1 . Climbing, I once thought, was a very manly activity, but as I found my way into this activity, I came to see that something quite different happens on the rock.

Like wild swimming, rock climbing involves you into the landscape. On the rock, I am fully focused. Eyes pay close attention, ears are alert, and hands move across the surface. Unlike walking, where I could happily wander about absent-mindedly, in climbing, attentive observation is essential.

As an arts student studying English literature, I discovered a new type of reading from outdoor climbing. Going out on to the crags (悬崖), I saw how you could learn to read the rocks and develop a vocabulary of physical movements. Good climbers knew how to adjust their bodies on to the stone. Watching them, I wanted to possess that skillful “language”.

My progress happened when I worked for the Caingorms National Park Authority. Guiding my explorations into this strange new landscape was Nan Shepherd, a lady too. Unlike the goal-directed mindset of many mountaineers, she is not concerned with peaks or personal achievement. Shepherd sees the mountain as a total environment and she celebrates the Caingorms as a place alive with plants, rocks, animals and elements. Through her generous spirit and my own curiosity, I saw that rock climbing need not be a process of testing oneself against anything. Rather, the intensity of focus could develop a person into another way of being.

Spending so much time in high and stony places has transformed my view on the world and our place in it. I have come into physical contact with processes that go way beyond the everyday. Working with gravity, geology (地质学), rhythms of weather and deep time, I gain an actual relationship with the earth. This bond lies at the heart of my passion for rock climbing. I return to the rocks, because this is where I feel in contact with our land.

1. Why does the author like rock climbing?

A．It challenges her to compete with men.	B．It allows her a unique attitude toward rock.
C．It teaches her how to possess a new language.	D．It makes her feel connected wth the earth.

2. What does the writer find important in climbing?

A．Balance.	B．Concentration.
C．Determination.	D．Perseverance

3. What does the writer learn from Nan Shepherd?

A．Climbing goes together with nature.	B．Every mountain top is within reach.
C．The best climber is the one having fun.	D．You can not achieve high unless you change.

4. What does the underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Time.

B．Transformation.

C．The world.

D．My view.

2 . Last year I ruined my summer vacation by bringing along a modern convenience: the iPad.

Instead of looking at nature, I _______ my e-mail. Instead of reading great novels, I stuck to reading _______newspapers each morning. And that was the problem: I was acting as if I were still in the office. My body was on vacation but my _______ wasn’t.

So this year I made up my mind to try something _______: getting away from the Internet. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, _______ I’m not good at self-control. But I was _______. I started by handing the iPad to my wife. Then, a stroke of luck: The mobile phone _______ at our cabin was worse than in the past. I was _______, forced to carry out my plan. Largely cut off from e-mail and my favourite newspaper websites, I had little way to _______ the world. I had no ________ but to do what I had planned to do all along: read books.

With determination and the strong support of my wife, I succeeded in my vacation struggle against the Internet. I finally ________ that it was me, of course, not the iPad, that was the ________.

I knew I had ________ when we passed a Starbucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi. “Don’t need it,” I said. ________, as we return to work, a test begins: Can I survive when I’m back at work? I don’t plan to ________ my iPad completely. But I hope to resist the temptation (抵抗诱惑) to use it every five minutes.

1.

A．received

B．selected

C．checked

D．removed

2.

A．online

B．informal

C．local

D．traditional

3.

A．opinion

B．mind

C．identity

D．curiosity

4.

A．attractive

B．logical

C．magical

D．different

5.

A．as

B．unless

C．though

D．so

6.

A．generous

B．capable

C．eager

D．determined

7.

A．battery

B．button

C．signal

D．function

8.

A．grateful

B．tough

C．stuck

D．puzzled

9.

A．rely on

B．go through

C．connect to

D．adapt to

10.

A．method

B．goal

C．trick

D．choice

11.

A．expected

B．realised

C．permitted

D．suggested

12.

A．approach

B．sign

C．evidence

D．problem

13.

A．won

B．forgotten

C．suffered

D．recovered

14.

A．Somehow

B．Anyway

C．However

D．Therefore

15.

A．take apart

B．give up

C．turn up

D．go off

3 . I’m a seventeen-year-old boy preparing for my A Level exams at the end of the year. In the society where my peers (同龄人) and I live, we tend to accept the rat race values. As students, we want to get good grades so that we can get good jobs. I enjoy studying and have consistently received A’s in my classes. There was a year when I finished first in my class in the final exams. It was a great accomplishment.

Another one I am pleased with is that I managed to improve the relationship between Mum and Dad. Dad was a successful businessman who was rarely at home. Mum was a housewife who always felt bored and constantly nagged (唠叨) him to let her go to work. Their constant arguing bothered me, so I advised Dad that Mum would be better off with a part-time job. He agreed, and their relationship has improved since then.

