1 . The silence of the Reference Library was broken only by the sound of pages being turned over. There were about twenty people in the room, most of them with their__________bent over their books. The assistant librarian sat at a desk in one corner.   She had a look at Phillip as he came in, then went on with her work.

Phillip had not been to this part of the library before. He_________around the room almost on tiptoe, _______of disturbing(打扰)the readers with his heavy shoes. The shelves were filled with thick books: dictionaries in many languages, biography and some others. He found nothing to interest him, _______he came to a small area on photography, which was one of his hobbies. The books in this area were on a high shelf out of his__________, so he had to fetch a small ladder(梯子) in order to get one down. Unluckily, as he was _______down the ladder, the book he had chosen slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a__________crash. Twenty pairs of eyes looked_________ at him together. Phillip felt himself go red as he ________up his book, which did not seem to have been damaged by its________.

He had just sat down when he found the young lady assistant standing alongside him. “You _____be more careful when you are holding these books,” she said seriously. Satisfied that she had done her duty, she turned to go back to her desk. Then a sudden________struck her. “By the way, how old are you?” she asked Phillip. “Thirteen,” he told her. “You’re not________in here under the age of fourteen, you know,” the assistant said. “Didn’t you see the notice on the door?” Phillip shook his head. He _________the assistant to ask him to leave. Instead, in a more _____tone(语气) , she said: “Well, never mind. But make sure that you don’t disturb the other readers again, or I shall have to ask you to leave. ”

1.

A．legs

B．hands

C．arms

D．heads

2.

A．jumped

B．ran

C．walked

D．danced

3.

A．afraid

B．confident

C．careful

D．certain

4.

A．when

B．until

C．because

D．although

5.

A．reach

B．control

C．pocket

D．balance

6.

A．looking

B．falling

C．bending

D．climbing

7.

A．little

B．strange

C．low

D．loud

8.

A．up

B．down

C．away

D．around

9.

A．held

B．picked

C．made

D．put

10.

A．fault

B．arrival

C．fall

D．limit

11.

A．may

B．must

C．can

D．would

12.

A．thought

B．picture

C．change

D．shock

13.

A．asked

B．provided

C．allowed

D．encouraged

14.

A．determined

B．expected

C．planned

D．refused

15.

A．relaxing

B．sharp

C．bored

D．kindly

2 . To Their Own Beat

When Los Lobos perform in concert today, audiences in the thousands cheer them on. It’s hard to believe that the group started out as just another garage band playing popular rock-and-roll tunes from the radio, In 1974 four high school friends from East Los Angeles formed Los Lobos ( Spanish for “The Wolves” ) .

Like many garage bands, these friends might have simply gone their separate ways after high school. But the members of Los Lobos wanted to keep making music together. They decided to change their musical style and began focusing on traditional Mexican music that showed their tradition.

“We pulled out all those records we used to beg our parents not to play around our friends and found an incredible wealth of music,” says Perez. “These guys (on the records) were doing amazing things with their instruments, and we started trying to pick up on it. ”

The group put aside its electric guitars for the acoustic ones used in traditional Mexican music. For several years Los Lobos played at weddings or parties—any event that needed live music. They also landed a regular engagement (合同)   at a Mexican restaurant.

By 1978 Los Lobos had made enough money to record their first album   (唱片) , and they sold copies of it wherever they performed. They also returned to their electric guitars to get closer to a Tex-Mex sound, which is a mixture of traditional Mexican music, rock and roll, country music, and the blues. This new, louder sound produced one unexpected result: the group was fired from the restaurant.

But it didn’t matter that Los Lobos had lost their one steady job, because they had found a position that no other group took up. They had combined electric and acoustic instruments and blended (混合) musical styles in their own way. Steve Berlin joined the band in 1983 as the saxophone and keyboard player, adding to the band’s unusual sound.

