1 . 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. |
| 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. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Indifferent. | C．Favorable. | D．Caring. |
| 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 |
2 . When micro plastics end up in fields, they can damage plant growth. But two young researchers now report combining fungi (真菌) with certain farm wastes can partly address that problem.
May Shin aged 20 had desired to explore how micro plastics might affect the ecosystem. Jiwon Choi aged 18 was crazy about plants and fungi. They met in a research design class at the Fryeburg Academy, a high school in Maine and teamed up to find out the impact of long-lived plastics on farm crops.
Scientists have shown certain fungi can aid root growth and a plant’s nutrient uptake. Those organisms are named arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Farm wastes known as mushroom substrate (基质) can provide nutrients to plants and help stabilize their roots.
May and Jiwon planted over 2,000 scallion (大葱) seeds in pots of soil. Half the seeds got soil polluted with micro plastics. The rest grew in plastic-free soil. The plants then were further divided into four groups. The two young added AMF to the soil in one group. Another group had a top layer of mushroom substrate. A third group got both treatments. The last group got none. For three weeks, the pair tracked how many scallions sprouted (发芽) in each group and measured the plants’ height once each week.
About twice as many scallions sprouted in clean soil in comparison to that containing plastic bits. But among plants surviving in the polluted soil, a combination of AMF and mushroom substrate helped them out. Those getting both treatments grew 5.4 centimeters per week. That was faster than either of the treatments alone or those getting none.
They then looked at the roots with a microscope. Where AMF had been added, it grew into those roots. That increased the scallion roots’ surface area, thus promoting their uptake of nutrients. “I see this project as a possible sustainable solution for plant growth in polluted soils,” said May.
1. What’s the goal of May and Jiwon’s cooperation?| A．To explore the effect of micro plastics on ecosystem. |
| B．To find out the bond between fungi and crops. |
| C．To see how micro plastics influence crops. |
| D．To test whether crops can grow in polluted soil. |
| A．To arouse readers’ interest in the process of the test. |
| B．To help readers better understand the process of the test. |
| C．To measure the growth of scallion seeds more accurately. |
| D．To make the result of the test more convincing. |
| A．Plants grow better in polluted soil with AMF and farm wastes than in clean soil. |
| B．Plants grow better in clean soil than in soil containing micro plastics. |
| C．AFM enables seeds to sprout most in polluted soil than in clean soil. |
| D．Farm wastes help seeds sprout most in clean soil than in polluted soil. |
| A．By providing more nutrients to plants. | B．By exposing the plants’ roots to a larger area. |
| C．By increasing the deep area of plants’ roots. | D．By stabilizing the roots of the plants. |
3 . 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. |
| 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. |
| A．Balanced. | B．Absorbed. | C．Dominated. | D．Released. |
| 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. |
4 . 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. |
| 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. |
| A．Its cause. | B．Its damage. | C．Its scale. | D．Its process. |
| 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. |
5 . Just by typing a few keywords and waiting a few seconds, a picture comparable to that painted by a human artist appears on screen.
AI art generators have seemingly swept the Chinese Internet. In some paintings created by AI, an elderly man can be shown as a young animated image, and pets can be turned into adorable cartoon girls or boys.
Huang Ge, an illustrator from Shanghai, said that it usually takes him several hours or days to complete one illustration. But with AI art generators, the efficiency is greatly improved. “Also, the generators have many modification (修改) modes, and the picture can be modified directly in the painting software,” he added. Ding Jiao, a comic artist, considers the popularity of AI art generator s reasonable as many people who are not good at drawing can create great works through them.
So is Al painting gradually replacing human painting? In the hot topic “Using a picture to prove that human artists will never be replaced by Al” online, many netizens uploaded their paintings to prove that humans are better than AI. “Though Al technology has developed rapidly, AI cannot fully replace humans. The warmth and inspiration in human creations are irreplaceable,” said Ding Daoshi, an independent analyst.
Another controversial issue is that there is no consensus (共识) of who owns the copyright of AI art. Some users have openly sold their AI paintings and earned money, but it is still a gray area about whether these artworks belong to users, the digital tool developers or even AI.
Ding Daoshi noted that the various sides should get together to debate the issue and come up with some accepted rules as soon as possible because AI is already penetrating deeply into the lives of human beings.
