1 . I was surfing the Internet, planning for our 15th-anniversary trip when a perfect spot attracted me: The Shire of Montana, a “hobbit house”, which Jim my husband had dreamed about. I knew he’d be impressed. And our six-year-old daughter, Aurora, would like it, too. I was about to book our reservation when I saw a note on the website: No kids allowed. That ruined everything!

Luckily, there was an email address on the site. I plucked up the courage to contact the owner. Soon, a reply arrived, saying, “If you promise that your daughter is responsible and will not touch, she can come.” I was relieved, thinking Aurora was a good kid. “This will be okay,” I wrote back.

The day finally arrived. We piled into the car. I couldn’t help being excited, imagining Jim and Aurora’s reactions. We passed a sign that read, “The adventure begins …” Turning onto the Hobbit Lane, I felt a pan g of anxiety. As soon as we got out of the car, I pulled Aurora aside. “Children aren’t usually allowed here,” I said. “So you have to be very, very careful. You can look at everything, but don’t touch.” I explained the rule and how terrible it would be to damage anything. Aurora’s eyes widened at my no-nonsense tone. “I promise, Mom,” she said.

Obviously, my concern was superfluous. We spent several days at The Shire. Aurora was delighted at each discovery but she never disturbed a thing. She took her responsibility to protect the owner’s work seriously. It turned out that respecting boundaries didn’t take away the beauty and wonder, it allowed The Shire to remain beautiful and wonderful into the future.

Not so different from a marriage, I thought. Now I understood why we went to this place to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary. Jim and I moved through life side by side as a couple, and we’d learned to accept each other’s individuality and boundaries as well. Marriage is full of surprises, challenges and adventures. The key to making it work is respecting each other.

1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．The author met a problem while planning a trip.

B．The author and her husband had been married for 6 years.

C．Aurora didn’t want to take a trip to The Shire of Montana.

D．The trip was ruined because the author didn’t reserve a room.

2. Why did the author feel a pang of anxiety?

A．She felt it a burden to take care of her daughter.

B．She doubted if her daughter would behave well.

C．She worried her daughter wouldn’t be admitted.

D．She wasn’t sure whether her husband would like the place.

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “superfluous” in paragraph 4?

A．considerable

B．important

C．unnecessary

D．common

4. What does the author want to convey through the text?

A．Don’t give up until you try your best.

B．Good role models are essential for teaching kids.

C．Respect contributes to a happy and lasting marriage.

D．Obeying the rules is important when dealing with people.

2 . When temperatures climb, many people reach for ice-cold beverages (饮料) to cool down. But others put the kettle on: Hot tea is a go-to beverage year-round in countries such as Bangladesh, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Many people find hot tea refreshing on hot days. Can hot drinks really cool you down on a hot day?

According to Peter McNaughton, a professor at King’s College London who studies thermoregulation (温度调节), hot drinks really can cool you down. “It seems totally counterintuitive (反直觉的，违反直觉的),” McNaughton said. “Drinking a hot drink really does make you drop your temperature if it’s not too humid out.”

“If a drink is warmer than your body at first, obviously, that drink makes you hotter,” McNaughton said. But humans, like all warmblooded animals, are constantly adjusting to maintain a consistent internal temperature. McNaughton found that hot drinks activate a receptor (接受器) in our nerves called TRPV1, which tells the body it needs to cool down. In response, humans sweat.

“Sweat pooling on skin is uncomfortable, but add a breeze or a fan, and the air blowing past helps sweat evaporate (蒸发), taking heat with it,” McNaughton said. “In general, your life depends on sweating. Sweating can help humans survive in some of the highest temperatures documented on Earth, at least in dry heat. Sweat is less effective in high humidity because the air is already full of water vapor and can’t absorb as much from the skin, that’s why in high humidity, the survivable temperature is much lower.”

