1 . Ernest Gaines, the son of sharecroppers (佃农), was born in January 15, 1933 on the River Lake Plantation near the small village of Oscar, Louisiana. He attended school for kids more than five months out of the year. But that was more education than his family before him had received. He would say later in life that his ear for the stories of his elders was developed as he wrote letters for adults who couldn’t read or write.
In the late 1940’s, at the age of 15, his family moved to the northern California where he could do something that had been forbidden in the South: visit a library. Ernest later attended San Francisco State University. Then he returned to Louisiana in 1963, inspired by James Meredith’s bid to enroll in the then-all-white University of Mississippi. He took it as a sign that the South was changing and that he could be part of that change. “As I’ve said many times before, the two greatest moves I’ve made were on the day I left Louisiana in 1948, and on the day I came back to Louisiana in 1963,” he said.
Less than 10 years later, in 1971, he published the novel that brought him attention, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman which told the story of a black woman born as a slave who lives long enough to witness the civil rights era. Ernest would later say that the fictional Jane was modeled after his disabled great-aunt, Augustine Jefferson, who could not walk, but was strong enough to raise a family. Another novel, A Gathering of Old Men, published in 1983, was made into a movie in 1987. He won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1993 for his novel A Lesson Before Dying. A number of his stories and essays were gathered in the 2005 collection Mozart and Leadbelly.
His permanent residence in Louisiana was a house that he and his wife built on land that was once part of River Lake Plantation. Ernest talked about his home, “If Auntie could sit here with me, or my stepfather who took me away from here, or my uncle George, who used to take me to those old beat-up bars in Baton Rouge — if I could, I’d just buy him a good glass of Gentleman Jack, and we could sit here and talk. Oh, I wish I could do that.”
1. How did Ernest benefit from writing letters for adults?| A．It inspired great love for writing in him. |
| B．It made him enter the university successfully. |
| C．It laid the foundation for his writing of his elders. |
| D．It promoted his communication with his families. |
| A．Ernest got the freedom of education in California. |
| B．Ernest’s departure and return influenced his life a lot. |
| C．James helped him apply to University of Mississippi. |
| D．Ernest’s experience in the South affected him greatly. |
| A．Mozart and Leadbelly. | B．A Lesson Before Dying. |
| C．A Gathering of Old Men. | D．The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. |
| A．He misses his relatives. | B．He hopes to leave again. |
| C．He cherishes his childhood. | D．He loves drinking and chatting. |
2 . AIDS may be one of the most undesirable diseases in the world. Luckily, there is now hope for AIDS patients.
According to a recent paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Chinese scientists have successfully used CRISPR technology - a method of gene editing - to treat a patient with HIV. While it may not have cured the patient fully, it still represents a huge step forward in fighting the disease.
The patient was a 27-year-old Chinese man who was diagnosed with both AIDS and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (急性淋巴细胞白血病), a type of blood cancer. Despite his hopeless situation, doctors offered him a glimmer of hope: a bone marrow (骨髓) transplant to treat his cancer and an experimental treatment for his HIV.
They used this opportunity to edit the DNA in bone marrow stem cells from a donor before transplanting the cells into the patient.
Specifically, the treatment involved using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to delete a gene known as CCR5, which encodes a protein that HIV uses to get inside human cells. Without the gene, HIV is unable to infiltrate cells.
Talking about the gene, lead scientist Deng Hongkui told CNN, “After being edited, the cells - and the blood cells they produce - have the ability to resist HIV infection.”
Nineteen months after the treatment, the patient’s leukemia was in complete remission (缓解) and donor cells without CCR5 remained, according to the research paper.
Though the transplant did not cure the man’s HIV, it still showed the effectiveness of gene-editing technology, as there was no indication of any unintended genetic alterations - a major concern with past gene therapy experiments.
Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security in the United States, who was not involved in the study, praised the treatment.
“They did a very innovative experiment. It was safe,” he told Live Science. “It should be viewed as a success.”
Deng believes gene-editing technology could “bring a new dawn” to blood-related diseases such as AIDS and sickle cell anemia (镰刀形细胞性贫血).
“Thanks to this new technology, the goal of a functional cure for AIDS is getting closer and closer,” he said.
