1 . Taylor Swift showed very early promise as a singer of country songs, performing from the age of nine. She learned the guitar and persuaded her family to move to Tennessee so she could further her career. She holds numerous records for achievements in music, has been named among the top 100 most influential people on more than one occasion and was named as Woman of the Decade and Artist of the Decade in the 2010s. Swift’s musical style has evolved from country to pop and her fans number in the millions.
Taylor Swift has a firm belief that we should all be ourselves. She tempers this by saying that we must be respectful of others, honest and strong-willed. Strength of purpose will carry a person through life and see them achieve great things. Do not, she says, be average. Stand out and be the best person that you can.
Her view of life is simple. We each have one life, and we must make sure we do not waste it. Life is there to be enjoyed and to be fulfilled. Only we can control what happens in our lives, and must not allow others to judge us or create false opinions of us.
To live a life that has meaning, we must be prepared to learn from mistakes and failures and deal with them without getting discouraged or distracted from our path. No one should tell you what you can’t do, and you must not let a mistake tell you that either. When someone tries to stop you from doing something, be eager to prove them wrong. Be keen, too, to show that your mistakes won’t hold you back.
Taylor Swift puts great store in happiness. Seeking happiness is a wonderful ambition, and everyone should see it as an aim. Success without happiness is a meaningless achievement. Aiming for happiness can go along with other goals too. Swift doesn’t rest when she has achieved one goal, but picks up another and pursues that with the same vigor and determination.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?A.She moved to Tennessee to get a degree. |
B.She has been named among the top 100 most influential people once. |
C.Her musical style is single. |
D.She has had a talent in music since childhood. |
A.We should accept that we are only ordinary people. |
B.We are masters of our life. |
C.Never let mistakes block our moving-forward way. |
D.Without happiness, success equals zero. |
A.Patient and passionate | B.Positive and ambitious |
C.Hard-working and optimistic | D.Intelligent and humorous |
A.A brief introduction to Taylor Swift. | B.Taylor Swift’s autobiography. |
C.Taylor Swift’s influence. | D.Taylor Swift’s childhood and dream. |
2 . At one time or another, we have all wished that our animals could speak to us. But our pets do use another form of communication to tell us what they are thinking — body language. Sometimes this form of communication is easy to understand, but in some instances it can be much more complex.
Animals communicate in a variety of ways using their ears, eyes, mouth, tail, degree of muscle tension and posture. When figuring out what an animal is trying to say to us, we have to look at their overall behavior as well as what the different parts of their body are doing. We also need to consider their environment and what may be causing them to act as they are.
A wagging (摇动的) tail, for example, doesn’t always mean a happy dog. If the dog’s tail is wagging at the same time that their body is loose and their owner has just gotten home, it’s safe to assume that this is a happy dog. If the dog’s tail is between their legs and wagging while their body is bending low, ears are pulled back and they are licking their lips, this dog is more anxious and fearful. Our pets’ body language doesn’t just send us messages; our own body language sends them messages, too. It’s important to avoid staring directly at an animal or approaching them head-on — they can interpret these actions as threatening. It’s best to approach them sideways and to use your peripheral vision to look at them. Instead of leaning over an animal or reaching out toward them — which can also be seen as threatening — let them approach you when they’re comfortable.
While animals can’t speak to us using our language, they do communicate with us constantly through their body language — it’s up to us to pay attention and listen to what they’re telling us!
1. What can we know about animals’ body language from the first two paragraphs?A.It is a difficult skill for animals to master. |
B.People can understand it easily and clearly. |
C.It occurs when animals communicate with humans. |
D.People can respond to the needs of animals through it. |
A.Straight. | B.Surrounding. | C.Tough. | D.Unique. |
A.Walking right up to them. | B.Making an indirect eye contact. |
C.Reaching out to them from the side. | D.Keeping a certain distance from them. |
A.The Mystery Behind Animal’s Behavior |
B.Difference Between Various Body Language |
C.Body — Messenger Between Animals and Man |
D.Animal’s Body Language: A Form of Communication |
3 . Four famous classic Italian writers
When it comes to Italian literature, many people come up with Dante. But there are many other famous Italian authors. Below are four recommended writers and their masterpieces.
Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533)
Ariosto is best known for his epic(史诗般的) poem Orlando Furioso, which was published in 1977. As a poet always with new ideas, Ariosto invented the way of“singing the poem to the audience”. The poem presents a rich variety of characters, which has been an encouragement for many paintings and musical works.