My most proud achievement, however, is my successful work in the local old folks’ home. My grandparents had raised me since I was a child. I wept (哭泣) bitterly when they died. Unlike many of my classmates, I do not take part in my school’s community service to earn points. I enjoy my voluntary work and believe I’m contributing to a worthwhile cause. This is where I can help. I talk to the elderly, assist them with their daily life, and listen to their problems, glory days and the hardships they experienced.

Last year, I hosted a successful New Year party for the elderly and they enjoyed a great time. Many expressed a desire to attend another party the following year. When I reflect on my accomplishments, I’m especially proud of my service at the old folks’ home, so I hope to study social work at university and work as a social worker in the future. I wish to be more skilled in attending to the less fortunate and find great satisfaction in it, after all.

1. What can be inferred about the author from the first paragraph?

A．He is content with his learning achievements.	B．His good grades got him a good job.
C．He refuses to compete with his peers fiercely.	D．His views on social values are well known.

2. Which role does the author play in his parents’ relationship?

A．A bystander (旁观者).

B．A judge.

C．A helper.

D．A destroyer.

3. What is the greatest achievement for the author?

A．The contribution to volunteering.	B．The success in exams.
C．The recovery of confidence in life.	D．The work in school’s service.

4. Why does the author want to study social work at university?

A．To gain a well-paid job.	B．To give his life a purpose.
C．To better help the disadvantaged.	D．To meet his grandparents’ expectations.

4 . In the not-too-distant future, fully autonomous vehicles will drive our streets. These cars will need to make quick decisions to avoid endangering human lives—both inside and outside of the vehicles.

To determine attitudes toward these decisions, a group of researchers created a variation on the classic philosophical exercise known as “the Trolley problem”. They posed a series of moral dilemmas involving a self-driving car with brakes (刹车) that suddenly give out: Should the car change direction to avoid a group of passers-by, killing the driver? Or should it kill the people on foot, but spare the driver? Does it matter if the passers-by are men or women? Children or older people? Doctors or murderers?

To pose these questions to a large range of people, the researchers built a website called Moral Machine, where anyone could click through the situations and say what the car should do. “Help us learn how to make machines moral,” a video asks on the site.

What the researchers found was a series of near-universal preferences, regardless of where someone was from. People everywhere believed the moral thing for the car to do was to spare the young over the old, spare humans over animals, and spare the lives of many over the few. Their findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Researchers found that the 130 countries with more than 100 respondents could be grouped into three groups that showed similar moral preferences. And these preferences seemed to correlate with social differences. Respondents from collectivistic cultures, which “emphasize the respect that is due to older members of the community,” showed a weaker preference for sparing younger people.

The researchers emphasized that the study’s results should be used with extreme caution (谨慎), and they shouldn’t be considered the final word on societal preferences—especially since respondents were not a representative sample.

1. What give(s) rise to the questions in paragraph 2?

A．The researchers’ attitudes.	B．The people’s moral dilemmas.
C．The self-driving car’s power cut.	D．The autonomous vehicle’s brake failure.

2. What might contribute to respondents’ moral preferences?

A．Their living habits.	B．Their family members.
C．Their cultural context.	D．Their educational background.

3. What is the major limitation of the research?

A．The complex procedure.	B．The limited questions.
C．The insufficient participants.	D．The careless respondents.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．The New Self-driving Cars	B．The New “Trolley Problem”
C．Should Car Drivers Be Moral?	D．Does moral preference matter?

5 . When learning a foreign language, most people fall back on traditional methods: reading, writing, listening and repeating. But if you also gesture (做手势) with your arms while studying, you can remember the vocabulary better, even months later. Linking a word to brain areas responsible for movement strengthens the memory of its meaning. This is the conclusion a research team reached after using magnetic pulses (磁脉冲) to disturb these areas in language learners.

As Mathias and his colleagues describe in the Journal of Neuroscience, they had 22 German-speaking adults learn a total of 90 invented artificial words (such as “lamube” for “camera” and “atesi” for “thought”) over four days. While the test subjects first heard the new vocabulary, they were also shown a video of a person making a gesture that matched the meaning of the word. When the word was repeated, the subjects performed the gesture themselves.

Five months later, they were asked to translate the vocabulary they had learned into German in a multiple-choice test. At the same time, they had equipment attached to their heads that sent weak magnetic pulses to their primary motor cortex—the brain area that controls voluntary arm movements. The researchers concluded that the motor cortex contributed to the translation of the vocabulary learned with gestures. This applied to concrete words, such as “camera,” as well as abstract ones, such as “thought”.

