1 . Beijing will provide COVID-19 vaccinations (接种疫苗) for certain groups in nursing homes, including the elderly and caregivers, on a voluntary basis to prevent a renewed outbreak at nursing homes during autumn and winter, the local government said.

Those who will receive the vaccines include nursing home kitchen workers, security guards and cleaners, Beijing Daily reported on Friday.

Xing Yinli, director of Jingkangyuan, a nursing home in Fengtai district with about 290 elderly residents (居民), said they have received the document (文件) recently and will strictly follow its guidance.

“It’s our top duty to strengthen prevention and control,” Xing said, adding they have been using methods such as keeping detailed records of resident contacts outside the nursing home, and encouraging online visits for family members.

As to vaccinations, she said they will ask for permission from residents, their family members and workers before giving vaccines.

In late October, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province carried out an emergency COVID-19 vaccine program, allowing the public to ask for injections (注射) in advance, with key groups first. A similar program was also organized in Jiaxing, Ningbo and Yiwu in Zhejiang.

Nationwide, emergency use of home-grown COVID-19 vaccines was approved in June and launched in late July. China now has four coronavirus candidate vaccines in the third stage clinical trials (临床试验).

The document from Beijing also said nursing homes should conduct nucleic acid testing (核酸检测) every month among kitchen workers and residents who leave the nursing homes to see a doctor. Tests will cover all people in nursing homes considered at high risk if new infections are reported in the city. Besides, routine disinfections (消毒) should be strengthened in kitchens, storerooms and restrooms, it said. The document also recommended non-contact visits from family members.

1. Where can you probably find this article?

A．In a newspaper.	B．In a fashion magazine.
C．In a book review.	D．In a travel journal.

2. How can we understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 7?

A．China is providing vaccinations nationwide.

B．The four candidate vaccines have finished clinical trails.

C．China has taken the lead in coronavirus vaccines worldwide.

D．China has made great progress in coronavirus vaccines.

3. What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．Nursing homes should conduct nucleic acid testing.

B．Beijing nursing homes are to be provided vaccines.

C．Certain groups will have vaccines first in late June.

D．Routine disinfections should be strengthened in kitchens.

4. What’s Xing Yinli’s attitude towards vaccinations?

A．Supportive.

B．Curious.

C．Doubtful.

D．Dissatisfied.

2 . Getting paid to stay in bed all day sounds pretty good, but what if someone pays you $ 23, 000 to stay in bed for two months? That’s the deal that a medical research team in France is offering to 24 volunteers.

The researchers are looking for volunteers to help them study the effects of weightlessness (失重状态) on the human body and find ways to stop problems. Lying in bed isn’t exactly the same as being weightless, but the effects are alike.

When astronauts spend a long time in an environment with no gravity, their bodies change in many ways. After several months, their hearts don’t beat as hard. Their muscles become smaller and weaker. Their bones may be broken more easily. There may also be changes in the astronauts’ immune systems (免疫系统) and sleep habits.

The study will take 88 days. During the first two weeks, the volunteers will be tested to make sure of their levels of fitness. Then they will spend 60 days lying in bed with their heads lower than their bodies. They will have to do everything while lying down, including eating, brushing their teeth, and going to the bathroom. The rule is that they must have at least one shoulder touching the bed at all times. The last two weeks of the study will be spent trying to build up the volunteers’ fitness again.

Volunteers must be men between the ages of 20 and 45 who are in perfect health. The researchers completed one study in April. A second study will take place from September to December.

1. What’s the third paragraph mainly about?

A．How astronauts work in an environment without gravity.

B．Astronauts’ sleep habits in an environment without gravity.

C．Why astronauts’ bodies change in an environment without gravity.

D．The effects of an environment without gravity on astronauts’ bodies.

2. From the passage, we can learn that the volunteers must_____.

A．be women	B．come from France
C．be in excellent condition	D．be under twenty years old

3. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．How to build up astronauts’ fitness.

B．Researchers pay volunteers to stay in bed.

C．Effects of weightlessness on the human body.