“We didn’t so much want to recycle the music we’d grown up with as much as find the common links between it and all the other styles and sounds that were all around us,” Perez explains.   “It became a mission ...   bringing music together to bring people together. ”

In the 1980s Los Lobos gained the attention of several record companies. They were hired to perform on the soundtrack to the film La Bamba, which earned them a Golden Eagle Award. They have since earned many awards, including two Grammys and an MTV Video Music Award. Their many records have been very successful, and they have toured the world.

Even after 30 years of making music together, Los Lobos continues to experiment with their sound. They never moved far away from their Mexican roots, however.   They still include traditional music in their live performances, sharing their history—and their culture—with their fans.

1. Los Lobos recorded their first album after they_______.

A．lost their job at a restaurant

B．began playing acoustic guitars

C．won an award for a film soundtrack

D．added saxophone and keyboards to their sound

2. Which paragraph writes about the great success of the band?

A．Paragraph 1.

B．Paragraph 4.

C．Paragraph 6.

D．Paragraph 8.

3. What makes Los Lobos special and successful?

A．The way they recorded their first album.

B．Their blending of different types of music.

C．Their decision to play traditional Mexican music.

D．The fact that they performed and toured the world.

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Music is best when played with traditional instruments.

B．Music must be recorded to be passed down.

C．Music should remain the same over time.

D．Music can show many cultures.

3 . Scientists are poor forecasters of the future. But two trends can be confidently predicted. First, the world will get more crowded. There’ll be more than 9 billion people by 2050. Second, the world will get warmer and some governments won’t prioritise the long-term measures needed to deal with climate change, even though science offers us a roadmap to a low-carbon future.

That’s why we should be promoters of new technology—without it the world can’t provide the food and sustainable energy needed for an expanding population. But we should also be cautious, as new technologies, such as AI, may be hard to control.

AI will undoubtedly become more intrusive in the future. Records of our movements, health and financial transactions will be stored in the cloud. The data may be used for justifiable reasons, such as protein folding and drug development, or to warn us of initial health risks, but its availability to Internet companies is already shifting the balance of power from governments to global-scale corporations.

Actually, it’s beyond Earth that AI has the most enormous potential. Humans may have established bases beyond Earth by the year 2100．But don’t ever expect mass emigration (移民) from Earth. It’s a false belief that space offers an escape from our problems. Dealing with climate change on Earth is a piece of cake compared to terraforming Mars.

Nevertheless, we should cheer on these brave human space adventurers. They’ll be ill-adapted to a Martian habitat, so they’ll have a super motive to redesign themselves. It’s they, not those of us adapted to life on Earth, who will pioneer the post-human era (时代).

If post-humans make the shift from flesh and blood to fully artificial intelligences, they won’t need an atmosphere of even gravity, so it’s in deep space — not even on Mars that non biological “brains” may develop powers that we can’t imagine. They may end up being mentally different from us. AI could jump-start a huge emigration and thus even more complex intelligence spreads through the universe.

But let’s re focus from the science fiction of the far future. closer to the here and now. This century is special. It’s the first, in Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history where one species-ours—holds the planet’s future in its hands. Our intelligence could initiate billions of years of post-human evolution (演化), even more amazing than that which led to us. On the other hand, humans could cause biological, environmental or cyber catastrophes that foreclose all this potential.

If science is to save us, we need to think globally, sensibly and long-term—empowered by science, but guided by values that science alone can’t provide.

1. Why does the author mention the two trends in the first paragraph?

A．To reply to governments’ decisions.	B．To show scientists’ prediction ability.
C．To present a call for scientific advances.	D．To highlight the challenges to scientists.

2. According to this passage, AI can ______.

A．put an end to climate change	B．make mass human emigration possible
C．speed up the competition in medical fields	D．bring about potential threats from big companies

3. As for the future, what does the author agree with?

A．Post-humans will repeat the history of humans.

B．Complex intelligence will dominate the universe.

C．Fully artificial intelligences may inhabit outer space.

D．Non-biological brains may invite unforeseen disasters.

4. Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Could AI Save Us?	B．Will Science Lead Evolution?
C．Arc Space Adventurers Pioneers?	D．Is Complex Intelligence Coming?

4 . Getting older often involves a series of challenges, such as cognitive (认知的) decline, late-life depression and social isolation. In a society that is aging fast, it has become important to find ways to promote successful aging to prevent and limit cognitive and emotional disorders. Music is a promising tool for improving cognition and promoting well-being.

Cognitive reserve (储备) is the mind’s power to stop age-related brain damage. Research has shown that stimulating (令人兴奋的) life experiences are linked with higher power to prevent age-related brain diseases. Music is known to be cognitively stimulating and it could contribute to building such reserve throughout the life course. Music makes unique demands on our nervous system, like cognitive control. For example, lifelong musical expert knowledge and skills seem to reduce cognitive decline. However, it is not necessary to be a professional musician to benefit from musical training. Research shows that even short-term musical training strengthens cognition in the elderly.

The brain is built to change over our lifetime, which can be shaped by experience. Importantly, this happens over time and in response to a specific new skill. Research studies have identified structural and functional differences between the brains of musicians and non-musicians, especially in regions related to motor control and auditory processing. Evidence shows that even short-term musical interventions (干预) can promote brain plasticity and increase grey matter volume. Even passive music listening can result in improved cognitive abilities.

Music can open forgotten doors to our memories — such as weddings, school dances, and parties — with little cognitive effort. Music helps to recall all the memories that you have connected with a song. The “reminiscence bump” is used to describe enhanced memory for events that occur during adolescence (青春期) and early adulthood that are often sharp. A song becomes a soundtrack for a particular time, such as during a summer hanging out with a specific group of friends.

Music has a great power to bring strong emotions and intense pleasure into your mind, thus changing mood. Music can be used as an aid for escaping from everyday life through imagination of your own memories. Moreover, musical activities often involve social functions promoting social contact, cooperation, and a sense of belonging with others.

In sum, music is a powerful tool to fight against aging-related emotional and cognitive disorders. Music is also considered as a social activity, accessible to anyone regardless of background. So, this intervention should become a major policy priority for health y aging.

1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly tell us about music?

A．The effect of music on musicians.	B．The benefit of music for cognition.
C．The power of music over loneliness.	D．The demand of music on nervous system.

2. The author uses “reminiscence bump” in Paragraph 4 to ________.

A．introduce a topic	B．provide an opinion
C．compare with music	D．explain an argument

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Short-term musical training doesn’t work.

B．The brain can’t be influenced by experience.

C．Music can be used to limit emotional disorders.

D．Music is a powerful tool to fight against aging.

5 .

If you have ever seen a snowflake design on jewelry or a bag, chances are it was based on one of Wilson Bentley’s more than 5,000 photomicrographs of snow crystals (晶体).

At first, though, Bentley did not have any way to share his enjoyment of the delicate hexagons (六边形) other than to draw them. He spent hours outside or inside his unheated storeroom with a microscope. He would pick up a snow crystal and transfer it to a microscope slide. There, he flattened it with a bird feather. Then, holding his breath, he observed the crystal and hurried to draw what he saw before it turned forever into thin air.

A few years later, Bentley began his pursuit to photograph a snow crystal. He attached a microscope to a camera. Time after time, his negatives appeared blank. The following winter, he finally figured out that too much light was reaching the camera. His solution was to place a metal plate with a tiny hole in the center beneath the stage of the microscope. It cut down the stray (杂散的) light and allowed only the light waves carrying the image to reach the camera.

On January 15, 1885, at the age of 19, Bentley finally photographed a snowflake! He spent many hours over the next 45 years in his tiny darkroom developing negatives.

Bentley lived his entire life on his childhood farm. He farmed for a living. To his friends and family, he was kind, gentle, and funny “Willie”. But to scientists, he was the untrained researcher who became a snow crystal pioneer. He wrote for science journals. He not only photographed snow crystals but also became an authority on dew (露水) and frost. He kept a detailed daily log of local weather conditions throughout his life. He developed a method to measure the size of raindrops too.

Bentley never made more than a few thousand dollars from his work. It had been a labor of love, and he was satisfied to be able to share the beauty of his snow crystals with the world. And today, he is remembered as Snowflake Bentley.