1. Why does the author mention “an elderly man” and “pets” in Paragraph 2?| A．To show the popularity of AI art generators. |
| B．To illustrate the disadvantage of AI art generators. |
| C．To prove the significance of AI art generators. |
| D．To present the powerful function of AI art generators. |
| A．The efficiency of AI art generators. | B．The benefits of AI art generators. |
| C．The popularity of AI art generators. | D．The functions of AI art generators. |
| A．Whether human artworks will be replaced by AI artworks. |
| B．Who AI artworks will really belong to. |
| C．Whether human artists are better than AI art generators. |
| D．How AI painting can play a supportive role. |
| A．A done deal. | B．A give-and-take attitude. |
| C．An ill-defined situation. | D．A hard-to-get game. |
6 . As kids’ behaviour reaches crisis points after the pandemic, many schools are facing pressure from critics to rethink their approaches to discipline.
Approaches such as “restorative justice” were adopted widely in recent decades as educators updated the policies that cut off students’ access to learning, such as suspensions and expulsions (停学和开除). But more students have been acting out, and some school systems have faced questions from teachers, parents and lawmakers about whether a gentle approach can effectively solve problems that disrupt (扰乱) classrooms.
According to federal data, instances of misbehavior have been increasing since students returned to classrooms from the pandemic. A National Center for Education Statistics survey found 56% of respondents said the pandemic led to increased classroom disruptions from students’ misbehavior and 48%said it led to more acts of disrespect toward teachers and staff.
Rachel Perera studies education at the Brookings Institution. “There’s a lot of pressure on schools right now,” she said. “Schools also say they don’t have the resources to address more behavioral problems, and I worry that that will cause schools to fall back on old practices that are not effective in terms of supporting students in the way they need.”
Using restorative justice does not mean a school cannot remove a disruptive student from the classroom, said Thalia González, a professor at the UC College of the Law. But unlike other forms of discipline, restorative practices aim to deal with the root cause of students’ behavior and reintegrated them into classroom.
“That’s the problem with punitive discipline such as suspensions and expulsions,” González said. “You get removed and then you just come back. There’s nothing done to reintegrate into the community and rebuild the climate, the sense of safety, all the things that we know are so important to young people learning.”
1. What do we learn about “restorative justice” according to Paragraph 2?| A．It cuts off students’ access to learning. |
| B．It’s favored by both teachers and parents. |
| C．It’s less serious than suspensions and expulsions. |
| D．It’s more effective than suspensions and expulsions. |
| A．An increase in students’ misbehavior. | B．Ways to deal with students’ misbehavior. |
| C．An improvement on students’ performance. | D．Resources to address behavioral problems. |
| A．Negative. | B．Doubtful. | C．Confused. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Why are schools relying on restorative justice? |
| B．Is restorative justice an effective problem-solving approach? |
| C．How do schools make use of restorative justice? |
| D．What sets restorative justice apart from other discipline methods? |
7 . Right now, summers are getting hotter, winters colder and the polar ice is melting at an alarming rate. Extreme weather events and natural disasters frequently occur. The climate time-bomb is ticking. Strict measures must be taken to tackle the problem.
It reminds me of how the lives we live seem to follow roughly in the way put forward years earlier by the writers of science-fiction. I guess it’s “life imitating art”. When I was young there were stories about rockets going into space and even going to the moon, although there had never been a rocket into space at that time. Years later, Russia launched Sputnik, the first man-made object to go into earth orbit and later the US landed people and even a car on the moon.
When I was growing up there were also science-fiction stories about governments looking for solutions when the world’s natural resources were being over-extended, such as they are in the case of climate change. The solution in the stories was to assume that the cause of the problem was over-population and the solution, therefore, was to limit the number of people. Various plans were put forward for doing that, from limiting the birth rate to killing off anyone over a certain age. That age, if I remember correctly, was usually about 60 and when you reached that you were supposed to turn yourself over to a government facility where you would be put to death.
Still, a look at the old science-fiction stories provides an interesting and somewhat chilling approach to what is acknowledged to be a very serious and worsening world-wide problem. There is general agreement that urgent action is needed to stop us from literally making our world unfit to live on. The answers, at least so far, concentrate on managing those resources and the ways in which we use them However, I wonder if the day will come when life will imitate the art of the old science-fiction stories and someone will propose limiting the number of people on the planet as a way of making it more suitable for those who are left. It’s a grave thing to predict.