1. The technology of CRISPR is to ___________.| A．transplant cells | B．encode genes |
| C．remove proteins | D．produce cells |
| A．CCR5 and other genes in the patient’s cells were changed. |
| B．The number of cells infected by HIV decreased. |
| C．Some of the patient’s blood cells could resist HIV infection. |
| D．HIV no longer existed in the patient’s cells. |
| A．It provided an innovative way to cure AIDS patients. |
| B．It pointed out the problems of gene therapy. |
| C．It could offer a safe treatment for blood-related diseases. |
| D．It’s the first experiment to use gene-editing technology to treat AIDS. |
3 . Nail biting and hair pulling are two forms of body language. Both nail biting and hair pulling can be either conscious or subconscious body language gestures, each showing some interesting aspects of the character, emotion and inner working of the individual.
Nail biting is a non-verbal gesture. In adults it’s often a habit adopted and carried through from childhood and can become apparent in stressful situations throughout adulthood. To most people, nail biting is associated with nervousness and shyness and is an involuntary response to certain social situations. In many cases, it’s an adaptor behaviour that channels nervous energy, inactivity or boredom and doesn’t disturb normal functioning. In severe cases nail biting can become a repetitive behaviour that is intentionally performed. It can result in great physical damage.
So when we look deeper, in both adults and children, it has been suggested that severe nail biting is often referred to as a method of “self-heating”. This indicates that nail biting is a subconscious behaviour indicating increased anxiety and low self-confidence.
Hair pulling can indicate a number of emotions and behaviors. For example, children who bite their nails or frequently pull their hair may be nervous or have low self-confidence. Hair pulling may be a comforting action for a child who is tense and anxious, and may become habitual later in life in stressful situations. Routine and severe hair pulling can be a compulsive disorder that may be linked to genetics, anxiety and depression. It’s most commonly thought to be a stress-related condition.
However, hair puling is also another non-verbal body language that can signify different things in different situations. For example, in some situations, it can mean interest and desire. However, in other situations, it can suggest anxiety, incompetence, uncertainty or shyness.
1. What does the text say about nail biting?| A．It doesn’t harm its doer physically. | B．It stops its doer functioning normally. |
| C．It isn’t a gesture only made by children. | D．It is a commonly used way to avoid shyness. |
| A．may take no interest in something | B．may feel quite sure of themselves |
| C．must suffer from lack of desire | D．may not feel at ease at all |
| A．explain | B．indicate |
| C．hide | D．summarize |
| A．How to Read Forms of Body Language? |
| B．What Do Nail Biting and Hair Pulling Suggest? |
| C．How to Express Ourselves with Body Language? |
| D．What Are the Deep Meanings of Body Language? |
4 . Scientists at the University of Oxford have developed new artificial intelligence (AI) software to recognize and follow up the faces of individual chimpanzees (黑猩猩) in the wild. The new software will allow researcher and wildlife conservationists to greatly cut back on time spent analyzing videos, according to the new paper published today in Science Advances.
“For species like chimpanzees, which have complex social lives and live for many years, getting photos of their behavior from short-term field research can only tell us so much.” says Dan Sehofield, researcher and DPhil student at Oxford University’s Primate Models Lab, School of Anthropology. “By taking advantage of the power of machine learning to unlock large video files, it makes it possible to measure behavior over the long term.”
The computers model was trained using over 10 million images (影像) from Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute (PRI) video files of wild chimpanzees in Guinea, West Africa. The new software is the first to continuously track and recognize individuals in a wide range of posed, performing with high accuracy in difficult conditions such as low lighting and poor image quality.
“Access to this large video file has allowed us to use the newest deep neural networks to train models at a scale that was previously not possible,” says Arsha Nagrani, co-author of the study and DPhil student at the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. “Additionally, our new software differs from previous primate face recognition software in that it can be applied to raw videos with limited manual intervention (人工干预) or pre-processing, saving hours of time.”
The technology has potential for many uses, such as monitoring species for conservation. Although the present application focused on chimpanzees, the software provided could be applied to other species, and help drive the adoption of AI systems to solve a range of problems in the wildlife sciences.