1. Why did Bentley draw the snow crystals?

A．To design products.	B．To become an artist.
C．To share his pleasure.	D．To research the weather.

2. To photograph a snow crystal, Bentley _______.

A．improved the microscope	B．changed the negatives
C．turned down the light	D．invented a camera

3. What do we know about Bentley?

A．He lived a successful but boring life.	B．He was laughed at for lack of training.
C．He earned a lot of money from his photos.	D．He was not only an artist but also a scientist.

4. What can we learn from this passage?

A．Practice makes perfect.	B．Intelligence is the key to success.
C．Love and devotion makes a person.	D．Chances are for those who are prepared.

6 . In 2022, my 4-year-old son, Tyler, needed to have a serious surgery (手术). My wife and I took him to Children’s Hospital.

There were a lot of worries in our hearts in the waiting room. When a nurse called us to the doctor’s office, our _______ only grew. A young doctor told us that he would perform the surgery and began to _______ what the process (过程) would be and all the risks of a surgery like this. My mind went to the _______ possible result. I just couldn’t help but feel like: What was I going to do if I _______ my son?

But he then did something that was very _______. He looked us both in the eye, put a hand on each one of our shoulders and said, “Your son is my son.” I will never _______ that because that sent a calm through me. What he said was very helpful and meaningful.

After the surgery, he _______ to us, looked us once again in the eye and said, “Our son is just fine, and you could see him here in a few minutes.”

I can’t tell you how _______ we both were for having him there and for what he said to us. I’ll never forget that doctor. And to this day, anytime I have a chance to volunteer or donate to Children’s Hospital, I’ll make sure I’m one of the first ones in line. I hope that I have the _______ of seeing him again someday to thank him for his ________ words.

1.

A．fear

B．shame

C．pity

D．pride

2.

A．imagine

B．realize

C．explain

D．challenge

3.

A．fastest

B．latest

C．lowest

D．worst

4.

A．trusted

B．lost

C．scared

D．missed

5.

A．secret

B．unexpected

C．strange

D．creative

6.

A．accept

B．believe

C．doubt

D．forget

7.

A．looked up

B．walked up

C．opened up

D．drove up

8.

A．sorry

B．angry

C．thankful

D．regretful

9.

A．task

B．choice

C．sign

D．chance

10.

A．kind

B．sharp

C．boring

D．simple

7 . Is your teen time really that different from that of your parents or grandparents?

Weak. Easy to be angry. Addicted to their phones. Are these what come to mind when we think of the teens of this generation (一代人)? While there may be a little of truth to this thought, there might be more to the teens of this generation than what is generally seen.

Never before have the lives of any generation been as connected with mobile technology and social media as the teens of this generation. It follows then that there will be some problems resulting from this new age of technology. The popular use of social media has led to a world in which teens are responsible to join. Compared to the parents or grandparents who were likely less connected, these teens are “busy” in their social circles. It is no wonder then that the health of this generation’s teens has been damaged.

Moreover, the teens today are more independent. This is quite different from the more village spirit or community thought of the parents’ and grandparents’ times. Gone is the relationship among neighbours who are friendly with one another and quick to offer a helping hand when they see another in need. In its place, we have teens who may not even know who lives in the unit next to theirs, much less offer a friendly nod or wave when they happen to cross streets with a neighbour.

Yet, the influences of technology on the teens of this generation are not all bad. The very connectedness that social media brings about has led to an opening of minds and a development of dialogue among people of various cultures and backgrounds. Using social media means that one can know those people and their different ways of life. The parents or grandparents of this generation probably did not have the same chance to get to know people outside of their social circles at their age, so they may have fixed ideas of people different from them. The teens of this generation, on the other hand, has the chance to use this technology to learn more about and try to understand the various things out there. As a result, this might be why the teens of this generation are generally more open-minded than their parents and grandparents.

All in all, the teens of this generation are different in many ways from their elders. Every generation is a product of the events of their time and this generation therefore is different from past generations, with the changes around them at the same time.

1. Which statement is correct according to the passage?

A．Most old people may not know their next-door neighbors.