1. What does the author say about climate problems?| A．The problems can be tackled in a scientific way. |
| B．The problems are in urgent need of being resolved. |
| C．The explosion of extreme climates is under control. |
| D．The loss of natural resources leads to climate changes. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By using quotes. |
| C．By giving definitions. | D．By making contrast. |
| A．Removing overpopulated species. | B．Getting rid of seniors. |
| C．Over-extending natural resources. | D．Moving onto the moon. |
| A．Calm. | B．Serious. | C．Frustrated. | D．Anxious. |
8 . 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
9 . If you think about World Heritage Sites, you probably think of places associated with ancient art and culture and historical buildings. And of course, many of these are on the World Heritage List (WHL). These include remains of ancient cultures like Cuzco in Peru or the rock city of Petra in Jordan as well as old city centers such as Rome in Italy. Also common are places of artistic or cultural significance, like the Stonehenge stone circle in England. But the WHL contains a lot of sites that are not so obvious. Let’s look at a few of the more unusual sites on the WHL and why it is important to preserve them.
Citadel of Haiti
These monuments were built at the end of the 19th century when Haiti became independent and the many thousands of black slaves in Haiti were free for the first time. These ex-slaves built the monuments, which the WHL describes as “a universal symbol of liberty”.
Borders of France and Spain
This is an area of great natural beauty and the mountains have many interesting geological formations.
But it is also an area of small farms. The WHL has listed the site because it shows us about past European society through its landscape of villages, farms, fields, up land pastures and mountain roads.
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
This railway in India was opened in 1881 and is still operating today. It crosses a difficult area of mountain landscape and it is a great example of railway engineering. The WHL says that it is “the first, and still the most outstanding, example of a hill passenger railway.”
The city of Brasilia
Brasilia is a capital city that was created from nothing in 1956. The WHL calls it “a land mark in the history of town planning”. The different areas of the city and the buildings themselves were all designed at the same time so that they would harmonize with each other.
1. What’s the function of the examples of World Heritage Sites in paragraph 1?| A．To highlight the importance of WHL. |
| B．To exemplify sites of artistic and cultural value. |
| C．To compare the differences between various sites. |
| D．To draw readers’ attention to more unique sites on the WHL. |
| A．Former slaves. | B．Citizens in Haiti. |
| C．Active revolutionaries. | D．Haiti government. |
| A．Citadel of Haiti. | B．Borders of France and Spain. |
| C．The city of Brasilia. | D．The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. |
10 . There are many great independent bookstores in North Carolina. If you’re looking for some good books to read, you can visit the bookstores listed below.
Purple Crow BooksIt’s a literary meeting place right in historic downtown Hillsborough. It was opened in 2009. You can find new books, used ones or the latest works by local authors. Because it specializes in local writers, Purple Crow Books is a favorite tourist destination. It’s a great place to grab a signed copy of a book by your favorite local author.
109 West King Street, Hillsborough, NC 27278
Quail Ridge BooksThis is an independent bookstore with friendly staff dedicated to (致力于) providing the best customer service. Founded in 1984 by Nancy Olson, the store provides a wide variety of carefully selected books, events, discussion groups and town hall meetings. The owner Lisa Poole bought the store in 2013 and is dedicated to serving the locals.
4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road, Raleigh, NC 27609
Pomegranate BooksThis bookstore is located in the historic Borkenhagen House in the Winter Park neighborhood of Wilmington, North Carolina. It has been finding good homes for great books since 2005. It stocks a carefully selected collection of literary and life-enhancing titles for all ages and also features locally-made cards and gift items.
4418 Park Ave, Wilmington, NC 28403
Scuppernong BooksThis bookstore was opened on December 21, 2013 and has been an important part of the rebirth of downtown Greensboro ever since. It features fiction and poetry along with a remarkable children’s section and a broad range of general interest titles. Within the store is a busy cafe serving coffee, wine, and beer sourced primarily from local small businesses.
304 South Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
1. What is special about Purple Crow Books?| A．It holds various reading activities. | B．It mainly sells books by local writers. |
| C．It focuses on selling second-hand books. | D．It is supported by local small businesses. |
| A．Quail Ridge Books. | B．Purple Crow Books. |
| C．Pomegranate Books. | D．Scuppernong Books. |
| A．People loving non-fiction books. | B．People liking handmade cards and gifts. |
| C．People enjoying a very quiet environment. | D．People fond of buying collections of poetry. |
