |
