1 . In the first test of its kind in Europe, and only the second in the world, Belgian researchers tested 39 brands of straws (吸管) for the group of synthetic (合成的) chemicals known as poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The straws are made from five materials — paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel and plastic. PFAS were found in the majority of the straws tested and were most common in those made from paper and bamboo. They were not found only in steel straws tested.
PFAS are used to make everyday products, from outdoor clothing to non-stick pans, resistant (抵抗to water, heat and stains. They are, however, potentially harmful to people, wildlife and the environment. They have been related to a number of health problems, including lower response to vaccines (疫苗), lower birth weight, thyroid disease, liver damage, kidney cancer and testicular cancer. They break down very slowly over time and can last thousands of years in the environment, a property that has led to them being known as “forever chemicals”.
A growing number of countries, including the UK and Belgium, have sopped the sale of single-use plastic products, including drinking straws, and plant-based versions have become popular. The PFAS concentrations (浓缩物) were low in them and, bear in mind that most people tend to only use straws occasionally, bringing a limited risk to human health. However, PFAS can remain in the body for many years and concentrations can build up over time.
It isn’t known whether the PFAS were added to the straws by the producer for waterproofing or the PFAS were the result of contamination. Potential sources of contamination include the soil the plant-based materials were grown in and the water used in the production process. However, the presence of the chemicals in almost every brand of paper straws means it is likely that it was, in some cases, being used as a water-resistant coating, say the researchers.
1. Why are PFAS called “forever chemicals”?| A．They are commonly seen in daily life. |
| B．They bring humans health problems. |
| C．They remain in the environment for long. |
| D．They can resist water, heat and stains. |
| A．By bringing people air pollution. |
| B．By polluting humans’ food. |
| C．By building up little by little in humans’ body. |
| D．By making people addicted to drinking easily. |
| A．Pollution. | B．Discovery. | C．Experiment. | D．Development. |
| A．More and more countries give up single-use plastic products. |
| B．PFAS are widely used in the production of daily necessities. |
| C．Certain kinds of new synthetic chemicals were discovered. |
| D．Environment-friendly drinking straws are actually harmful. |
2 . Hangzhou, China — a grand opening ceremony full of Hangzhou characteristics amazed the world on Saturday, as President Xi Jinping announced the 19th Asian Games open.
The opening show helped to express the host’s warm hospitality and its wish to unite the world through sports. Following an opening performance about the autumn equinox (秋分), one of China’s 24 solar terms that celebrates the harvest season, over 50,000 audiences burst into cheers as Xi declared the opening of the Hangzhou Games, making the Zhejiang provincial capital the third Chinese city to host the continental sporting gala, following Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010.
Wang Hao president of the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou Organizing Committee, said Hangzhou is honored to play host to such a grand event, which started on September 23rd. Raja Randhir Singh, the acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia, showed appreciation for the Chinese host’s meticulous (细心的) organization in his speech. “You have done a great job in preparing for the Asian Games. The one-year delay due to the pandemic was a pity, but your determination will bear fruit over the next 16 days and you will be rewarded with the most wonderful and successful Asian Games ever,” said Singh.
Supported by new technologies, the Hangzhou ceremony created many historic firsts. For the first time in China, organizers changed from a traditional fireworks show to a virtual display, projected (放映) onto a giant curtain screen the size of nine IMAX screens. For the first time in lighting the main cauldron, hundreds of millions of virtual sparks, each standing for a participant of the online torch relay, formed the shape of a human torchbearer (火炬手), who ran into the stadium (体育馆) to finish the task with the physical relay’s final bearer — Zhejiang native and Olympic champion swimmer, Wang Shun.
The technologies were not just used for the ceremony. During the whole period, zero-emission clean methanol (甲醇) was used for the torches. The electric vehicles were used to transport officials, athletes and the audiences. The devices in the stadiums were specially designed to save energy.
1. How many cities in China have hosted the Asian Games?| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．Wang Hao is responsible for the organization of the Games. |
| B．The Hangzhou Asian Games took place on time without delay. |
| C．The Hangzhou Asian Games used traditional fireworks. |
| D．Hangzhou only showed modern factors of the city in the opening show. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Negative. | C．Indifferent. | D．Positive. |
| A．Hangzhou hopes to attract more people. | B．Hangzhou wants to show its power in technology. |
| C．Hangzhou is trying to hold a green Games. | D．Hangzhou works hard to spend the money. |
3 . There are some foods named after real people or events and each dish has a unique history behind its name. Here are some examples.