B．People usually think the new generation is stronger and calmer.

C．Social media and technology may bring some influences to teens.

D．The new generation may have fixed ideas of people different from them.

2. What does the underlined word “damaged” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A．Broken.	B．Relieved.
C．Increased.	D．Developed.

3. According to the writer, which of the following words can best describe the new generation?

A．Brave and smart.

B．Open and independent.

C．Friendly and confident.

D．Responsible and patient.

4. What can we learn from Paragraph 5?

A．The new generation is better because of their age.

B．Technology has bad influences on the old generation.

C．People use social media to learn different people.

D．The use of social media brings some benefits to the new generation.

5. Which would be the best title (标题) for this passage?

A．How Does the New Generation Change the Culture?

B．How Are Teens Today Different from Past Generations?

C．What Are the Weaknesses of the Old and New Generation?

D．What Are the Influences of Technology on the New Generation?

8 . Li Jing, 29, is a native of Cuijiaba, a small town in Hubei Province. She was one of the first people from her community to go for higher education. After graduation, she worked in Wuhan first, and then she changed her decision last year to return to her village.

“I want to be a part of my hometown’s development and bring about real changes to our villagers while realizing my own personal value,” Li said.

After returning to her hometown, Li received strong support from her family, while there were some villagers who questioned her decision. She decided to show her love to the hometown through action.

Her job included a great deal of communication with the villagers mainly to increase potato production. “We regularly hold meetings in the village square, where we share ideas on potato planting skills, selling methods, market changes and more,” Li said.

To increase sales outside the village, the young workforce in the village chose to go into the world of livestreaming(直播). This new marketing method has produced satisfying results. Together with other methods like doing online business on websites and apps, the money that a family can get from potato sales in a year has risen sharply from 1,000 yuan to the present number of 20,000 yuan, according to Li.

However, the road to success is not always easy. “At first, some people were not willing to accept the new ideas,” Li said. But Li didn’t force them. Instead, she chose to communicate with effort. Li and her workmates would also search online for other villages’ success stories about the application of livestreaming, and shared them with villagers. She knew communications took a lot of time and energy, but she believed it’s all worth it. Li said, “True smiles on the faces of the villagers are the best gifts for me.”

In the near future, Li hopes to continue helping her villagers raise their potato production and earn more money. Her long-term goal is to help rural areas further develop and integrate(结合) with the city. She said hopefully, “We will continually find ways to bring happiness to the villagers and the long-term development to the countryside.”

1. Li Jing returned to her hometown mainly to ________.

A．work in the government

B．bring great changes to her family

C．realize her dream of being a farmer

D．contribute to the local development

2. When questioned by some villagers, Li Jing ________.

A．turned to her family for help

B．defended herself at meetings

C．took action to help the villagers

D．immediately went back to cities

3. Li and the villagers increased the potato sales mainly by ________.

A．putting up ads on TVs

B．taking up livestreaming

C．producing satisfying results

D．communicating with other villagers

4. What does Li think of the future plan in the rural areas?

A．Promising.

B．Doubtful.

C．Challenging.

D．Fearful.

5. What can we learn from the passage?

A．All good things come to an end.

B．Where there is a will, there is a way.

C．You cannot eat your cake and have it.

D．A single flower does not make a spring.

9 . I love a group text—a grext, if you’ll permit me—but lately, the huge number of them competing for my attention has felt out of control. By the time I wake up, the notifications have already started rolling in; as I’m going to bed, they’re still coming. In between, I try to keep up, but all it takes is one 30-minute meeting before I’ve somehow gotten 100 new messages. I scroll up and up, trying to find where I left off, like I’ve lost my place in a book that keeps getting longer.

For better or for worse, we might be in the Age of the Group Chat. One study found that less than 2 percent of participants had only one-on-one chats on social media. 42 percent said that group chats can feel like a part-time job. Other studies have found that group chats can contribute to group bond and shared fun. A group text can be like a reminder that you’re part of something. Some researchers call this “ambient virtual presence”: Even when you’re alone, you’re not alone. This is like bats and dolphins producing a continuous sound and use the resulting echo (回声) to sense what’s around them.