D．Disadvantages of lying in bed for two months.

4. Where does the passage most probably come from?

A．A medical magazine.	B．A short novel.
C．A grammar book.	D．A travel guidebook.

5 . Recently, an unhappy event has happened in a kindergarten in Chongqing. Most primary schools suggest that parents should come along with their children to school and guard the school gates from 7:40 to 8:00 in the morning. Opinions on this problem are different from person to person.

Sun Zhenyao, 13, Jiangbei

Safety comes first. I don’t think it’s a big problem for parents. They just have to stay at the school gate for a little longer. Also, it’s very crowded around school gates in the morning. Traffic accidents can happen. Depending only on school guards is not enough. If parents can help, there will be fewer accidents.

Li Minyi, 14, Yubei

On weekdays, guarding schools and keeping students safe should be the schools’ responsibility – not the parents’. Also, the time during which they have to stand guard is usually about 7:40 to 8:00 am, the morning rush hour. Some parents might get caught in a traffic jam and be late for their work. I don’t think this task should fall on the parents.

Sun Run, 14, Beibei

This request is not just about children’s safety, but also supporting the school. It is a good way to improve relations between parents and schools. Secondly, parents can set a good example for their kids by working selflessly for their society.

Huang Xi, 15, Jiulongpo

Most of these parents are office workers. They have their own things to do. They hurry to go to work every morning. To meet this new request, some may have to ask for time off. This will affect their work performance.

1. The students who agree with the suggestion are_______.

A．Li Minyi, Sun Run

B．Huang Xi, Sun Zhenyao

C．Huang Xi, Li Minyi

D．Sun Zhenyao, Sun Run

2. According to the students, why should parents guard the school gates?

A．Guarding schools and keeping students safe should be the schools’ job.

B．It is a good example for kids to have a sense of responsibility.

C．Some parents can ask for time off to guard the school gates.

D．There are not enough school guards in the primary schools.

3. This article is most likely to be_________.

A．a newspaper interview

B．a police report

C．a short story

D．a textbook passage

6 . Despite the lack of new releases due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there was no shortage of good films in 2020. We've rounded out the top 4 films. Check them out!

Soul

In the first Pixar cartoon to have an African-American lead character. Jamie Foxx provides the voice of a music teacher who dreams of making it as a jazz pianist. But just after a successful interview, he falls down a manhole and finds himself in a soul world where human spirits are assigned their personalities. And things get even stranger from there.

Nomadland

When Fern loses her husband and can't afford to live in a house, she packs her few belongings into a camper and drives off into the Nevada desert. She encounters a large community of senior citizens who have also been forced to live on the road, supporting themselves with short-term- jobs along the way. What makes Nomadland unique is that while Fern is played by an Oscar-winning actress, nearly all she meets are real people who relate their own experiences. Written and directed by Chloe Zhao, the film is a combination of documentary and fiction.

The Croods: A New Age

The prehistoric family from 2013's hugely enjoyable cartoon, The Croods, directed by Joel Crawford, makes a welcome return, so we can expect more crazy adventures and unusual animals. In the much-delayed- sequel, they meet another family, the Bettermans, whose advanced lifestyle and technology make the Croods look even more primitive than they did already. There's conflict but they learn to appreciate each other's differences.

Wolfwalkers

The year's finest cartoon film comes from Cartoon Saloon, an Irish studio specialising in stylised hand-drawn 2D art. Its latest production is set in the mid-17th Century, when English soldiers are trying to occupy the wild woods. One hunter's daughter meets with a girl wolfwalker and they make joint efforts to rescue the forest. It's a heartwarming story of friendship and an inspiring adventure about two girls finding themselves Wolfwalkers stands proud as new classic.

1. What is the film Soul about?

A．pianist's dream coming true.	B．A musician's romantic journeys.
C．A music teacher's unusual experiences.	D．An African-American actor's success story.

2. Which movie will you go to if you are interested in the wandering life?

A．Soul.

B．Nomnadland.

C．The Croods: A New Age.

D．Wolfwalkers.