Italo Calvino (1923-1985)
Calvino was the author of If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler published in 1979. The novel differs from others for its unique description of a frame story — a unifying story within which several tales are related. It has encouraged musicians like Sting to create their works. At the time of his death in 1985, Calvino was one of the world’s most translated Italian writers.
Umberto Eco (1932-2016)
Eco wrote The Name of the Rose, a historical murder mystery novel published in 1980. In the story, he skilfully applied the use of signs and symbols to it. A number of his books deal with the meaning and understanding of communication.
Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873)
Manzoni is most famous for his novel The Betrothed published in 1827. The novel was regarded to be connected with Risorgimento, the Italian unification movement in the 19th century. Probably we can say, without this great novelist and this masterpiece of world literature, Italy wouldn’t be Italy.
1. What can we know about Orlando Furioso?A.It has influenced musical works. | B.It was published in 1979. |
C.It was written by Manzoni. | D.It has been translated into many languages. |
A.A unique describing style. | B.The use of signs and symbols. |
C.A mix of new ideas. | D.The history of a movement. |
A.Ludovico Ariosto. | B.Italo Calvino. |
C.Umberto Eco. | D.Alessandro Manzoni. |
4 . Now more companies are experimenting with the concept of connected clothes. Among the pioneers is London based Cute Circuit, which has been creating fashionable smart clothing since 2004. The company’s latest innovation is the “Sound Shirt”, which allows deaf people to “feel” live music by transforming the tunes into touch sensations (感受) in real time.
The fashionable jacket uses software that changes the music into data and wirelessly sends it to the 16-micro motors fitted inside the clothing’s fabric (布料). The devices shake with the intensity (强度) of the music being played, allowing the wearer to feel each instrument individually. For example, violins can be felt on the arms, while the deeper, heavier bass notes can be felt close to the stomach. The series of touch like sensations across the wearer’s body enable him or her to feel the entire music, resulting in a musical experience.
To ensure the shirt is comfortable, the designers chose to leave out wires and instead wove conductive textiles (导电纺织品) into the garment’s fabric. Francesca Rosella, chief creative officer of Cute Circuit, explains, “There’re no wires inside, so we’re only using smart fabrics — we have a combination of micro-electronics and very thin and flexible and conductive fabrics. All these little electronic motors are connected with these conductive fabrics so that the garment is soft and stretchable.”
Cute Circuit, which has been testing the Sound Shirt for three years, expects to make it available to the general public shortly. Priced at $3,673, the smart jacket won’t be cheap. However, twin sisters Herman and Heredia Breanne, who lost their hearing at a young age, believe the hi-tech garment is a worthwhile investment, especially for deaf people with a passion for dancing. “It’s almost like feeling the depth of the music,” says Herman. “It just feels as though we can move along with it.”
1. Why does the writer mention smart clothing in the first paragraph?A.To show the development of technology. |
B.To introduce the topic of the passage. |
C.To demonstrate the latest trend of music. |
D.To summarize the main idea of the whole passage. |
A.The software used in the shirt. |
B.The musical instruments felt by the wearers. |
C.The way the shirt functions. |
D.The experience the wearer gains with the shirt. |
A.Affordable and fashionable. | B.Cheap and comfortable. |
C.Interesting but useless. | D.Expensive but comfortable. |
A.The shirt will be popular with deaf dancing-enthusiasts. |
B.They will invest in the “Sound Shirt” industry. |
C.The shirt should be marketed as soon as possible. |
D.They love music very much. |
5 . Rome can be expensive for travelers, which is why many choose to stay in a hostel (旅社).
Yellow Hostel
If I had to make just one recommendation for where to stay in Rome, it would be Yellow Hostel. It’s one of the best hostels in the city, and for good reason. It’s affordable, and it’s fun without being too noisy. As an added advantage, it’s close to the main train station.
Hostel Alessandro Palace
If you love social hostels, this is the best hostel for you in Rome. Hostel Alessandro Palace is fun. Staff members hold plenty of bar events for guests. There’s also an area on the rooftop for hanging out with other travelers during the summer.
Youth Station Hostel
If you’re looking for a clean and modern hostel, look no further than Youth Station. It offers beautiful furnishings (家具陈设). There are plenty of other benefits, too: it doesn’t charge city tax; it has both air conditioning and a heater for the rooms; it also has free Wi-Fi in every room.
Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes
Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes is located just a 10-minute walk from the central city station and it’s close to all of the city’s main attractions. The staff is friendly and helpful, who will offer you a map of the city when you arrive, and advice if you require some. However, you need to pay 2 euros a day for Wi-Fi.