The effect did not occur when the test subjects were only presented with matching pictures instead of gestures when learning vocabulary. In contrast, children—unlike adults—seem to benefit from pictures as much as gestures in the long run. In an experiment published in 2020, the Leipzig research group had young adults and eight-year-old children listen to new vocabulary for five days, sometimes paired with matching pictures or videos of gestures. After two months, the two methods were still tied. But after six months, the adults benefited more from the gestures than the pictures, while the children were helped equally by both.

1. Which method might be the most effective in facilitating vocabulary learning?

A．Watching videos.	B．Using magnetic disks.
C．Reading the words repeatedly.	D．Making hand movements.

2. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The design of the research.	B．The purpose of the research.
C．The subjects of the research.	D．The outcome of the research.

3. What played a key role in recalling the meanings of the new words?

A．The test questions.	B．The equipment.
C．The word type.	D．The motor cortex.

4. What do the underlined words “were still tied” mean in the last paragraph?

A．Achieved the same results.	B．Did not help the adults equally.
C．Failed to have beneficial effects.	D．Were connected with each other.

6 . Four destinations for electric-bike tours across Canada

Banff by e-bike

White Mountain Adventures and Banff Cycle both launched guided e-bike tours of Canada’s first national park this summer. The former’s offerings include a 50-kilometre there-and-back ride along the Bow Valley Parkway, and a 50-km return ride along the car-free Rocky Mountain Legacy Trail. Banff Cycle, meanwhile, adds a three-hour “Banff and Bow Valley” guided trip to the mix.

Fat-biking in Yukon

This new ride from the luxurious Mount Logan EcoLodge on the Alaska Highway near Haines Junction provides an exception to the rule that Canadian e-bike tours are unavailable in winter. Equipped with oversized tires to allow riding on snow and other unstable surfaces, the electric fat bikes can be booked for two-hour guided tours that explore the wilderness bordering Kluane National Park.

Sipping and e-cycling in Niagara

Niagara Cycling Tours hosts group outings of at least four e-bike riders that range in length from 65 to more than 110 kilometres. The offerings include a two-day “Niagara Introductory Ride,” which can be customized to visit local attractions, and a new “Beers and Bikes” tour, which rides between more than a dozen craft breweries (啤酒厂).

Gardens and gouda on Vancouver Island

Based in pretty Qualicum Beach, the new Electric Bike Co. offers a three-hour “Home and Garden Tour” highlighting high-design private houses and seaside flowers; and a four- to five-hour ride and ferry (轮渡) voyage to Hornby Island, home of the Helliwell and Tribune Bay provincial parks.

1. Where is this text probably taken from?

A．A sports poster.	B．A travel brochure.
C．An academic article.	D．A geography textbook.

2. Which e-bike tour is great to experience in winter?

A．Banff by e-bike.	B．Fat-biking in Yukon.
C．Sipping and e-cycling in Niagara.	D．Gardens and gouda on Vancouver Island.

3. What can you enjoy when e-cycling in Niagara?

A．Tasty Beer.	B．Local cuisine.
C．Seaside flowers.	D．Mountain scenery.

7 . I love and enjoy playing the piano. So when the recital (音乐演奏会) was ______, I was disappointed. I had expected it for long and already ______ my best songs.

However, Mom turned this ______ into something worthwhile. “You should ______ at Carriage House Manor. I’m sure the ______ there would really appreciate the music.” To me, this was a win-win situation because not only would I play more songs, but I have the chance to ______ the residents, some of whom tragically didn’t have families.

The much-anticipated day ______ arrived. Stepping into the dining area, I saw several gray-haired people seemingly enjoying a dinner and the ______. Despite on-going conversations at tables, ______ still hung like a dark cloud in the room. After introductions, I sat down in front of the piano, butterflies in my stomach. But my ______ melted away as I played on.

The dinner hour flew by. One woman got up and began to cheerfully ______ about the room to the beat of the ______ while others snapped their fingers (打响指). I was ______ to see how music brought big smiles to their faces.

Calling off the recital was a blessing because it led to us ______ the gift of music with those who needed it most. Go spread ______ whenever possible.

1.

A．cancelled

B．sponsored

C．organized

D．postponed

2.

A．recorded

B．prepared

C．composed

D．sung

3.

A．burnout

B．letdown

C．getaway

D．turnaround

4.

A．relax

B．investigate

C．perform

D．wait

5.

A．seniors

B．nurses

C．guards

D．musicians

6.

A．cheer up

B．settle down

C．comment on

D．hunt for

7.

A．simply

B．accidentally

C．finally

D．nearly

8.

A．freedom

B．vacation

C．company

D．privilege

9.

A．silence

B．horror

C．confusion

D．loneliness

10.