Kung Pao chicken
Ding Baozhen, a 19th-century Qing Dynasty official and governor of Sichuan Province, is the man who inspired this dish. The title originates from ‘Gong Bao’ which translates as ‘Palace Guardian’, his official title. The sweet and spicy fried chicken and peanut dish, flavored with chilies and Sichuan pepper, is said to have been a personal favorite.
Beef Wellington
In the 1960s, beef Wellington was a popular choice on menus. While it’s named after the Duke of Wellington, a British military hero who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in1815, the dish of meat wrapped in bread was already commonplace. Its Duke-inspired name seems to have been added later.
Cappuccino
There’s not one person behind the name cappuccino but a whole group—the Capuchin. The brown color of their robes is said to have inspired coffee makers in 19th-century Vienna, where milk was first added to the drink. However, it didn’t get its signature foamy (泡沫的) top until later, in Italy, when espresso machines were invented.
Margherita pizza
One of the more simple pizzas but one that lasts, a margherita is a classic choice. A pizza base topped with cheese and tomato (the colors represent the Italian flag), it was created by Raffaele Esposito, the owner of a pizzaria in Naples, to celebrate Queen Margherita’s visit in1889. It may have existed before, but that is when it became popular.
1. Which dish is named differently from others?| A．Kung Pao Chicken | B．Beef Wellington |
| C．Cappuccino | D．Margherita Pizza |
| A．A military victory | B．A royal visit |
| C．A scientific discovery | D．An architectural landmark |
| A．On a cuisine website | B．In a scientific report |
| C．On a travel guide | D．In a personal diary |
4 . Taking good care of your teeth may be linked to better brain health, according to a study published in the July 5, 2023, online issue of Neurology. “Our study found that gum (牙龈) disease and tooth loss were linked to brain shrinkage (萎缩) in the hippocampus (海马体), which plays a role in memory and Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔兹海默病),” said study author Satoshi Yamaguchi, Ph.D. of Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan.
The study involved 172 people without memory problems. Their average age was 67. Participants had dental exams and took memory tests at the beginning of the study. They also had brain scans to measure the volume of their hippocampus at the beginning of the study. This was measured again four years later. For each participant, researchers counted the number of teeth and checked for amount of gum disease.
Researchers found that the number of teeth and amount of gum disease was linked to changes in the left hippocampus of the brain. For people with mild gum disease, having fewer teeth was associated with a faster rate of brain shrinkage, which is the same for people with severe gum disease having more teeth. After adjusting for age, researchers found that for people with mild gum disease, the increase in the rate of brain shrinkage due to one less tooth was equal to nearly one year of brain aging. By contrast, for people with severe gum disease the increase in brain shrinkage due to one more tooth was equal to 1.3 years of brain aging.
“These results highlight the importance of preserving the health of the teeth and not just maintaining the teeth,” Yamaguchi said. “The findings suggest that controlling the progression of gum disease through regular dental visits is crucial, and that teeth with severe gum disease may need to be removed and replaced with appropriate false ones.”
Yamaguchi said future studies are needed with larger groups of people. The limitation of the study is that it was conducted in one region of Japan, so the results may not be applied to other locations.
1. What is Yamaguchi’s study mainly about?| A．Causes of gum disease. | B．The symptoms of brain shrinkage. |
| C．Ways to take good care of one’s teeth. | D．The connection between the teeth and the brain. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By referring to previous studies. |
| C．By conducting a survey among dentists. | D．By proving experts’ theory in experiments. |
| A．Gum disease is increasing among people. |
| B．Keeping teeth healthy is of great importance. |
| C．Removing natural teeth is bad for dental health. |
| D．Doing a routine dental checkup can avoid gum disease. |
| A．Exploring treatments for gum disease. |
| B．Seeking new methods to improve brain health. |
| C．Involving people from other places in the research. |
| D．Applying the research to relieve Alzheimer’s disease. |
5 . Every decision we make is arrived at through hugely complex neurological processing. Although it feels as though you have a choice, the action that you ‘decide’ to take is entirely directed by automatic neural activity. Brain imaging studies show that a person’s action can be predicted by their brain activity up to 10 seconds before they themselves become aware they are going to act. Multiple neuroscientific studies show that even those important decisions that feel worked out are just as automatic as knee-jerk reactions (膝跳反应) (although more complex).