A 2012 study in the journal Acta Physiologica found that when sweat fully evaporates, hot drinks can help cool people off overall, at least temporarily. That study looked at cyclists biking quickly enough to create their own breeze in a climate with no humidity: ideal conditions for sweat evaporation.

In the reverse effect, cold drinks lower body temperatures and then make the brain reduce sweating in order to bring body temperature back to its baseline. A 2018 paper suggests that with less wind, more humidity, or other barriers to effective sweating—like the heavy clothing worn by firefighters—it may make more sense to cool off by drinking crushed ice.

1. What do we know about people in Bangladesh, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia?

A．They like ice-cold beverages on hot days.

B．They favor hot tea over cold drinks year-round.

C．They doubt whether hot tea can help cool them down.

D．They believe ice-cold beverages are harmful to their health.

2. What can we learn from paragraph 3?

A．TRPV1 helps adjust blood temperature.	B．Blood helps add heat to the human body.
C．Sweating helps increase our body temperature.	D．TRPV1 sends signals related to body temperature.

3. Why does the author quote McNaughton’s words about sweating paragraph 4?

A．To show the danger of high humidity.	B．To reveal why some people sweat more.
C．To tell us about the function of sweating.	D．To display how people survive extreme heat.

4. What can we conclude after reading the text?

A．Drinking enough water benefits our bodies.

B．We should avoid cold water in high humidity.

C．Hot water cools us down better than cold water.

D．Hot drinks help cool the body under certain conditions.

4 . This question has fascinated behavioural scientists for decades: why do we give money to charity?

The explanations for charitable giving fall into three broad categories, from the purely altruisic (利他的)— I donate because I value the social good done by the charity. The “impurely” altruistic— I donate because I extract value from knowing I contribute to the social good for the charity. And the not-at-all altruistic— I donate because I want to show off to potential mates how rich I am.

But are these motives strong enough to enable people to donate as much as they would want to? Most people support charities in one way or another, but often we struggle to make donations as often as we think we should. Although many people would like to leave a gift to charity in their will, they forget about it when the time comes.

Many people are also aware that they should donate to the causes that have the highest impact, but facts and figures are less attractive than narratives. In a series of experiments, it was found that people are much more responsive to charitable pleas that feature a single, identifiable beneficiary(受益者), than they are to statistical information about the scale of the problem being faced. When it comes to charitable giving, we are often ruled by our hearts and not our heads.

The good news is that charitable giving is contagious—seeing others give makes an individual more likely to give and gentle encouragement from an important person in your life can also make a big difference to your donation decisions— more than quadrupling them in our recent study. Habit also plays a part— in three recent experiments those who volunteered before were more likely to do donate their time than those who had not volunteered before.

In summary, behavioural science identifies a range of factors that influence our donations, and can help us to keep giving in the longer term. This is great news not just for charities, but also for donors.

1. What can we learn about people who do charitable giving?

A．Most people support charity as often as they think they should.

B．Some people don’t want to leave a gift to charity until the time comes.

C．Those who donate because they can gain an advantage are purely altruistic.

D．Some people send money to charity simply to tell others they are wealthy.

2. In which way will people donate more willingly?

A．Not revealing the names of the donors.

B．Showing figures about the seriousness of the problem.

C．Telling stories that feature a single, recognizable beneficiary.

D．Reminding people to write down what to donate in the will in advance.

3. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 5 mean?

A．People will learn from others and follow the suit.

B．Many people are familiar with charitable giving.

C．Charitable giving helps the beneficiary in all aspects.

D．Charitable giving can bring a lot of benefits to donors.

4. What is the writing purpose of the passage?

A．To persuade more people to donate.

B．To explain the science behind why people donate.

C．To criticize some false charitable giving behaviours.

D．To explore approaches to making people donate more.

5 . Both Debbie and Simon work in the Sunbeam Travel Company. One day they were sitting in the office. The door opened and a lady entered. She glanced at them both, _______ a moment, then walked over and sat opposite Debbie. Debbie greeted her _______ in the corridor, and they got down to business.

