4 . Will Hodson, a primary school teacher in London, was reading a superhero book to his students one day when a thought struck him. “We were talking about how we can all do something heroic every day—open a door for someone, say something nice to someone,” he recalled. “I decided not to use the day’s lesson plans and asked the five-year-olds to think about, ‘What are we all good at?’ ”

Hodson, 39 , was good at cycling, and he ended up taking his lesson to an extreme. After saving up for two years, he left his job and set off on a five-year ride across seven continents(洲) to raise money for charity, including for Parkinson’s disease, which his father has. Calling himself Super Cycling Man, he tries to visit at least one school per country, to spread the message that “We can all be heroes.”

Starting last May, Hodson has hit 14 countries in Europe. On the road, strangers have acted heroically—Turkish gas station attendants sheltered him from the snow, and people in Serbia made a huge pizza for him.

So far, he has raised about $19,000 of the $140,000 he hopes to raise. Antarctica, the most expensive continent to visit, is last on his list, after Asia, Australia, the Americas and Africa.

The hardest part of the trip has been “just keeping my parents at manageable stress(压力) levels”. “You see so much bad news in the world, but I see a very different picture—people inviting me to their houses, people pouring me drinks on the street at night.”

Along with the superhero message, Hodson hopes to show people that “life’s pretty good on two wheels”—particularly in places where cycling is less popular. “Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, with its shortage of bike lanes(自行车道) and its crazy drivers, is the toughest(最艰难的) city I’ve seen for cyclists, but even there, young people have been receptive.”

“The youth don’t want to necessarily have a big pot belly(大肚子) and drive around in a car.”

1. What does Hodson's “thought”(in Para.1) refer to?

A．Giving up his teaching job.	B．Being a hero himself.
C．Doing something heroic every day.	D．Reading more superhero books to his students.

2. Hodson’s cycling around the world ________.

A．will be finished in two years	B．is intended for his father
C．is a charity ride	D．began without any preparation

3. What’s the most difficult thing for Hodson on his trip?

A．Facing the terrible weather.	B．Finding cheap places to sleep in.
C．Winning his parents’ full support.	D．Keeping his parents from worrying about him.

4. What does Hodson say about the young in Tbilisi?

A．They are open to his idea.	B．They are crazy drivers.
C．They hate cyclists.	D．They eat and drink too much.

5 . Alan Tong was the worst driver in town. He had an accident of some kind almost every week.

Alan lived with his mother. His mother was always worried about him. Every day she worried that police would appear to arrest him. This wasn’t a foolish worry because they usually visited Alan’s house about once a week to send a speeding ticket or to serve him notice to appear in court (法庭).

Most of his accidents were caused by his carelessness. He drove through red lights. He turned left or drove at night without proper lights. He overtook other cars on hills. In short, there wasn’t a traffic rule that Alan had not broken, and he had had so many accidents that it was a surprise that he was still alive. But luckily for Alan, he had never hurt anyone in his accidents or even gone to the hospital.

Although Alan wasn’t popular with the police, he was very popular with his lawyer. Alan’s lawyer, Mr. Tsui, had earned a lot of money from Alan’s cases and always felt very excited when he saw Alan coming into his office.

One day Alan was working in the garage, painting his car when his mother walked in. “What are you doing?” his mother asked.

“Painting my car,” Alan replied.

“I can see that,” his mother said, “but why are you painting one side of the car red and the other side blue?” “Because every time I have to go to court for a traffic crime, there are always two witnesses (目击证人) . “What color was the car?” the judge always asks, and the two witnesses always give the same answer. Well, in the future, one witness will say it was blue. Mr. Tsui will then say to the judge, “Your honor, the witnesses cannot even agree on the color of the car involved in the accident.” And the judge will have to dismiss the case against me.

1. Which of the following is true of Mr. Tsui?

A．He always volunteered to help Alan.	B．He was popular with the police.
C．He was good friends with Alan.	D．He looked forward to Alan’s visit.

2. What was Alan doing when his mother walked in the garage?

A．Painting his car all red.	B．Painting his car two colors.
C．Painting the garage.	D．Cleaning his car.

3. What is the purpose of what Alan did to his car in the last paragraph?

A．To confuse the evidence against him.	B．To help the judge in court.
C．To make the witnesses agree.	D．To leave a good impression in court.

4. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “dismiss” in the last paragraph?

A．Remove.	B．Continue.
C．Reconsider	D．Accept.

6 . Range anxiety(里程焦虑), the fear of running out of power before being able to recharge an electric vehicle, may be a thing of the past, according to a team of Penn State engineers who are looking at lithium iron phosphate batteries(磷酸铁锂电池) that have a range of 250 miles with the ability to charge in 10 minutes.

“We developed a pretty clever battery for mass-market electric vehicles,” said Chao-Yang Wang, a professor and director of the Electrochemical Engine Center at Penn State. “There is no more range anxiety and this battery is affordable”. The researchers also say that the battery should be good for 2 million miles in its lifetime.