Decision-making starts with the amygdala: a set of two almond-shaped nuclei (杏仁状核) buried deep within the brain, which generate emotion. The amygdala registers the information streaming in through our senses and responds to it in less than a second, sending signals throughout the brain. These produce an urge to run, fight, freeze or grab, according to how the amygdala values various stimuli.
Before we act on the amygdala’s signals, however, the information is usually processed by other brain areas, including some that produce conscious thoughts and emotions. Areas concerned with recognition work out what’s going on, those concerned with memory compare it with previous experiences, and those concerned with reasoning, judging and planning get to work on constructing various action plans. The best plan—if we are lucky—is then selected and carried out. If any of this process goes wrong, we are likely to hesitate, or do something silly.
The various stages of decision-making are marked by different types of brain activity. Fast (gamma)waves, with frequencies of 25 to 100 Hz, produce a keen awareness of the multiple factors that need to be taken into account to arrive at a decision. If you are trying to choose a sandwich, for instance, gamma waves generated in various cells within the ‘taste’ area of the brain bring to mind and compare the taste of ham, hummus, wholemeal, sourdough, and so on. Although it may seem useful to be aware of the full range of choice, too much information makes decision-making more difficult, so irrelevant factors get dismissed quickly and unconsciously.
After this comparison stage, the brain switches to slow-wave activity (12 to 30 Hz). This extinguishes most of the gamma activity, leaving just a single ‘hotspot’ of gamma waves which marks the chosen option.
Although there is no ‘you’ outside your brain to direct what it’s doing, you can help it to make good decisions by placing yourself in a situation which is likely to make the process run more smoothly. Doing something that is physically or mentally stimulating before making a decision will help your brain produce the initial gamma waves that generate awareness of the competing options. Getting over-excited, on the other hand, will prevent the switch to the slow brainwaves, making it much harder to single out a choice.
1. Why does the writer mention “knee-jerk reactions” in the first paragraph?| A．To introduce the finding of the latest brain imaging studies. |
| B．To illustrate that decisions are not consciously thought out. |
| C．To call attention to a kind of neural reaction that is not very complex. |
| D．To show the difference between decision-making and other brain activity. |
| A．It works out conscious thoughts and emotions. |
| B．It selects the best action plan for a given situation. |
| C．It dismisses factors that are irrelevant to the decision to be made. |
| D．It processes sensory information and generates emotional responses. |
| A．Slow-wave activity usually lasts longer than fast-wave activity. |
| B．The brain prioritizes information before settling on a final choice. |
| C．Decision-making is difficult when slow-wave activity occurs first. |
| D．The brain needs as much information as possible to make a decision. |
| A．By preparing the brain to single out the most reasonable choice. |
| B．By helping the brain switch to slow-wave activity more quickly. |
| C．By getting the brain to focus on those most relevant alternatives. |
| D．By making the brain more aware of the factors and choices involved. |
6 . Harvard researchers have created a tough, low-cost, biodegradable (可生物降解的) material inspired by insects’ hard outer shells. The material’s inventors say it has a number of possible uses and someday could provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic. The material, made from shrimp (虾) shells and proteins produced from silk, is called “shrilk”. It is thin, clear, flexible and strong.
A major benefit of the material is its biodegradability. Plastic’s toughness and flexibility represented a revolution in materials science during the 1950s and 1960s. Decades later, however, plastic’s very durability (耐用性) is raising questions about how appropriate it is for one-time products such as plastic bags, or short-lived consumer goods, used in the home for a few years and then thrown into a landfill where they will stay for centuries. What is the point of making something that lasts 1,000 years?
Shrilk not only will degrade in a landfill, but its basic components are used as fertilizer (肥料), and so will enrich the soil.
Shrilk has great potential, the inventors said. Materials from which it is made are plentiful in nature, found in everything ranging from shrimp shells, insect bodies to living plants. That makes shrilk low cost, and its mass production possible if it is used for products demanding a lot of material.
Work on shrilk is continuing in the lab. The inventors said the material becomes flexible when wet, so they’re exploring ways to use it in wet environments. They’re also developing simpler production processes, which could be used for non-medical products, like for computer cases and other products inside the home. They’re even exploring combining it with other materials, like carbon fibers, to give it new properties.
