1 . When margarine (人造黄油) was first sold in the 1800s, plentiful alarmist words were uttered about it. However, it was simply a cream of vegetable oil and water, a processed, more sustainable and healthier alternative to an animal product. Anxiety about new foods and how they are produced continues today. Public discussions are full of concerns that “ultra-processed foods” or “UPFs” are downright unhealthy. One particular category in a fierce spotlight is plant-based meats. But how and where food is made doesn’t determine how safe or nutritious it is.

The term UPFs was first used in 2009 by Carlos Monteiro, a nutritionist. In a 2017 paper, he said he was worried that the shared experience of cooking was being increasingly lost and people weren’t eating together. In particular, he was seeing rising rates of diabetes and obesity. Keen to identify the root cause of these issues, he focused on food not made at home, but in factories. But the thing is, as Monteiro has stated openly, the UPF categorisation was never designed to group foods on the basis of nutrition.

Just like pork sausages and chicken popcorn, plant-based alternatives are made in factories, so are considered UPFs. But unlike those animal products, they don’t require antibiotics (抗生素) or hormones during production, require up to 96 percent less land, have carbon emissions up to 98 percent lower, need up to 99 percent less water and result in 100 percent fewer animals dying.

And side by side, they are almost always healthier than the over-processed animal meat products they replace, especially on fat and fibre content. Just compare the labels on the packets next time you are in the supermarket.

Many loud voices are raising concerns, suggesting that all UPFs, especially plant-based meats, are “unnatural”, “fake” and “full of chemicals”. We are seeing history repeat itself, and a fear of new foods being aroused all over again. But the science is unmistakably clear: diets rich in plant-based options are better for both people and the planet, factory or no factory.

1. Why does the author mention margarine in paragraph 1?

A．To stress the sales dilemma margarine faced before.

B．To illustrate people’s misunderstanding about margarine.

C．To show the ignored benefits of margarine to people’s health.

D．To emphasize people’s longstanding worry about novel foods.

2. Why did Monteiro create the UPF categorisation?

A．To classify the food made at home.

B．To encourage people to cook and eat together.

C．To discover the cause of some rising health problems.

D．To determine the nutrition level of factory-produced food.

3. What do the numbers in paragraph 3 imply?

A．Plant-based meats are more ecofriendly.

B．Plant-based meats shouldn’t be considered as UPFs.

C．Plant-based meats will replace UPF animal meat products.

D．Plant-based meats are healthier than sausages and popcorn.

4. What does the author think of the concern over plant-based meats?

A．Unnecessary.

B．Temporary.

C．Reasonable.

D．Alarming.

2 . Are you an “I person” or an “E person”? These two personality labels in particular are widely discussed online. They are part of a popular personality test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI. There are 16 personalities in all, of which “I” and “E” refer to “introverted” and “extroverted”, respectively.

Even if someone is typically quiet, many online discussions suggest that an “I person” can still act outgoing at times. For example, when an introverted person is with a group of introverted friends, they might become more social like an “E” person.

According to psychologists, this idea of temporarily switching personalities is called “masking”. That is hiding your true personality in specific situations. “Human beings want to feel they belong, and they might become people-pleasers to do so,” wrote the MasterClass website.

Thinking on this, I may actually be the kind of person that these people are discussing. Most times, I just wish to make the atmosphere more interesting and exciting and show people that I’m easy to get along with. But deep down, I mostly enjoy being alone and quiet.

Using the MBTI result to identify and describe someone’s personality seems fun. However, I went too far at one time. My sister was excitedly making a day-to-day travel plan when I remembered from an article that a “P person” doesn’t like to make or stick to plans, so I said to her, “You don’t seem like a ‘P person’”. “Why?” she asked back. “Since when do I need to follow what my personality test tells me to do?” It was then that I realized that I’d taken the result too seriously.

The MBTI personality test may show something you don’t know about yourself and can even be a fun ice-breaker question when meeting new friends. And that’s all it is—for fun. Knowing someone’s MBTI result doesn’t mean you really know this person.

1. An “I person” tends to ________.

A．reflect on problems alone	B．enjoy gatherings with friends
C．be active in social situations	D．try to chat with complete strangers

2. Why does an “I person” act like an “E person” sometimes?

A．Because he/she wants to be like others.

B．Because he/she needs a sense of belonging.

C．Because he/she dislikes to embarrass others.

D．Because he/she is actually an “E person” deep inside.

3. What does the writer mean by saying “I went too far” in paragraph 5?

A．She pushed her sister too much.

B．She failed to help her sister follow her plan.

C．She believed blindly the result of the personality test.

D．She discouraged her sister to make a detailed travel plan.

4. What does the writer think about the MBTI?

A．It is supposed to be strictly followed.