They report today in Nature Energy that the key to long-life and rapid recharging is the battery’s ability to quickly heat up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, for charge and discharge, and then cool down when the battery is not working.

The battery uses a self-heating approach previously developed in Wang’s center. The self-heating battery uses a thin nickel foil(镍箔) with one end attached to the negative terminal and the other extending outside the cell to create a third terminal. Once electrons flow it rapidly heats up the nickel foil through resistance heating and warm the inside of the battery. Once the battery’s internal temperature is 140 degrees F, the switch opens and the battery is ready for rapid charge or discharge.

“This battery has slenderized weight, volume and cost,” said Wang. “I am very happy that we finally found a battery that will benefit the mainstream consumer mass market.” According to Wang, these smaller batteries can produce a large amount of power upon heating—40 kilowatt hours and 300 kilowatts of power. An electric vehicle with this battery could go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3 seconds and would drive like a Porsche, he said. “This is how we are going to change the environment and not contribute to just the luxury cars,” said Wang. “Let everyone afford electric vehicles.”

1. Which can best describe the battery in the text?

A．Cheap and heavy.	B．Costly but beneficial.
C．Expensive but small-sized.	D．Affordable and efficient.

2. Why can the battery be used for long and charged so fast?

A．It is environmentally friendly.	B．It heats up and cools down rapidly.
C．It helps speed up the car instantly.	D．It charges when it doesn’t work.

3. What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A．How the battery works.	B．Advantages of the battery.
C．How the battery is produced.	D．Applications of the battery.

4. The underlined word “slenderized” in Paragraph 5 can probably be replaced by________.

A．promoted

B．gathered

C．combined

D．reduced

7 . A sleepover (过夜) program, which is designed to make kids believe that their favorite toys enjoy reading, can help encourage children to pick up more books, a new study suggests.

Toys sleepover programs are designed to get children interested in books. Children take their toys to a library for the night. At this point, workers and volunteers take photos of the toys which explore the library and read books. The next day, the children collect their toys and the photos of what the toys did during the night. They are given the books their toys chose to read.

It was found that before the sleepover the children did not spend time looking at the books in their play area at preschool. Immediately after the sleepover, the number of children who read to the toys was higher than the number who did not, but after three days the effect decreased gradually.

The researchers also tested a method for sustaining the effect. They reminded the children of the sleepover a month later, by hiding the toys and showing them the photos again the next day. This simple method brought an increase in the number of children reading to their toys.

The study proves for the first time that children who take part in sleepover programs read picture books to their toys more. “We wanted to know if there really was an effect, and if so, how long it lasts. Surprisingly, not only did the children show interest in the books, but they also began to read to their toys. This means that a new behavior pattern appeared that the children hadn’t had before. We did not expect anything like this,” said one of the researchers.

Reading is important for the development of children’s language skills and imagination. When parents read to their children, it is a passive way of reading for the child. However, when children read to their toys, it is a more active, self-directed way of reading, helping them develop into more active readers, researchers said.

1. What is the purpose of the sleepover program?

A．To develop children’s language skills.

B．To help children to sleep well.

C．To encourage children to read more.

D．To guide children to form a good sleeping habit.

2. What do children do in the sleepover program?

A．Go around the library with their toys.

B．Sleep with their toys.

C．Read together with their toys.

D．Take their toys to the library.

3. The underlined word “sustaining” in paragraph 4 can be replaced by______.

A．keeping

B．testing

C．surveying

D．showing

4. What made the researchers surprised after the study of the sleepover program?

A．Children showed no interest in the books.

B．The effect of the sleepover program could last long.

C．Children began to read to their toys on their own.

D．Whether the sleepover program had an effect remained unknown.

8 . As the effects of climate change become more disastrous, well-known research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on an idea: artificially cooling the planet, in the hopes of buying humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

That strategy, called solar climate intervention (干预) or solar geoengineering, involves reflecting more of the sun’s energy back into space — abruptly reducing global temperatures in a way that imitates the effects of ash clouds flowing out from the volcanic eruptions. The idea has been considered as a dangerous and fancied solution, one that would encourage people to keep burning fossil fuels while exposing the planet to unexpected and potentially threatening side effects, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters.

But. as global warming continues, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters, some researchers and policy experts say that concerns about geoengineering should be outweighed by the imperative to better understand it, in case the consequence of climate change become so terrible that the world can’t wait for better solutions.

One way to cool the earth is by injecting aerosols (气溶胶) into the upper layer of the atmosphere. where those particles reflect sunlight away from the earth. That process works, according to Douglas MacMartin, a researcher at Cornell University.

“We know with 100% certainty that we can cool the planet,” he said in an interview. What’s still unclear, he added, is what happens next. Temperature, MacMartin said, is an indicator for a lot of climate effects. “What does it do to the strength of hurricanes?” he asked, “What does it do to agriculture production? What does it do to the risk of forest fires?”