1. What’s the purpose of developing the new software?| A．To save wildlife researchers’ time spent in the wild. |
| B．To keep track of wildlife conservationists’ behavior. |
| C．To protect chimpanzees and help them to live longer. |
| D．To recognize and track the faces of wild chimpanzees. |
| A．Getting photos. | B．Analyzing videos. |
| C．The new AI software. | D．A powerful machine. |
| A．The unique advantages of the new software. |
| B．Some limitations of using the new software. |
| C．The working principles of the new software. |
| D．Controversial attitudes to the new software. |
| A．The new software has a quite bright future. |
| B．The application of the technology can be tough. |
| C．Technology is the final goal of scientific research. |
| D．AI systems are widely used in the wildlife sciences. |
5 . I arrived in this beautiful Spanish island at the start of September, full of enthusiasm and eager to start work as an English teacher. I sorted all the necessary paperwork out and moved into a flat of my own within the first couple of days. Great! Or so I thought. At 4 am and at several intervals after that, I was rudely awoken by the cock that lives opposite me. Fantastic! I now have 5 extra alarms every morning.
In the following weeks, I also started to notice a trend. Things in my flat started to break at the rate of one object per day, like the hot water, bowls, cups, shower, doors or glass shelves. Yes, I am clumsy but things just fell apart. If it wasn’t broken, it would either be dirty or missing. Using my washing basket for the first time was pretty disgusting. When I took out my clothes, they were swiftly followed by a hundred or so bugs that were living in the bottom.
As for the general lack of equipment in the house, there was no oven, tin opener, sharp knives or potato peeler. It turns out making a burger from scratch wasn’t the best idea. I have a small microwave and a grill. I thought the general understanding was never to put metal in a microwave but I went with it. Smoke soon started to appear. I was not quite sure if it was the burger or the grill but as soon as I opened the door, the electricity cut out. I spent the following 10 minutes in a dark, smoky room hunting for the power switch using the light from my mobile phone, which broke the week after and left me without a connection to the outer world.
Luckily, I’m now borrowing a phone and my luck has returned. No more things have broken (probably because there is nothing left to break). I’ve also realized that even if a flat looks pretty, it doesn’t mean its contents work. I am also learning how to adapt to life with limited, broken utensils (厨房用具).
1. What problem did the author have in the morning?| A．She got some noisy neighbors. | B．Her sleep was disturbed by a rooster. |
| C．She often slept late. | D．Her alarm failed to work. |
| A．Her household articles were in poor condition. |
| B．Her flat was pretty old but comfortable. |
| C．She was quite satisfied with her flat. |
| D．She was a very careful woman. |
| A．She broke her phone accidentally. | B．She suffered a sudden power failure. |
| C．She was seriously injured. | D．She made a terrible mistake. |
| A．Learning to live in a new flat. | B．Why living abroad is not easy. |
| C．Remaining optimistic. | D．How to choose a nice flat. |
6 . Beaches have been around in many schools. But a group of school kids in Cork in the south of Ireland are trying to do something a bit different with them. They have created a special bench called Buddy or Friendship Bench.
The idea for the bench came about last year, when Regina Farrell, school counselor at Mclntyre Elementary, was conducting a leadership group to help students overcome shyness and gain confidence. Four fourth-grade students came up with the idea when working with him.
The concept of the Buddy Bench is simple:Students who want to take part in playground games and activities, but may feel hesitant, can take a seat, which suggests to other children on the playground that they may needed an extra boost to participate. It builds kid’s self-esteem(自尊) to ask others to play with them. Likewise, reaching out to a peer who is feeling left out makes a great difference.
But do children actually use the benches? It’s something Sinead Mcgilloway from Maynooth University has been looking at. “We found that 40% of the children had actually used the benches at the time of the study. And over 90% said that they would talk to a child if that child sitting on the bench.”
“Since it was installed on Nov.16, the bench has been effective,” he added. “The simple concept has gained applause from the students, and already has created a more inclusive environment within the school community.”
“Each day, I go and see the Buddy Bench working,”Farrell said. “The lessons they are learning mow will benefit them their entire lives. It is simply a beautiful example of kids wanting to be kind and continue to be kind every day.”