B．It tells you everything about your personality.

C．It’s an interesting way to start a chat with a stranger.

D．It’s a reliable approach to telling what type of people a person belongs to.

3 . My friend Megan texted about a puppy needing a home, attaching photos. As an animal shelter owner, I am always looking to _________ my family. After buying land in 2017, I opened Charlotte’s Freedom Farm, named after my first _________, a lamb with one ear. With the profits from my four pet supply stores, I have _________ up to 200 animals.

The puppy, Winnie, was deserted for its bad front legs, but instantly _________ my heart with his big brown eyes and floppy ears. His unique appearance _________ me of a kangaroo, so I started an Instagram page for him, @winnie_ theroo.

At Pawsability, Winnie received _________ wheels, allowing him to move freely and merrily. _________ by his journey, I wrote a book, “Winnie’s Warriors,” sharing his story and those of other _________ dogs at the farm. While some people initially _________ him, they quickly realize that Winnie and his friends are living their best lives on the farm. His Instagram following continues to __________, with fans finding inspiration in his __________. He brings joy and laughter into our lives every day.

As Winnie’s family member, I am incredibly __________ of him. He has __________ me so much about love, acceptance and resilience. Animals like Winnie __________ to be celebrated and cherished, as they have displayed the __________ that exists even in the face of hardships.

1.

A．unite

B．comfort

C．expand

D．defend

2.

A．purchase

B．rescue

C．contact

D．search

3.

A．housed

B．listed

C．found

D．reached

4.

A．healed

B．won

C．struck

D．attracted

5.

A．convinced

B．freed

C．reminded

D．informed

6.

A．heart-shaped

B．custom-made

C．hand-picked

D．mass-produced

7.

A．Enriched

B．Relieved

C．Driven

D．Inspired

8.

A．athletic

B．loyal

C．normal

D．disabled

9.

A．pity

B．doubt

C．praise

D．support

10.

A．work

B．update

C．grow

D．count

11.

A．optimism

B．strength

C．bravery

D．excellence

12.

A．patient

B．mindful

C．content

D．proud

13.

A．changed

B．told

C．taught

D．ordered

14.

A．seek

B．dream

C．tend

D．deserve

15.

A．closeness

B．care

C．beauty

D．kindness

4 . When opening certain mobile apps, users often find disruptive (有干扰性的) open-app advertisements that impact their experience. Open-app advertisements are advertisements that appear in between contents or during transition screens, such as when an app is loading the next page. Some of these advertisements can redirect users to another app if the phone is shaken, causing a lot of frustration for consumers.

These open-app advertisements function as gateways and become more common during online shopping festivals, redirecting users to shopping platforms such as Taobao and JD. Most smartphones have a gyroscope sensor (陀螺仪传感器) to detect shaking, leading to unintentional redirection. Many users not only find it annoying to find themselves on an advertisements page, but also have trouble disabling the gyroscope feature since sometimes their phones lack the choice to do so to avoid this issue.

In response, authorities have introduced detailed regulations on shaking advertisements gateways. A regulation published in December 2022 outlines specific rules for the design of “shake-to-open” advertisements. It says that these advertisements can only be “clicked through” if the phone’s rotation angle exceeds 35 degrees, with an action time longer than three seconds.

Additionally, in February, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology emphasized that pop-up or open-app advertisements should not disrupt users’ experiences. A regulation introduced in May states that advertisements must include a clear button for users to close them.

Government enforcement of these regulations presents challenges, as the number of apps and developers is great. However, this should not be an excuse for internet platforms to break the rules, as this behavior causes far more harm than good. A survey by the Jiangsu Consumer Council showed that over 90 percent of users strongly dislike open-app advertisements, feeling that their rights are being threatened.

While these advertisements might lead to more clicks, the fact is that the advertisements may harm the credibility of the platforms that the advertisements lead to and weaken the users’ willingness to use the platforms. Platforms can achieve a mutually beneficial (互惠互利) solution only if they respect users’ choices and provide suitable advertisements that users are willing to accept.

1. What does the first paragraph mainly talk about concerning open-app ads?

A．The benefits of open-app ads for online shopping platforms.

B．The lack of regulations governing traditional advertising methods.

C．The effectiveness of open-app ads in increasing users’ engagement.

D．The negative impact of disruptive open-app ads on users’ experience.

2. What was regulated in December 2022 about “shake-to-open” ads?

A．They can be clicked through without any restrictions.

B．They can only be clicked through on certain conditions.

C．They should have a clear button for users to close them.

D．They should appear for only three seconds on the screen.

3. How can platforms reach a win-win solution as mentioned in the last paragraph?

A．By ignoring users’ choices.

B．By respecting users’ preferences.