Simon _______, stood up and left. He met Mr Smith, the manager. “What’s up, Simon? You don’t look very _______.”

“It’s the customers,” Simon said. “They always prefer Debbie to me. I can’t _______it. ”

“I can. It’s the way you _______.”

“How can that be ?” Simon said. “I don’t even get a _______ to speak to them.”

“Communicating is more than speaking and listening, Simon. Your body language is _______, too.”

“What kind of language is that?”

“It’s the way you stand and sit and walk. It’s your gestures and the expression on your face and in your eyes. Your whole _______ communicates things, even you’re not speaking. The way you look at customers doesn’t give them a good impression, Simon. For example, you often rest your head on your __________ . You don’t smile. You don’t turn your head or your body towards the customers. But look at Debbie. She’s holding her head __________. She looks at the customer in the eye. She smiles. She turns her head and her body towards the customer. Your body language is telling customers to __________. Debbie’s is making them feel welcome. That’s why the customers go to her and not to you.”

After that, Simon tried to improve his body language. This seemed to __________. Minutes later, a girl entered. Without __________, she sat down opposite Simon and gave him a big smile. A few moments later, she left, still smiling.

Mr Smith came over and said, “Well Simon, you __________ made a good impression on that customer. Well done.”

“That wasn’t a customer,” Simon said. “That was my sister. She wanted to borrow some money for lunch.”

1.

A．listened

B．stood

C．looked

D．paused

2.

A．calmly

B．wildly

C．cheerfully

D．hopefully

3.

A．bowed

B．sighed

C．laughed

D．nodded

4.

A．sad

B．relaxed

C．happy

D．nervous

5.

A．understand

B．grasp

C．believe

D．guess

6.

A．think

B．interpret

C．communicate

D．perceive

7.

A．chance

B．minute

C．word

D．right

8.

A．creative

B．adorable

C．fun

D．important

9.

A．style

B．appearance

C．speech

D．character

10.

A．shoulder

B．arm

C．finger

D．hand

11.

A．high

B．up

C．steady

D．back

12.

A．go away

B．go ahead

C．get going

D．get ready

13.

A．work

B．confuse

C．frustrate

D．motivate

14.

A．invitation

B．explanation

C．permission

D．hesitation

15.

A．probably

B．certainly

C．finally

D．likely

7 . Falling birth rates are a major concern for some of Asia’s biggest economies. Government s in the region are spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reverse the trend. Will it work?

Japan began introducing policies to encourage couples to have more children in the 1990s. South Korea started doing the same in the 2000s, while Singapore’s first fertility (生育) policy dates back to 1987. China, which has seen its population fall for the first time in 60 years, recently joined the growing club.

While it is difficult to quantify exactly how much these policies have cost, South Korean President YoonSuk-yeol recently said his country had spent more than $200bn (£160bn) over the past 16 years on trying to boost the population. Yet last year South Korea broke its own record for the world’s lowest fertility rate, with the average number of babies expected per woman falling to 0.78. In neighbouring Japan, which had record low births of fewer than 800,000 last year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to double the budget for child-related policies from 10tn yen ($74.7bn; £59.2bn).

Having a bigger population who can work and produce more goods and services leads to higher economic growth. And while a larger population can mean higher costs for governments, it can also result in bigger tax revenues (税收). Also, many Asian countries are ageing rapidly. Japan leads the pack with nearly 30% of its population now over the age of 65 and some other nations in the region are not far behind. Compare that with India, which has just overtaken China as the world’s most populous nation. More than a quarter of its people are between the age of 10 and 20, which gives its economy huge potential for growth. And when the share of the working age population gets smaller, the cost and burden of looking after the non-working population grow. “Negative population growth has an impact on the economy, and together with an ageing population, they won’t be able to afford to support the elderly,” said Xiujian Peng of Victoria University.