1. Paragraph 1 of the passage is mainly about shrilk’s ________.| A．remarkable design | B．major features | C．interesting name | D．smart inventors |
| A．Using it properly. | B．Producing it cheaply. |
| C．Developing its properties quickly. | D．Evaluating its contributions fairly. |
| A．it can help plastic last longer | B．it can be found in living things |
| C．its mass production has been realized | D．its raw materials are abundant in nature |
| A．Recent Progress in Environmental Protection | B．Benefits of Insects in Scientific Research |
| C．A Possible Alternative to Plastic | D．The Harm of One-time Products |
7 . A powerful earthquake hit Morocco on Friday night, killing over 2,500 people and causing huge damage over a large area. The quake was one of the most powerful ever recorded in Morocco. It’s also the country’s deadliest earthquake in over 60 years. So far, the earthquake is reported to have killed over 2,680 people. It has injured over 2,500 others. The earthquake was especially dangerous because it happened at night, when people were asleep in their homes.
Marrakesh is a big city that’s popular with tourists. Many of its modern buildings seem to have survived the earthquake, but the old part of the city, Medina, was hit hard. It has buildings that are over 1,000 years old. Many of those buildings were demolished.
Outside of Marrakesh, the earthquake caused even more damage. In the Atlas Mountains, the earthquake’s center, there are many small villages, some of which were nearly destroyed.
Many of the people in the area live in simple houses made of mud bricks, which is a traditional way of building in Morocco. But it’s not strong enough to protect against earthquakes. Although the Moroccan government has laws that require buildings to be built more safely, these rules are often ignored.
Rescue workers have been working hard to save those affected by the quake. In larger cities, rescue efforts seem to be going well. But it has taken a lot longer for help to reach remote areas in the mountains. Many of these villages are difficult to get to. The earthquake caused landslides, blocking roads, and making these places even more difficult to reach. In some areas, phone and electrical service were also knocked out, leaving these places completely cut off. That means that the local people in some remote areas have had to deal with the situation on their own. In some areas, people have been digging through the broken stones or bricks with their hands, trying to find survivors. Many people are sleeping outside, unsure if their houses are safe.
Many outside countries have offered to help Morocco. Some countries have offered teams of experts; others have offered supplies.
1. What do we know about the earthquake in Morocco?| A．It only killed 2,680 people. | B．It occurred during the day. |
| C．It was the deadliest in recent decades. | D．It injured less than 2,500 people. |
| A．Destroyed. | B．Decorated. | C．Protected. | D．Constructed. |
| A．Necessary help from other countries for the quake-hit area. |
| B．The current serious situation faced by people in disaster areas. |
| C．Possible causes of the earthquake happening in Morocco. |
| D．Reasons why the earthquake caused so much damage in Morocco. |
| A．Rescue workers in big cities are in short supply. |
| B．Villagers in the quake-hit area try to save themselves. |
| C．Most of the houses in remote areas are reported safe. |
| D．Rescue workers can easily get in touch with mountain people. |
8 . The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louis E. Brus of Columbia University, and Alexei I. Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology Inc. in New York for the discovery and development of quantum dots (量子点).
The three scientists each contributed to a fundamental discovery, according to officials from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards several of the prizes each year. The work they’ve done has already led to new technology in television screens and bio-imaging.
Reached by phone during a press conference early Wednesday morning, Bawendi offered a stream of reactions: “Shocked. Sleepy. Very unexpected. And very honored.”
In a rare event, the winners’ names were leaked to the Swedish media before the official announcement. But Bawendi said he’d been sound asleep, so he didn’t hear anything about it.
Quantum dots are particles (粒子) that are so incredibly small that their size actually starts to affect their properties. For example, blue quantum dots and red quantum dots can be made from the exact same material, with the only difference being the size of the particle itself. (The blue quantum dots are smaller than red ones.)
In fact, changing the size can alter (改变) many different properties beyond just color, which means that quantum dots could be useful for a variety of applications, including building better solar panels and perhaps even creating fuel by using sunlight.
The three scientists will share the prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (close to$995,000) in equal parts. This is the third science-focused Nobel Prize to be awarded this week. On Tuesday, the physics prize was awarded to Anne L’ Huillier, Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz. And on Monday, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the prize in physiology or medicine.
Officials plan to announce the literature prize on Thursday, followed by the peace prize on Friday. The economics prize will be awarded on Monday.