C．By presenting more irrelevant ads.

D．By flooding users with more profitable ads.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．The Preferences of Shopping Platforms.

B．The Challenges of Online Shopping Festivals.

C．The Role of Advertisements in Improving Users’ Experience.

D．The Battle against Disruptive Advertisements on Mobile Apps.

5 . Beeping alarms in hospitals are a life-or-death matter — but with so many going off all the time, medical professionals may experience alarm fatigue (疲劳) that impairs (损伤) care. Researchers now report that changing an alarm’s sound to integrate elements of musical instruments can make it more helpful amid the noises.

Auditory alarms can sound up to 300 times a day per patient in U. S. hospitals, but only a small percentage require immediate action. Data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggest that alarm fatigue (including when clinicians turned off or forgot to restart alarms) and other alarm-related issues were linked to 566 deaths over five and a half years.

After a typical day at the hospital, “I’d leave with beeping in my ears,” says Vanderbilt University Medical Center anesthesiologist Joseph Schlesinger. He co-worked with Michael Schutz, a music cognition researcher at McMaster University in Ontario, to analyze how musical sounds could improve hospital alarms.

In 2015, the researchers have conducted experiments, finding that sounds of a “percussive” music stand out even at low volume. In contrast, loud, “flat” tones like a reversing truck’s beep, get lost. And the sounds that made these sequences least annoying, with no decrease in recall, featured complex, time-varied harmonic (和声的) overtones (the many components within a single sound) rather than dull mechanical beeps.

The researchers are also drawing inspiration from other musical instruments: the triangle, for example, famously stands out in a crowd of sounds, possibly because it has overtone sequences that deviate from traditional harmonic series.

Such findings could lead to alarms that command attention and fit into current regulatory guidelines. Michael Rayo, who studies cognitive systems design at the Ohio State University, says that the experiment “furthers our understanding of aspects that reliably support strong performance.” Applied psychologist Judy Edworthy, a retired professor of the University of Plymouth in England, says the finding that musical tones can help improve alarms is important for future patient monitoring equipment designs. Still, she warns, “any sound can lead to alarm fatigue if it is constantly false.”

1. What is the problem with the traditional alarms beeping throughout hospitals?

A．Causing disorder of the hospital.	B．Annoying medical professionals.
C．Influencing clinicians’ response to alarms.	D．Damaging people’s hearing in hospitals.

2. What does the underlined word “deviate” in paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．Differ.

B．Separate.

C．Develop.

D．Arise.

3. What is Judy Edworthy’s attitude toward the finding of the research?

A．Critical.

B．Objective.

C．Ambiguous.

D．Supportive.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Music Finds Its Way to Hospitals	B．The Fatigue of Medical Professionals
C．Alarms: The Louder, The Better	D．Musical Alarms Fit Better in Hospitals

7 . A batch of new houses across California is selling unusually fast. In the past two months, 82 have been snapped up, and the waiting list is 1,000 long. That demand should, though, soon be satisfied—for, while it can take weeks to put up a conventional bricks-and-mortar dwelling (砖混住宅), the constructors behind these houses are able to build one in less than 24 hours. They can do it so rapidly because their products are collected from prefabricated (预制的) components printed in a factory.

Three-dimensional printing has been around since the early 1980s, but is now developing fast. It is already employed to make things ranging from orthopaedic (整形外科的) implants to components for aircraft. The details vary according to the products and processes involved, but the underlying principle is the same. A layer of material is laid down and somehow fixed in place. Then another is put on top of it. Then another. By varying the shape and the composition, objects can be crafted that would be difficult or impossible to produce with conventional techniques.

Not only does 3D printing allow greater versatility (用途广泛) and faster construction, it also promises a more environmentally friendly approach. That may make it a useful answer to two challenges now facing the world: a shortage of housing and climate change. More than 20% of Earth’s population lack adequate accommodation. And the construction industry is responsible for 11% of the world’s man-made carbon-dioxide emissions. An important benefit is that there is less need to move lots of heavy stuff. Palari Homes, for instance, estimates that prefabricating its products reduces the number of lorry journeys sufficiently to cut two tonnes off the amount of carbon dioxide released per home. If successful, building by 3D printing is likely to spread beyond housing. Opportunities also exist in warehousing, offices and other commercial buildings.

1. What can be inferred from paragraph one?

A．Houses are selling faster in California than other countries.

B．The demands of houses can make ends meet in California.

C．Traditional house sale in California has been booming recently.

D．Conventional dwellings need more time to complete.

2. What’s paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．Development and definition of Three-dimensional printing.

B．Application and work principles of Three-dimensional printing.

C．Advantages Three-dimensional printing has.

D．Functions and application of Three-dimensional printing.