3. In which column of the website could we read this text?

A．Science.

B．History.

C．Entertainment.

D．Medicine.

7 . Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, this week expressed optimism for a glorious Summer Games this year in Tokyo, where the world, in his view, will reunite after defeating the coronavirus pandemic.

Yet nine months after the IOC and organizers in Tokyo agreed to postpone (推迟) the 2020 Summer Games for one year, the level of uncertainty surrounding the event has hardly waned, despite the fact that hopes for a successful Olympics have never been higher.

Will Japan open its borders (边境), which have been largely closed since April, and allow the friends and families of Olympians, or any fans for that matter, to attend the Games? Will the Olympic Village, where most of the athletes and support staff usually live during the Games, function as a kind of bubble, with access to the city cut off? Will athletes have to quarantine (隔离) either in their home countries ahead of the Games or in Japan once they arrive?

Japan has spent more than $12 billion preparing for the Olympics, although some estimates have put the actual figure at roughly $26 billion, including infrastructure projects (基础建设工程). Postponing the Games for a year has cost organizers more than $1 billion. The IOC doubled its contribution to Tokyo organizers to $1.6 billion, to help cover the costs.

The overall budget includes $800 million from sales of some 7.8 million in tickets. For a typical Summer Games, overseas customers can account for about 30% of ticket sales. It’s hard to predict just how much financial loss Japan will suffer with a lack of overseas travelers to the Olympics.

1. Which of the following statements will Thomas Bach agree with?

A．The Summer Olympic Games is unlikely to be held.

B．The Summer Olympic Games will be held this year.

C．The Summer Olympic Games is supposed to be put off for one more year.

D．The Summer Olympic Games shouldn’t be held because of the coronavirus pandemic.

2. Which of the following words can replace the underlined word?

A．Reduced.

B．Strengthened.

C．Widened.

D．Enriched.

3. Which of the following can we infer from the passage?

A．All the borders of Japan have been closed since April.

B．Overseas customers account for most of ticket sales.

C．Japan has suffered a lot from postponing the Games for a year.

D．The Olympic Village is usually used to quarantine athletes and staff.

4. Where is this article probably from?

A．Newspaper.	B．A travel brochure.
C．A historic book.	D．A geography magazine.

8 . With paper flowers and music hanging around in the air, Lyu Jun was hosting a small farewell ceremony at an industrial zone in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. It was a funeral for a pet dog. Lyu came up with the idea of becoming a pet mortician (殡葬师) four years ago when he was preparing to start a business.

“At that time, there was only one brick-and-mortar(实体的) business that provided funeral services for pets in Shenzhen, but hundreds of pets die every day in this city,” he said. According to Lyu, many pet owners used to bury the remains of their beloved animals near their homes , which had a harmful impact on the environment and created the risk of spreading disease.

He saw a gap in the market for someone able to properly handle the death of pets. “A pet funeral service provides treatment of the bodies that is harm-free, and it is the greatest comfort to pet owners,” Lyu said.

He takes good care of the remains of the pets and tidies up their appearance before the funeral. In addition, he prepares funeral addresses and selects suitable tombs for the pets. He also films funerals for owners who cannot attend the ceremonies, and provides paper and pens for those who want to write down their blessings and hang the notes on the wishing tree.

Over the past four years, Lyu has bid farewell to more than 2,000 dogs, cats and other kinds of animals. He also does volunteer work in his spare time to promote responsible dog raising. “The pet funeral service industry is still in its babyhood, and I hope there will be a set of strict standards for people who take on this job and a belter environment for the industry,” Lyu said.

1. Why did Lyu start the business on pet funeral service?

A．Because he could earn a lot of money from it.

B．Because he thought it met the market requirement.

C．Because he thought it would be a unique and challenging business.

D．Because he could help owners bury their dead pets near their homes.

2. What does Lyu often do as a pet mortician?

A．He delivers speeches to mourn the pets.

B．He gives best wishes to the pets' owners.

C．He makes films of the pets for their birth.

D．He nurses and cares for the pets carefully.