1. From whom the idea for the Buddy Bench originated?| A．Regina Farrell | B．Left-out students. |
| C．Four students. | D．Sinead Mcgilloway. |
| A．A signal. | B．A defence. |
| C．An escape. | D．A boost. |
| A．They think it useless. | B．Their opinions divide. |
| C．Most of them accept it. | D．Most of them don't care. |
| A．Buddy Bench---A Simple Concept | B．Buddy Bench- More Than a Bench |
| C．Buddy Bench---A Beautiful Example | D．Buddy Bench---Everywhere in Schools |
7 . The annual marathon in my town occurred as scheduled. My job was to follow behind the runners in an ambulance in case any of them needed medical attention. As the athletes began to pace themselves, the front runners started to disappear. It was then that my eyes were drawn to the woman in blue running shorts and a baggy white T-shirt.
I knew we were already watching our “last runner”. Her feet were turned in, yet her left knee was turned out. Her legs were so crippled ( 跛足的 ) and bent that it seemed impossible for her to walk, let alone run a marathon.
The driver and I watched in silence as she slowly moved forward. We would move forward a little bit, then stop and wait for her to gain some distance. Then we’d slowly move forward a little bit more. As I watched her struggle to put one foot in front of the other, I found myself breathing for her and urging her forward. I wanted her to stop, and at the same time, I prayed that she wouldn’t.
Finally, she was the only runner left in sight. I sat on the edge of my seat and watched with respect and amazement as she pushed forward with sheer determination through the last miles. When the finish line came into sight, the cheering crowds had long gone home. Yet, standing straight and proud waited a man. He was holding one end of a ribbon tied to a post. She slowly crossed through, leaving both ends of the ribbon fluttering (飘动) behind her.
I don’t know this woman’s name, but that day she became a part of my life — a part I often depend on.
For her, it wasn’t about beating the other runners or winning a prize. It was about finishing what she had set out to do. When I think things are too difficult or I get those “I-just-can’t-do-it,” I think of the last runner. Then I realize how easy the task before me really is.
1. What words can best describe the woman?| A．Proud and determined. | B．Strong-willed and honorable. |
| C．Modest and courageous. | D．Diligent and considerate. |
| A．Don’t depend on others when facing hardships. |
| B．Nothing is too tough to accomplish if one is brave enough. |
| C．The disabled can also run a marathon despite their walking difficulty. |
| D．It’s not winning but holding on straight to the end that really matters. |
| A．A Crippled Woman. | B．An Unforgettable Job. |
| C．The Last Runner. | D．The Annual Marathon. |
8 . Kevin Randall, a teacher,who teaches biology at Grandville High School,runs the environmental club at the high school,which has around 2,000 students.The club is known as the GHS Green Team,and it aims to raise awareness among students and teachers about sustainability(持续性).It also works on projects to reduce the environmental footprint of the building itself.
One of the club's recent projects focused on reducing waste in the school cafeteria.Randall said their cafeteria supervisor told them that the school went through 54,000 plastic forks every year.The club applied for a financial help,built recycling centers for the cafeteria,and purchased metal silverware.
And now every student uses a durable metal fork or a spoon instead of disposables.(一次性用品),“and that's just one way we're trying to capture the low-hanging fruit,if you will,"Randall said.
The efforts of Randall and his students have earned Grandville High School the Michigan Green School certification from the state.In addition to their work reducing waste in the cafeteria, the GHS Green Team has also built a garden with flowers and vegetables on campus,and leads cleanups on site and out in the community.Over the years,Randall and his students have also been working on raising money to install solar panels(太阳能板) on the roof of the high school.
Randall said he was motivated to take the lead on environmental issues for his school because he wanted his students to have someone to turn to in the building who understands what's at stake(利害攸关）when it comes to climate change.
＂And I also felt like I needed to do more in my life for my own two children at home," Randall added,"They need to know that their dad is working as hard as he can to reduce the effects of climate change,and to spread the word,and to make sure that other students out there are learning about this just the way they are at home."
1. What is the purpose of the GHS Green Team club?| A．To inspire students' love for biology. |
| B．To finish the projects assigned by school. |
| C．To prepare students for their future jobs. |
| D．To promote environmental protection. |
| A．It has changed the outlook of the cafeteria. |
| B．Students can have more fruits in the cafeteria. |
| C．Plastic forks are no longer used in the cafeteria. |
| D．The school has become famous nationwide. |
| A．The classification of the projects. |
| B．The characteristics of the club. |
| C．The activities organized by the club. |
| D．The future of the club. |
| A．To educate the young. |
| B．To get material rewards. |
| C．To amuse his children. |
| D．To make himself famous. |
9 . I was sitting in an airport when a woman behind me asked, “What's the best gift you’ve ever got?” I closed the magazine I'd paid too much for and listened for an answer. “What do you mean, like the best birthday present?” a young man said, “Probably the gold coin I got for graduation.”