A．desperation

B．nervousness

C．frustration

D．embarrassment

11.

A．spin

B．wander

C．dance

D．glance

12.

A．drums

B．heart

C．words

D．music

13.

A．determined

B．upset

C．curious

D．amazed

14.

A．carrying

B．exchanging

C．discussing

D．sharing

15.

A．faith

B．kindness

C．message

D．awareness

8 . Post-It Notes and poster board may seem like nothing more than standard school supplies. However, in Erin Castillo’s hands, they are a powerful mental health ______.

Here’s the way it ______: About once a week, the high school teacher ______ the “mental health check-in board.” The board instructs students to write their ______ on the back of a sticky note and then ______ it next to one of six coloured hearts. The hearts are ______ “I’m great,” “I’m OK,” “I’m struggling,” “I’m struggling and need a check-in,” and “I’m in a dark place,” and allow the students a ______ way to describe and share their feelings before class starts.

Then, during independent study time, she ______ one-on-one with students about their sticky notes. Some kids just need ______ or a listening ear, but for those who are more ______ or dealing with a serious issue, she says she has a variety of ______ ready and waiting to help them, such as the school psychologist they can see that very day.

She got the idea for the ______ after a couple of weeks where many of her students kept telling her they were having a bad week. While she was ______ they were sharing, she needed more ______ to help them—and the board was born. “I didn’t want to miss any student that might be struggling, and this was a way to easily ______ how everyone was feeling,” she says.

1.

A．effect

B．centre

C．tool

D．issue

2.

A．works

B．reads

C．comes

D．does

3.

A．hands out

B．hangs up

C．gives away

D．cuts up

4.

A．question

B．address

C．feeling

D．name

5.

A．throw

B．add

C．stick

D．give

6.

A．made

B．called

C．labelled

D．told

7.

A．quick

B．long

C．similar

D．traditional

8.

A．comes in

B．checks in

C．shares

D．records

9.

A．competition

B．protection

C．warning

D．encouragement

10.

A．dangerous

B．upset

C．satisfied

D．interested

11.

A．options

B．instruments

C．books

D．decisions

12.

A．lesson

B．meeting

C．board

D．heart

13.

A．amazed

B．embarrassed

C．respectful

D．grateful

14.

A．teachers

B．students

C．advice

D．information

15.

A．survey

B．explain

C．doubt

D．guess

9 . I live in Xizhou in Yunnan Province, on the historic Tea Horse Road. I have to admit that when I first heard that Paul Salopek was going to walk the entire globe on his own two feet, I was blown away. I couldn’t imagine that there could be such an unusual person in the world.

Last May, I met Paul. He told me that it was his first time in China. He talked to me with great excitement about the history, migrations, and discoveries in my region of China. He spoke of the Shu-Yandu Dao (the Southern Silk Road), the travels of the 17th-century Chinese explorer Xu Xiake, the Tea Horse Road and the early 20th-century American botanist Joseph Rock. He also talked of Xuanzang. Paul considered many of them heroes and in a sense Chinese pioneers of slow journalism.

I decided to accompany Paul on his walk toward Yunnan. On September 28, 2021, we set out. Our days were simple: walk, eat, sleep, and repeat. We woke up at sunrise, set off in high spirits, and rested at sunset, dragging ourselves into exhausted sleep.

We met many people on the road. Some were curious, surrounding us and watching us; some gave us directions; some invited us into their home to take a rest; some spoke of the charm of their hometown. We met many beautiful souls, simple souls and warm souls. We were walking with our minds.

Together, we were impressed by the biodiversity of the Gaoligong Mountains. As I walked on ancient paths through mountains, I seemed to hear the antique voices of past travelers urging me to be careful on the road.

Looking back on the more than 200 miles I walked with Paul, I came to a realization. Walking for its own sake, while healthy and admirable, is only a small part of the benefit of moving with our feet. A deeper reward is rediscovering the world around us, shortening the distance between each other, and sharing each other’s cultures.

1. How did the writer first respond to Paul’s travel plan?

A．Scared.	B．Puzzled.
C．Disappointed.	D．Surprised.

2. What can we learn about Paul Salopek from paragraph 2?

A．He was a western journalist.	B．He had a knowledge of China.
C．He came to China several times.	D．He was Joseph Rock’s acquaintance.

3. What does paragraph 4 tell us about the writer and Paul?

A．They honored the ancestors.	B．They set off in high spirits.
C．They satisfied the locals’ curiosity.	D．They built bonds with people.

4. What is the main purpose of the writer’s writing the text?

A．To share and reflect on a journey.	B．To suggest a new way of travel.
C．To advocate protection of biodiversity.	D．To introduce and promote Chinese culture.