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Lyu volunteers to raise pets on his own.

B．The pet funeral service has got a big success.

C．More strict standards should be set for pets' owners.

D．There remains a potential in the pet funeral industry.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A research report.	B．An advertisement.
C．A novel.	D．A magazine.

9 . LONE TREE, colorado-patanjali Rao, a 15-year-old Colorado high school student and young scientist, who has used artificial intelligence （AI） and created apps to deal with social problems, has been named Time magazine's first-ever "Kid of the Year".

Time says Rao stood out for creating a world-wide community of young inventors and inspiring them to go after their goals. Rao insists that starting out small doesn't matter, as long as you have a passion （热爱）for it.

Rao's sense of invention started early. At age 12, she developed a portable device to discover lead in water. She has also created an app called Kindly that uses artificial intelligence to help prevent cyberbullying （网络欺凌）. It allows teens to type in a word or phrase to find out if the words they are using are bullying and lets them decide what they are sending.

She said that "Work is going to be in our generation's hands pretty soon. So if no one else is going to do it, I'm going to do it.”

Rao has partnered with schools, museums, and science, technology, engineering and math organizations, and other societies to work for thousands of other students.

In a world where science is increasingly questioned or challenged, Rao insists that devotion to science is an act of kindness and the best way that a younger generation can better the world. “We have science in everything we're involved in, and I think the biggest thing to put out there is that science is cool, innovating is cool, and anybody can be an innovator," Rao says.

"Anybody can do science.”

1. What do we know about Rao?

A．She has created apps to deal with mental problems.

B．She has set a good example for the younger generation.

C．She has been named Time magazine's "Youth of the Year”.

D．She thinks that only the younger generation can better the world.

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Time waits for no man.

B．Ups and downs make one strong.

C．Passion and devotion help to promote excellence.

D．Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.

3. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A newspaper	B．A diary.
C．A travel brochure.	D．A history book.

10 . Located at a depth of 20 feet below the surface, the sand of the ocean floor off the coast of the Florida Keys might be an unlikely spot to host a music festival, but that hasn’t stopped music enthusiasts from diving underwater to rock out.

For the past 35 years, the Underwater Music Festival, an event that pairs music with conservation, has been hosted. Equipped with guitars, drums and other musical instruments, divers go down to the depths and play along to a playlist of water-inspired songs that are piped underwater via speakers. Over the years the event has gone from being a small grassroots effort put together by few locals, with the idea that once people see what’s going on beneath the surface, the more likely they would be to protect it, to a two-day festival that draws dozens of divers, boaters, and musicians to the Keys from around the world.

“Thirty-five years ago a few Keys locals sat down and wanted to figure out a way to bring awareness to our coral reefs （珊瑚礁）that would preserve, rebuild and restore them in any way,” says Dave Turner, executive director of the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce. “They came up with this idea of playing music underwater and invited people to listen while also enjoying the local sea life.”

“The preservation of the reef is our main purpose,” Turner says. “To avoid any further damage, the festival takes place in a nearby sandy area so that the musicians don’t disturb the coral when they’re performing.”

Although holding a music festival underwater may seem a bit out there, Turner is quick to point out that it is actually achievable. “The music is obviously not as clear as when you’re sitting in room with stereo （立体音响）but you can still hear it and understand the lyrics and music,” he says. “If you were to go underwater you would recognize the song and it would sound the same. It just has little different tone to it. Plus, sound travels faster and farther underwater.”

1. What is special about the festival?

A．It hardly has any live music.

B．It takes place completely underwater.

C．It hardly wins support at grassroots level.

D．It exhibits all kinds of musical instruments.

2. What is the purpose of the festival?

A．To draw attention to coral reef conservation.

B．To raise money for local divers.

C．To improve the locals’ life.

D．To promote local tourism.

3. What does Turner intend to show in the last paragraph?

A．Attending the festival is an important experience.

B．Holding the festival makes some sense.

C．The future of the festival is uncertain.

D．It is challenging to hold the festival.

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Environment.

B．Health.

C．Education.

D．Science.