1. How did Bawendi feel when receiving the call early Wednesday morning?| A．Angry. | B．Surprised. | C．Bored. | D．Sorry. |
| A．The size of the particles. | B．The difference in materials. |
| C．The change in shapes. | D．The variety of applications. |
| A．The 2023 Nobel Prize in physics. | B．The 2023 Nobel Prize in medicine. |
| C．The 2023 Nobel Prize in literature. | D．The 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry. |
| A．A short story. | B．A diary entry. | C．A news report. | D．A research article. |
9 . Compassion has not been a traditional characteristic of sport. With its UK roots in 19th-century British public schools and universities, modern sport developed as way of creating strong military leaders, training them to develop adaptability defined in those times by iron will and biting the bullet. Fear and harsh criticism were crucial to toughening up players and soldiers alike. The “tough guy” narrative was strengthened by 20th-century media stereotypes and Hollywood’s heroes and became rooted into sport and society.
I’ve heard countless stories like the popular culture I found when I joined the Olympic rowing team in the mid-1990s. We were expected to suffer after mistakes or losses to show that we truly cared, and everyone believed coaches needed to be severe and unforgiving to get results. These approaches still exist. But an alternative approach with compassion at its center addresses aims of performance and wellbeing for those with greater ambitions.
This isn’t some soft option which plays down hard work, as supporters of the earlier traditional sporting mindset might criticize. Research across branches of psychology — behavioral, sports, positive — shows how compassion creates the strongest foundation for adaptability and sustained performance under pressure whether in sport, the military, healthcare or business. Rather than activating our threat system which began to help us survive way back, compassion helps us to feel safe and protected, leaving us free to learn, connect with others and start exploring what we’re capable of.
The continuous need to improve performance has led top coaches to appreciate that high performance requires levels of support to match the level of challenge. When you provide that, players start thriving while striving to achieve more. Rooted in compassion, a different coach-athlete relationship thus develops.
The dictionary definition of compassion includes the recognition of another’s suffering and the desire and support to relieve it. Compassion has been shown to decrease fear of failure and increase the likelihood of trying again when failure does happen. But how many talented athletes experience that depth of support in moments of crisis and failure?
1. What does the underlined phrase “biting the bullet” in paragraph one mean?| A．Commitment. | B．Ambition. | C．Suffering. | D．Toughness. |
| A．To arouse people’s interest about rowing. |
| B．To recall a painful training experience. |
| C．To draw a distinction between training approaches. |
| D．To bring out a compassion-centered training approach. |
| A．Criticism about the compassion. | B．Necessity of employing compassion. |
| C．Characteristics about the compassion. | D．Fields that compassion is involved in. |
| A．The media is active in developing tough training style. |
| B．Extraordinary athletes rarely received enough support. |
| C．The compassion-centered training is widely used in sports. |
| D．Compassion means more openness to failure and less training. |
10 . Ritz has been teaching for nearly 10 years in a high school where the early graduation rate of the students was just 17%. He discovered a way to connect and intrigue these students, especially the ones who seemed the hardest to reach.
Once, he received a package of flower bulbs (球茎) which he mistakenly thought were onions. He was afraid that they might become weapons (武器) in a classroom fight, so he hid them behind a radiator (暖气片) and forgot about them.
Six weeks later, an angry girl ran after a boy who always made troubles. As usual, Ritz rushed towards them to break up what he thought was about to become a disaster. He saw the boy reach towards the radiator and thought he might have hidden a weapon there. To his surprise, the boy suddenly pulled out a bunch of yellow flowers and gave them to the girl as a peace offering. The girl decided to take the flowers home to her mother and peace came back.
The forgotten bulbs were actually daffodils (黄水仙). The steam from the radiator had forced them into flowers. From such an experience, Ritz realized that if there was power in plants to stop a classroom fight, there must be power in plants to change students’ lives. He turned the moment of growing plants into a green course, a movement that would change his life and the lives of his students. He designed vegetable gardens into part of the school ground and on top of a building.
Ritz’s students now have near-perfect attendance and graduation rates. His efforts have led him to be a great teacher who uses the power of a plant to give a voice to children.
1. What does the underlined word “intrigue” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Interest. | B．Protect. | C．Punish. | D．Challenge. |
| A．The radiator. | B．A tasty dish. |
| C．Some yellow flowers. | D．The teacher’s words. |
| A．They have low attendance. | B．They become the hardest to reach. |
| C．They know how to make weapons. | D．They fall in love with learning. |
| A．What a Classroom Needs for a Fight |
| B．Why a Plant Has an Effect on Students |
| C．How a Teacher Changes His Students |
| D．How a Teacher Becomes Popular |