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards 3D printing?

A．Ambiguous.

B．Indifferent.

C．Favorable.

D．Caring.

4. What’s the suitable title for the passage?

A．3D printing — application to construction field	B．3D printing — an environmentally friendly tech
C．The promising future of 3D printing industry	D．Novel practice of the familiar 3D printing

9 . We have all experienced that feeling of mental exhaustion after focusing on a tricky problem. Detailed thinking certainly feels like hard work, but is it? The answer is a touch more subtle than you might suspect. Intriguingly, when it comes to energy use, the brain doesn’t distinguish between tasks that we traditionally regard as “hard” and those that come more naturally. This was first demonstrated in the 1950s in a study showing that the brain’s level of metabolism (新陈代谢) is remarkably constant, regardless of whether we are concentrating on mental math or letting our mind wander.

Your brain assigns resources to its different parts depending on the mental activity being carried out. But there is a trade-off. “When the demand of a mentally challenging task increases, you see increased metabolism in the neurons (神经元) responsible for the task,” says Nilli Lavie at University College London. Meanwhile, you see corresponding decreases in other brain areas. For instance, Lavie and her colleagues measured energy use in the brain region responsible for daydreaming and found that it decreased when volunteers carried out a problem-solving task that required focused attention. So thinking hard does burn more energy in the brain region involved, but this is offset by energy savings in other parts of the brain.

However, your brain doesn’t see it that way. “It worries about an imbalance of supply over demand,” she says. When the brain detects exhaustion of glucose (葡萄糖) — the sugar that fuels the brain — in any region, it perceives it as something bad. This is what gives rise to the feeling of being worn out after continuous focus.

So, after a tough exam, the sensation of having burned through a supercomputer’s worth of energy is real, though your brain has used few or no extra calories overall. “There is a constant rate of neural energy in the brain,” says Lavie. “It is irrelevant whether it is spent on a task requiring concentration or on a distraction.”

1. What is the main idea of paragraph 1?

A．We all get tired after hard focus.

B．Thinking hard doesn’t use more energy.

C．A study shows the brain’s metabolism level.

D．Detailed thinking is considered harder than mind wandering.

2. What will happen to the region for daydreaming when you’re highly focused?

A．It burns an increased rate of calory.

B．It stimulates the neurons for the task.

C．It’s also involved in the task and requires energy.

D．It reduces neural activity and spares more energy.

3. Which of the following best replaces the word “offset” underlined in paragraph 2?

A．Balanced.

B．Absorbed.

C．Dominated.

D．Released.

4. Why does a mentally challenging task lead to more tiredness?

A．The brain detects signals of high energy demand.

B．The brain is punishing you for working too hard.

C．The brain is losing the balance of energy supplying.

D．The brain gets bored easily and refuses to be engaged.

10 . It was July 15, 2021, and my friends had helped me celebrate my 31st birthday in the basement apartment of my sister’s home, where I lived.

Earlier in the day I had prepared for the unlikely event of a flood. We are about a third of a mile from the banks of the Ahr River. It had been raining that week, and authorities had issued a flood warning, though not for where I was. Still, I’d placed sandbags on the floor outside my garden door and piled clothing on tables. Before my friends left, they laughed at me for doing that, but I thought, “Why take a chance?”

As I went to sleep, I was awakened by the sound of rushing water. When I swung my legs off the bed, I was shocked by the sensation of cold-water lapping against my knees and rising fast. The Ahr River had violently burst its banks. And I had to get out fast!

The water was now up to my waist. I started to wade to my only escape: the door that leads upstairs to the rest of the house. Finally, I made it to the door. I managed to make a gap of about a foot, just wide enough to squeeze through and make it into the hallway. I leaped onto the stairs and ran to the third floor.

The river had drowned the neighborhood. What was once a lovely, cozy street was now a waterscape. More than 180 people died, and parts of villages were entirely washed away. Many of the houses around us were destroyed. Not everyone got out.

I came close to drowning that day. But rather than dwell on that, I prefer to recall what my mother told me afterward, “Christian, don’t remember the day when you lost everything. Remember the day you survived.”

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

A．Celebrating a birthday.	B．Managing the garden.
C．Warning friends of a flood.	D．Preparing for the flood.

2. Why did the author try to open the door?

A．To let the water out.	B．To keep things being swept away.
C．To reduce the flow of water.	D．To escape to the upstairs.

3. What is the main idea of the fifth paragraph about the flood?

A．Its cause.

B．Its damage.

C．Its scale.

D．Its process.

4. Why did the author quote his mother’s words?

A．To show his hope for the future.	B．To indicate the loss of everything.
C．To highlight the power of flooding.	D．To stress the role of good luck.