Another institution funded by the National Science Foundation will analyze hundreds of simulations of aerosol injection, testing the effects on weather extremes around the world. One goal of the research is to look for a sweet spot: the amount of artificial cooling that can reduce extreme weather events without causing broader changes in regional rainfall patterns or similar impacts.

1. Why do researchers and government agencies work on cooling the earth?

A．To prevent natural disasters.	B．To win more time to reduce gas emissions.
C．To imitate volcanic eruptions.	D．To encourage more people to bur fossil fuels.

2. What are researchers worried about in terms of global warming?

A．More volcanoes will throw out.

B．More solar energy will go into space.

C．More disasters will endanger the future of the world.

D．People will keep burning fossil fuels to keep warm.

3. What can be inferred from Douglas’ words in an interview?

A．He thinks more research remains to be done.

B．He is optimistic about the effect of cooling the earth.

C．He is concerned about the reduction in agriculture production.

D．He disapproves of the practice of solar climate intervention.

4. What does the underlined words “sweet spot” in the last paragraph mean?

A．The rainfall pattern of a region.

B．The modest drop in temperature.

C．The number of extreme weather events.

D．The injection amount of aerosol.

9 . In the 1994 film Forrest Gump, there's a famous saying, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. The surprise is part of the fun. Now blind box toys（盲盒)are bringing the magic of surprise to online shopping.

A blind box toy is hidden inside similar boxes but invisible from the outside. You don't know what will be inside, although the toys typically come from pop culture, ranging from movies to comics and cartoons.

Blind boxes have become popular since they were first introduced from Japan to China in 2014. According to a 2019 Tmall report, the mini-series of Labubu blind box designed by Hong Kong-born Kasing Lung, was named Champion of Unit Sales with 55, 000 sold in just 9 seconds during the Singles Day shopping event. Most customers for blind boxes are young people aged 18 to 35.

According to The Paper, blind box toys are popular in part because of their cute appearances. The typically cute cartoon figures(人物)come in small sizes, making them suitable for display almost anywhere.

Even if blind boxes are not their top choice for decorations, the mystery and uncertainty of the process also attracts people. It's the main reason why people buy blind boxes one after another.

"Expecting the unknown is always a part of the box-opening process," said Miss Cao, 24, who lives and works in Shenyang. Speaking to Sina News, she said: "Until you open all the boxes, you cannot know what it is inside."

Opening a blind box is a delightful little surprise for our mundane daily lives, something small but fun to wait for each day, week or month. When people open this simple little box, they may be disappointed, but the uncertainty is part of the fun. People will open more blind boxes and hope for a better outcome.

When someone re-makes Forrest Gump, don't be surprised if he says, "Life is like a blind box."

1. What do we know about blind boxes?

A．They may bring surprise to our life.	B．They are visible from the outside.
C．They are popular among all ages.	D．They were first designed in 2014.

2. Why do people buy blind boxes according to Miss Cao?

A．Because blind boxes are fashionable gifts.

B．Because blind boxes are educational gifts.

C．Because people enjoy box-opening process.

D．Because people prefer the colorful boxes.

3. What does the underlined word "mundane" probably mean?

A．Wonderful

B．Interesting

C．Amazing.

D．Boring.

4. Where is the text most likely from?

A．A diary.

B．A magazine.

C．A novel.

D．A guidebook.

10 . Once upon a time two brothers, who lived on neighboring farms, had a quarrel. It was the first serious rift in 40 years, sharing machinery and exchanging goods as needed.

One morning there was a knock on the older brother's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's tool box.

"I'm looking for a few days' work." he said." Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there I could help with?"

"Yes." said the older brother. Look across the creek（小溪）at that farm. That's my younger brother. Last week there was a grassland between us, but he made a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to make difficulties for me, but I'll do him one better." "I want you to build me an 8-foot fence, so I won't need to see his place or his face anymore."

The carpenter said, "Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and I'll be able to do a job that pleases you." The older brother got things ready and went to town.

The carpenter worked hard all that day. About sunset, when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job.

The farmer's eyes opened wide. There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge—a bridge from one side of the creek to the other! The neighbor, his younger brother, was coming toward them." You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done." They met in the middle, taking each other's hand.

They turned to see the carpenter taking his toolbox onto his shoulder.

"No, wait! Stay fora few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.

"I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but I have many more bridges to build."

1. What does the underlined word "rift" in paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Failure

B．Discussion

C．Quarrel

D．Competition

2. Why did the carpenter build a bridge instead of a fence?

A．Because he was asked to build it.

B．Because he was willing to help others.

C．Because he hated the older brother.

D．Because it was easier to build a bridge.

3. Which of the following best describes the carpenter?

A．Selfish.

B．Generous.

C．Smart.

D．Famous.

4. What is the best title for the story?

A．Never Too Late To Learn

B．Bridge Is Better Than Fence

C．Care and Diligence Brings Luck

D．Fact Speaks Louder Than Words