1. What is the major concern of travelers who choose to stay in a hostel?A.Comfort. | B.Safety. | C.Price. | D.Location. |
A.Yellow Hostel. |
B.Hostel Alessandro Palace. |
C.Youth Station Hostel. |
D.Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes. |
A.It gets noisy at night. | B.Its staff is too talkative. |
C.It charges for Wi-Fi. | D.It’s inconveniently located. |
6 . What will restaurants look like in the future? What would your dinner taste like if a robot cooked it? A robot restaurant in Tianjin may give you the answers.
Covering an area of over 400 square meters with a total of 112 seats, the X Future Restaurant is a robot restaurant that opened in November 2018. The restaurant has amazed customers with its fully-automated (全自动的) technology, which covers every step of the dining experience, from ordering to cooking to serving the dishes and even taking payment.
Entering the restaurant, one can order dishes by simply scanning the QR codes on the table. There are over 40 choices of dishes. After taking the order, “robot cooks” prepare dishes using fixed time, temperature and ingredients designed by famous Chinese cooks.
“As the cooking is controlled by a computer system, the taste and quality of dishes can be good,” said Li Xiaokui, manager of the X Future Restaurant.
Robots also complete the delivery of dishes. Without following any designed route, the robot waiters serve meals thanks to automated driving technology, which helps each robot timely change its route when something is in the way.
These eye-catching technologies have received wide praise from customers. “The dishes taste surprisingly good. I couldn’t believe that they were made by robots, especially dishes that were difficult to cook.” one customer said. “The application of robots has increased our efficiency and cut down our costs,” Li said, “I think robot restaurants will develop fast and have a bright future.”
1. What do we know about the X Future Restaurant?A.It covers over 112 square meters with 400 seats. |
B.Robot waiters deliver dishes following fixed routes. |
C.Customers could enjoy fully-automated services. |
D.Robot cooks design dishes by themselves. |
A.They are prepared by human cooks. |
B.They are not easy for robots to prepare. |
C.They are not accepted by customers. |
D.They are ordered by scanning QR codes. |
A.The choices of dishes are limited. |
B.It takes a long time for the robots to prepare the dishes. |
C.Customers are willing to dine in the restaurant. |
D.The delivery routes are designed by the waiters. |
A.Hopeful. | B.Doubtful. | C.Puzzled. | D.Worried. |
7 . It was a September day. Today was the first day of high school for a freshman, Kayla. Kayla had always been a bit of a shy kid, but she had always
As she walked down the hallways, Kayla couldn’t help but feel
It wasn’t long before Kayla’s determination was put to the
Kayla’s classmates began to notice how
From that day on, Kayla
A.feared | B.loved | C.missed | D.forgot |
A.bored | B.excited | C.worried | D.interested |
A.difficulties | B.honours | C.reasons | D.dangers |
A.use | B.side | C.trouble | D.test |
A.simple | B.challenging | C.suitable | D.amazing |
A.part | B.share | C.best | D.duty |
A.teach | B.doubt | C.enjoy | D.believe |
A.great | B.strange | C.confusing | D.secret |
A.fast | B.bravely | C.fluently | D.hard |
A.flash | B.news | C.support | D.service |
A.manage | B.find | C.fill | D.waste |
A.thinking about | B.getting through | C.giving up | D.asking for |
A.freedom | B.creation | C.success | D.trust |
A.realized | B.argued | C.stressed | D.recommended |
A.families | B.customers | C.teammates | D.classmates |
8 . Developed by US company OpenAI, ChatGPT has got viral, winning 100 million internet users since it came out in November 2022. People can ask the robot to write stories and emails, create instructions for cooking a certain food, translate languages, and answer all kinds of questions. In its own words, it is “a language model trained in a large amount of internet text to help users get human-like text. ”
Compared with Siri or other chatbots, ChatGPT uses a much bigger information center for training. It also uses stronger software and hardware to learn things by itself. For example, if it provides a wrong answer to your question, you can tell it the right one and it will correct itself. “It’s a totally different chatbot,” computer scientist Liu Xiaoguang from Nankai University said. “The knowledge level ChatGPT shows is the same as a university student. That’s why it shocked the world.”
But one big problem with ChatGPT is that it makes mistakes or even gives false information. When Rezza, a 28-year-old from Indonesia, used the robot to write an passage, it “gave out many examples which other writers actually hadn’t mentioned at all”, he told a local newspaper. Since the robot is trained using words from the internet, it can also pick up biases(偏见) about certain groups. These are all things that need to be dealt with.