But taking in too many signals can create a “waterfall type of effect,” where messages keep flooding in and adding up. Eventually, you’re underwater. Adding to the disorder, without a standard rule, people have very different ideas about group norm and what degree of responsiveness is required—which can cause real tension.

Fear of that tension can make wordless or even leaving a chat feel dispiriting. And anyway, you might not want to miss out. The desire isn’t to exit the room so much as to break a window. If group messaging is like echolocation, then disconnecting means lost.

Ultimately, most of us do want connection, even if it involves some duties; we’ll take quantities of messages when we’re busy if it means we can reach out when we’re hurting. A general advice is to give up grexts that are carrying on but that don’t really interest you. But when you can’t, you’ll just have to accept that belonging takes some effort. That’s the nature of relationships, right?

1. The author uses his experience in Paragraph 1 to _______.

A．introduce the topic	B．predict the ending
C．highlight an opinion	D．illustrate an argument

2. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?

A．Lonely people prefer group chats.	B．Bats and dolphins have group chats.
C．Group chats offer a sense of belonging.	D．Group chats create a few part-time jobs.

3. What does the writer intend to tell us?

A．Group chat needs a standard rule.

B．Group chat gives us more fear than joy.

C．Group chat helps promote strong connection.

D．Group chat is just a way to maintain relationships.

10 . Drought is an increasing problem in our warming world. All continents have been experiencing more extended periods without rain, leading to forest fires and poor crop growth. Consequently, people are looking at cloud seeding to solve the problem — a method of encouraging precipitation (降水) by sending small particles of certain chemicals into clouds.

Cloud-seeding expert Arlen Huggins has been studying its effectiveness. “My earliest experience was to use cloud seeding to reduce the amount of hail (冰雹) in northeast Colorado. We didn’t have any luck with that, but we had success later on in increasing snowfall in Utah. Now, the focus is shifting towards increasing rainfall from summer clouds, which is far more unpredictable.” said he.

The problem is that it’s pretty hard to know whether precipitation resulted directly from cloud seeding. It might have rained or snowed anyway. Even if you cloud seed in one place and don’t in another, it’s impossible to know for sure what caused the precipitation. Also, it’s not during foggy and snowy conditions that people think of increasing the chance of rainfall. When a country is hit by drought, then cloud seeding isn’t an option due to the lack of clouds. During drought, skies tend to be clear with few clouds. The best option to prevent drought is to seed at times of the year when rainfall levels are normal or higher. That way, slightly more rain can be stored the dry season.

As cloud seeding is expensive and its effectiveness tenuous, its usefulness is still a matter of opinion. University of Colorado researcher Katja Friedrich says cloud seeding can’t end a drought. However, it can be beneficial, provided it occurs alongside other water conservation strategies. Still, for that to happen, the water would need to be captured and stored effectively.

There are also environmental issues regarding the impact of cloud seeding. At high levels, the chemicals sent into the clouds can harm humans and other animals, and some studies have found them slightly poisonous. Apart from that, some environmentalists are concerned about the long-term impacts, as there isn’t data on how much those chemicals accumulate (累积) in the environment over 10 years.

Another fear is that cloud seeding could potentially steal water from neighbouring areas by encouraging the water in clouds that would otherwise fall somewhere else to fall in your location. If one country uses cloud seeding to create rain, a neighbouring country will also be very likely to lose out because clouds are constantly forming and reforming.

1. In Huggins’ study, at first cloud seeding was used to        .

A．increase annual snowfall in Utah

B．send chemicals into summer clouds

C．lower the amount of hail in Colorado

D．put out forest fires and help crops grow

2. What does the underlined word tenuous in the fourth paragraph probably mean?

A．Negative.

B．Weak.

C．Surprising.

D．Various.

3. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Should we seed clouds to make rain?

B．Should we seed clouds at a lower price?

C．Can cloud seeding help end a drought?

D．Can cloud seeding be more eco-friendly?