I threw my magazine onto a neighboring chair and thought about the question. What’s the best gift I’ve ever got? Good health aside, when it comes to material objects, for me the answer is easy. It was a high school graduation present, gift-wrapped and hand-delivered by my grandfather. He handed it to me and said, “Stay close to the land. Don’t be afraid to dig in and get a little dirt on you.”
That fall, I went off to college and that shiny new green-handled spade with the silver blade （刀刃）hung untouched on the wall in my parents, garage. A few years later, I had my own family and that graduation spade made its way from my folks5 garage into my own. I dug gardens, planted trees, roses and bushes. The spade was nothing but a tool.
The years rolled by. The spade has lost some of its color and I've added some gray, but I still dig hard into the earth, more often than ever. It’s more than a trusted workout partner. It’s a reminder of my family, one proudly rooted in agriculture. It’s a useful tool with a memorable message about staying close to the earth. Priceless!
A few months from now, my daughter will finish graduate school, and she has already had a job waiting in another city. She’s knowledge-rich but cash-poor, and though she’s expecting nothing from me, I have something valuable to give her before she moves away. It'll be wrapped of course, and it'll be worth the weight in gold.
1. Why did the author mention his experience in the airport?| A．To compare his gift with the man's. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| C．To recall his graduation ceremony. |
| D．To share his way of killing time. |
| A．It was hung on the wall. |
| B．It was sold for gold coins. |
| C．It was used to plant trees. |
| D．It was wrapped without touch. |
| A．A practical garden tool. |
| B．An ordinary workout partner. |
| C．A very precious present. |
| D．A reminder of his school life. |
| A．The family makes a living by farming. |
| B．The spade is kept in the garage at present. |
| C．The author gradually changed his attitude to life. |
| D．The spade will be passed down to the next generation. |
10 . Deciding to get her money's worth out of the wedding dress on which she spent over $1,000, an Australian woman has been wearing her wedding dress, a year after her wedding.
43-year-old Tammy Hall adopted a new lifestyle-anti-consumerism (反消费主义) lifestyle in 2016, after a trip to India opened her eyes to how much we as a society consumed. She decided not to buy any new clothes or footwear for a whole year after she returned home to Adelaide, in Southern Australia, and she managed to make it.
But last year, as her wedding day approached, she faced a dilemma. She wanted to look good on the most important day of her life, but how could she spend a small fortune on the wedding dress she would only wear on that day?
"In the end I decided that if I was going to get a wedding dress, I'd make sure I could get my money's worth," Hall tells PA Real Life.
"The first time I wore it after the wedding was to vote in the Australian election in early 2019," the 43-year-old adds. "Since then, it's been to all sorts of places. Wearing it on a crowded train was especially funny, but I've worn it to do housework, to football games and to the gym."
Hall says that she has gotten some strange looks from people, but no irritating comments. It may have something to do with the fact that the dress is not the fanciest, but she believes people are just too reserved to say anything. Anyway, she doesn't really care, because she knows she has to hit the goal she has set and wearing the dress multiple times is the most reasonable way she could think of to make the most of her wedding dress.
Hall now plans to wear her wedding dress on a trip to Iceland that she and her partner will take next summer.
1. Why did Tammy Hall adopt a new lifestyle?| A．To adapt herself to Indian life. | B．To cut down her consumption. |
| C．To save money for her next trip. | D．To get prepared for her wedding. |
| A．She brought fun to people with it. | B．She tried to wear it to earn money. |
| C．She wore it repeatedly in daily life. | D．She got it exchanged again and again. |
| A．Thrilling. | B．Annoying. |
| C．Amusing. | D．Confusing. |
| A．She is determined to turn her ideas into practice. |
| B．She values her wedding dress less than her trips. |
| C．She has been struggling to make the ends meet. |
| D．She has influenced people's lifestyle widely. |