1. What does the underlined part mean in Paragraph 1?A.Done harm to the internet. | B.Brought strong wind and heavy rain. |
C.Become popular overnight. | D.Caused serious changes of the weather. |
A.It can find mistakes by itself. |
B.It works differently from other chatbots. |
C.Its information center is easier to control than Siri’s. |
D.Its knowledge level is as high as a university student. |
A.ChatGPT needs improvement. | B.Anybody may give false information. |
C.Anybody can make mistakes. | D.ChatGPT can’t get on well with humans. |
A.ChatGPT is Coming! | B.ChatGPT is Catching the World’s Eyes! |
C.Can ChatGPT Take the Place of Humans? | D.Can ChatGPT Avoid Biases Properly? |
9 . There is nothing like a coast redwood. It is the planet’s tallest tree, up to heights of more than 320 feet into the sky. With trunks that grow to more than 27 feet wide, they can live for over 2,000 years. Some of them living today were alive during the time of the Roman Empire (帝国).
Coast redwoods have survived through thousands of years of natural floods, droughts, tsunamis and fires. They can thrive (茁壮成长) and recover from damage as long as they can count on rainwater and coastal fog banks that roll in every morning. And it is those critical water sources that are disappearing as temperatures continue to rise. The damp conditions the trees like are rarer than they used to be. Coast redwoods now occupy less than 10 percent of their original range.
Their loss will have some consequences, particularly in the vast amount of carbon they store. Redwoods can store 2,600 metric tons of carbon per hectare, more than double the absorption rate of the Pacific Northwest’s conifer trees (针叶树), according to a new research published in Forest Ecology and Management.
David Milarch, an arborist from Michigan, says he feels sorrowful about the disappearing redwoods. He spends his days tracking down the healthiest coast redwood specimens (样本) he can find, cloning them in his own lab, and then planting them in carefully chosen places where they can thrive. Milarch’s goal is both to strengthen the coast redwood gene pool with clones of the strongest individuals, and to store loads of carbon. It’s a complicated mission with a simple philosophy: save the big trees, and they’ll save us.
Milarch explains that we need a practical and measurable solution to fighting against climate change. He believes the redwoods are the answer. However, scientist Mark Maslin cautions against viewing tree planting as a magic bullet, since even fast-growing trees take a long time to grow and be mature enough to reach their maximum carbon-trapping time which climate change cannot afford. As a global society, the most important thing we should do now is to reduce our overall carbon emissions if we want to have any impact on the planet’s climate crisis.
1. What causes the decrease of coast redwoods?A.Forest fires. | B.Soil pollution. |
C.Climate warming. | D.Human overcutting. |
A.To show the importance of redwoods to the environment. |
B.To introduce the approach to reducing carbon pollutants. |
C.To state the role of the Pacific Northwest’s conifer trees. |
D.To explain the difficulty of protecting coast redwoods. |
A.By seeking ideal specimens to clone. |
B.By exploring ways to raise their adaptability. |
C.By improving water sources in coastal places. |
D.By creating a wet growing environment for them. |
A.Scientists need to find ways to make redwoods grow faster. |
B.Growing redwoods is an efficient solution to climate change. |
C.Protecting redwoods can be much costlier than Milarch thought. |
D.Reducing carbon emissions should be a priority (优先考虑) in solving climate crisis. |
10 . I used to think my life was perfect. My mom had her dream job and a beautiful office, and I had my own room with a computer and a garden to
But something
We started a new
I never knew Rosica, their daughter,
Looking back, I realize that the hurricane
A.care for | B.worry about | C.dream of | D.search for |
A.visited | B.joined | C.injured | D.hit |
A.awkward | B.unexpected | C.annoying | D.unlucky |
A.brought | B.booked | C.offered | D.recommended |
A.challenge | B.request | C.wealth | D.kindness |
A.hardly | B.carefully | C.naturally | D.clearly |
A.sold | B.rented | C.showed | D.opened |
A.business | B.project | C.tradition | D.life |
A.campuses | B.dinners | C.journeys | D.competitions |
A.family | B.volunteers | C.community | D.supporters |
A.after | B.before | C.during | D.as |
A.cooking | B.storytelling | C.singing | D.housekeeping |
A.brought about | B.resulted from | C.made up for | D.got away with |
A.saved | B.controlled | C.enriched | D.recorded |
A.adventure | B.effort | C.party | D.disaster |