1. Which Asian country first took measures to increase population in this passage?

A．Japan.

B．South Korea.

C．Singapore.

D．China.

2. What can we learn about the population of Asian countries from the passage?

A．Japan hit the lowest record of new-born babies last year.

B．India has the largest and youngest population in the world.

C．China’s population has been decreasing in the recent 60 years.

D．South Korea had the lowest population record last year in the world.

3. What can we infer from paragraph 4?

A．The economy of India will overtake that of Japan.

B．Negative population growth leads to an ageing population.

C．The larger the population is, the better the economy will be.

D．A bigger share of working age population helps support the elderly.

4. What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．Low birth rate is a negative factor for economy.

B．China is joining the countries of low birth rate.

C．Many Asian countries came to negative population growth.

D．Many Asian countries are trying all out to battle low birth rate.

8 . It was October 2005, and the catastrophic earthquake killing some 79,000 people in Pakistan had reduced the valley to mud and ruins.

Yasmeen Lari, a 65-year-old architect, was there to help lead the reconstruction of settlements, but she had never done disaster work before. Lari was known for designing smooth towers of glass and concrete. But here, she’d be drawing plans for earthquake-resistant homes using stone and timber debris(木材碎片). With each passing day, she felt deeply right to do disaster-relief work. So she made it her new mission, spending the next four months working with volunteer architects and engineers from Pakistan and abroad.

Inspired by local buildings made with sustainable materials such as timber debris, bamboo and mud, Lari’s shelters can better withstand disasters. Lari says this local, cost-effective and zero-carbon approach is creating an ecosystem. Anyone can learn by watching DIY videos on Lari’s Zero Carbon Channel on YouTube.

The design won a UN World Habitat Prize in 2018.“We need to believe in people’s capacity to bring about change. I treat displaced people as partners, not victims. They know what to do,” says Lari.

Over the decades, Yasmeen Lari has won many awards as architect and environmentalist. While it may seem like an unlikely path for a girl who was born into a well-to-do family in1941, she had an unconventional upbringing. At home, her father would talk about the desperate need for housing. Listening to her father talk about the housing crisis and need for architects made an impression on Lari. On a family visit to London when she was 15, she applied to architecture school at Oxford Brookes University. She laughs as she recalls her bravery.

At age 83, Yasmeen Lari is still full of ideas about zero-carbon designs, skills building and self-sustaining villages. “Architects can no longer work for just the one percent,” she says. “That doesn’t allow them to serve humanity as much as they could.”

1. What can we learn about Lari from the first two paragraphs?

A．She felt considerably proud to do disaster-relief work.

B．She started a brand-new volunteer working experience.

C．She was good at designing earthquake-resistant houses.

D．She reconstructed the settlements with glass and concrete.

2. How did Lari make her design practical and environmental?

A．By creating an ecosystem.

B．By strengthening local buildings.

C．By using local sustainable materials.

D．By watching DIY videos on YouTube.

3. Why did Lari decide to apply to architecture school?

A．Her interest in architecture drove her.

B．Her father encouraged her to path unusual.

C．Her father talked about the demand for architects.

D．Her rich family allowed her to pursue the most of dream.

4. Which of the following best describes Yasmeen Lari?

A．Sensitive and brave.

B．Determined and cooperative.

C．Honest and generous.

D．Sympathetic and eco-responsible.

9 . Jo Land was surprised when she realized how much her youngest son’s school uniform cost. “A jumper was￡25. A polo shirt was￡15,” she says. “If it was this expensive for us, how on earth must families with three or four children manage?”

In December 2021, Land put a box outside her house, with a sign reading, “School uniform drop-off”. She set up a Facebook group and asked people to drop good-quality used uniforms into the box. The operation started to grow almost immediately. “Some weeks I give out up to 48 uniforms,“ she says. People drive up and drop the clothing: she sorts through it, keeps it in her “stock room” and posts details about donations on the Facebook group. The first parent to message her gets the items for nothing. Land puts the items in a named bag and then returns it to the box. Recipients (接受者) can come and collect at their leisure.

“Being able to access good-quality preloved school uniforms has been a lifeline,“ says Kristina, a mother of two. ”It’s just amazing.“

“Every child going to school deserves to feel smart and proud,” Land says. “We don’t want children to go to school feeling negative, because that affects their learning. Land has noticed that people rarely take without also giving. Sometimes people leave flowers on the box, or they drop off some outgrown clothes too.

Right now, Land is thinking about all the people in her community who will struggle this winter and she gets so many messages from people who are absolutely desperate, because they cannot afford uniforms for their children. Her determination to ensure children can access the uniforms they deserve grows ever stronger.

1. What inspired Land to set up the free uniform exchange?

A．Her personal experience.

B．The appeals on Facebook.

C．Poor families’ complaints.

D．Her youngest son’s request.

2. What does paragraph 2 focus on?

A．How the school uniforms are selected.

B．The importance of the Facebook group.

C．The popularity of the exchange project.

D．How the school uniform exchange works.

3. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．School learning is associated with fashion.

B．Recipients are required to give by the project.

C．Many people in Land’s community need uniforms.

D．Land is motivated to design new uniforms for children.

4. Which of the following words can best describe Land?

A．Brave and grateful.

B．Honest and energetic.

C．Kind-hearted and creative.

D．Ambitious and humorous.

10 . Two very different movies were released on July 21 this summer in the West, bringing record numbers of people into cinemas as the “Barbenheimer (芭比海默)” trend took over social media.

Barbie and Oppenheimer have been huge hits around the world, with Barbie alone making over 1 billion US dollars just 17 days after release. This makes it Wamer Bros studio’s fastest movie to reach $1 billion and the film’s director, Greta Gerwig, the first-ever solo female filmmaker with a billion-dollar film.

Barbie and Oppenheimer are an interesting pair because of how different they are from one another. Barbie is about a famous toy coming to life and facing issues of sexism and finding her own identity. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is a serious male-driven historical film about J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. The release of these two huge, wildly different movies on the same day led to the creation of countless memes (表情包) under the Barbenheimer hashtag. Filmgoers have even gone to see both movies one right after the other, with some dressing up in pink for Barbie going on to see Oppenheimer as well.

Meanwhile, people have found some of the “Barbenheimer” memes disturbing. Atomic bombs killed many people and they think the memes made light of a very dark time in history. But the films have brought a healthy boost to cinema ticket sales around the world, helping an industry that has faced many challenges in recent years. The increasing popularity of streaming services and the COVID-19 pandemic have kept people out of cinemas. Now, the strikes from writers and actors over concerns of pay and about the use of artificial intelligence by film studios are also having an impact. Add to that a public tired of yearly big movies about superheroes and fast cars, as declining ticket sales suggest.

Described as a historic moment for the movie industry. “‘Barbenheimer’ will go down as one of the biggest and unexpected milestones in the history of cinema,” Paul Dergarabedian at Comscore told CNN.

1. What made Barbie a significant achievement for Wamer Bros?

A．Representing male-driven films.	B．Reaching $1 billion in record time.
C．Addressing issues about identity.	D．Greta Gerwig becoming the director.

2. Why are Barbie and Oppenheimer described as an “interesting pair”?

A．They both feature female characters.	B．They were released on the same day.
C．They have opposite disturbing memes.	D．They explore completely different themes.

3. What is the impact of the releases of Barbic and Oppenheimer?

A．They have caused a decrease in streaming service.

B．They have stimulated cinema ticket sales globally.

C．They have motivated people to avoid the cinemas.

D．They have sparked controversy regarding sexism.

4. Which challenge has the film industry faced in recent times?

A．Increasing costs of film production.

B．Conflicts with social media platforms.

C．Filmgoers’ preference for superhero movies.

D．Disapproval from writers and actors over Al use.