1 . I might be letting my young son watch too much television. I am certainly watching too many of his programs. They can really be perplexing as they force you to think carefully about the mysteries of life.
For example, when Franklin (the turtle) wanted a pet, his parents didn’t want it to be a frog. They felt that frogs belong in a pond. Isn’t that where turtles belong?
And why is it that Little Bear’s animal friends can all talk and behave like people, but his friend Emily has a dog that can only bark and fetch? Tell me that isn’t a mystery!
Dog lovers can be cheered up by Kipper and his friends. These dogs are very human. However, the only time they wear clothes is when they put on bathing suits to go swimming. I’m confused!
Speaking of dogs, could Pluto ever be Goofy’s pet? I don’t get it! What did the great Mr.Disney have in mind?
And this is awful! The other day we watched a very nice little pig setting up a picnic. One of the foods was a big ham. Could it have been a soy (大豆) ham? Is there such a thing? I hope so!
Another thing that bothers me: What if Elmo isn’t real? He can’t be a mere puppet (木偶)! He’s got a better altitude than most people. I just keep wondering.
I think we’ll turn off the TV and go out for a walk. Maybe we’ll run into that mouse who dresses well but certainly doesn’t speak as clearly as the average bear.
1. What does the underlined word “perplexing” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Boring. | B．Humorous. | C．Confusing. | D．Curious. |
| A．Pigs don’t eat meat. | B．Pigs are dirty animals. |
| C．Ham is too expensive. | D．Ham is made from pigs. |
| A．Embarrassed. | B．Concerned. | C．Astonished. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．should speak more clearly | B．should not wear good clothes |
| C．should not dress better than bears | D．should speak louder again next time |
2 . Extreme athletes have been using wingsuits（翼装）to fly for many years. However, the pull of gravity makes it impossible to speed up or fly higher. To push past the limitations, Peter Salzmann teamed up with German car maker BMW. The result is an electrified wingsuit, which allows flyers to rise to higher altitudes at the speed of up to 186 miles per hour!
The 33-year-old professional wingsuit pilot first thought of creating the design in 2017, "At the time, I was developing suits for skydiving with a friend," he explains. "One evening after a day of testing, we threw out lots of ideas about how we could improve performance. One of them was a supporting motor-and it's an idea I just couldn't shake off. I found the idea of being able to jump from my local mountain wearing the wingsuit and land in my garden exciting."
To help with the process, Salzmann reached out to the experts at BMW's Designworks Studio. It took the team three years and multiple test jumps to perfect the design. The result is an updated version of wingsuit with two 5-inch propellers（螺旋桨）, Powered by a battery, the propellers can be controlled using an on/off switch and even stopped mid-flight using the emergency button, if the flyer encounters an airplane or a flock of birds.
On November 6, 2020, Salzmann, wearing his hi-tech suit, leaped from a helicopter from an altitude of 10,000 feet to soar around the mountain peaks. The expert pilot fired up the electric motors and rocketed forward, gliding above four mountain peaks. The task completed, the pilot opened his parachute（降落伞）and gently landed.
It is unclear if Salzmann and BMW plan to make the electrified wingsuits available to the general public. But, one can always hope!
1. What do we know about the new wingsuit?| A．It flies faster and higher. |
| B．It breaks away from gravity. |
| C．It's equipped with a car motor. |
| D．It has been used for many years. |
| A．What Salzmann's friend did to help him. |
| B．What Salzmann experienced in his career |
| C．How Salzmann became a professional pilot. |
| D．How Salzmann came up with the new design. |
| A．Press the emergency button. | B．Reach out to an expert. |
| C．Check the propellers. | D．Open the parachute. |
| A．Explore. | B．Search. | C．Fly. | D．Dig. |
3 . 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. |
| A．Painting his car all red. | B．Painting his car two colors. |
| C．Painting the garage. | D．Cleaning his car. |
| 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. |
| A．Remove. | B．Continue. |
| C．Reconsider | D．Accept. |
4 . Twice every month, Miranda Sam, a 66-year-old Ghanaian, visited the China Traditional Herbal Hospital, a private herbal facility at Pokuase, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital, for treatment.
“I was squeezing lemons, and when I finished, I could not get up or even move my legs, so I went to the hospital and did an X-ray examination, but they saw nothing. Meanwhile, I could not walk and was in a wheelchair,” the retired worker said. Hence Miranda decided to visit the herbal facility. “On two occasions, I had to do acupuncture(针灸), and I have found great relief. Now I walk unaided, so I keep coming for treatment,” she said.
As Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is gaining popularity in Ghana, many acupuncture clinics run by Chinese doctors pop up in the country. However, the China Traditional Herbal Hospital was established by 52-year-old Ghanaian business owner Bediako, after his fruitful encounter with the effects of TCM in 2012. With the help of a Chinese lady, Bediako set up a small clinic specializing in TCM. Years on, the facility has subsequently grown into a bigger herbal hospital. The hospital treats patients with a combination of local and Chinese herbal formulas. It supports this with the application of traditional Chinese medical methods.
Strokes(中风) account for 1.3 percent of all hospital admissions in Ghana, and 6.3 percent of all hospital deaths. But Bediako is confident that as more people with these conditions turn to the natural methods of healing, the pain and death rates would subside. “A gentleman was brought here three weeks ago, who could not sit, stand, or walk. He was first taken through acupuncture. I observed him on camera 30 minutes later, squatting(蹲), standing, and walking. You come here with your pain but will leave with a smile. That is our feature,” he said.
The hospital has started a second facility in Ashaiman near the capital, with plans to open other branches across the country to meet the growing demand.
1. What can we learn from Miranda’s words in Paragraph 2?| A．Her illness is not a bit severe. | B．Squeezing lemons is a risky job. |
| C．She is feeling better now. | D．She is unsure about what to do next. |
| A．It is located in the downtown area. |
| B．It was originally a specialized clinic. |
| C．It was established by a Chinese doctor. |
| D．It uses nothing but Chinese herbs. |
| A．Decline. | B．Remain. |
| C．Climb. | D．Change. |
| A．Negative. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Uncertain. | D．Concerned. |
5 . I sat here at that same desk and stared at the computer. I waited patiently for ideas to come to me, thinking about exam questions for a school test I would give to my English students tomorrow. My wife was off to a reunion somewhere, but I wasn't alone. Our two children kept me company. Ten-month-old Edward spent most of his day looking at some cards and other different pieces of paper. But Meghan was different from her younger brother.
She followed a daily routine that needed much time and was difficult. It included certain basic tasks: watching the fish, sweeping the carpet in her room, sitting for a few minutes on the bottom shelf of the bookcase to determine whether she still fitted there, checking regularly on Edward or jumping on the sofa.
I could do my own work fairly well during most of these chores. Unfortunately, I had not counted on the “Bib-bibs, bib-bibs”. “Bib-bibs, bib-bibs” shrieked Meghan, and her eyes were alive with expectation. She insisted that I go with her to the window. “No, Meghan,” I answered irritably. “Not now. Go away and leave me alone.”
She left without any attempt to bother me. I could finish the test easily without interference. However, I saw her standing quietly with tears running down her cheeks. She had two fingers of her right hand in her mouth and watched me type. She caught sight of the birds from time to time.
At this moment, only for a moment, I saw a little girl crying because I didn't have time for her, realizing somehow it was the sitting next to each other that meant everything. I put away the blank paper and stood up.
1. What can we learn about the author from paragraph 1?| A．He has two daughters. | B．He's tired of his present job. |
| C．He often stays alone at home. | D．He works as an English teacher. |
| A．Meghan's naughtiness. | B．Meghan's favorite hobbies. |
| C．Meghan's cleverness. | D．Meghan's daily diet. |
| A．Amazedly. | B．Angrily. | C．Nervously. | D．Warmly. |
| A．To call his wife come back. | B．To get some paper from the drawer. |
| C．To watch the birds with his daughter. | D．To stop his daughter from making noise. |
6 . A painting stamped with more than 4.8 million fingerprints and cost over 80, 000 yuan in paper has set the Guinness World Record for the largest fingerprint painting.
The fingerprint painting, named Descendants of the Dragon, was created by Kuang Xianpeng, a 35-year-old painter from Zhuzhou, Hunan Province. It describes a mix of nine Chinese dragons and six arts in ancient Chinese culture.
With a surface area of 1195. 14 square meters, 51. 526 meters long and 23. 195 meters wide, the whole painting used 685 pieces of xuan paper and took Kuang over two years to complete. It also took 40 volunteers two whole days to lay out the painting for Guinness certification officer to measure.
Kuang said it was a very arduous journey, and he had used up all his spare time to finish the work. “It was very hard to master the amount of strength you put in your fingers, ” he said. “You can’t press too hard or too light. Otherwise, your prints will blur. I have wasted over 300 pieces of paper due to blurred fingerprints. ”
The Guinness certification officer Luo Qiong said this world record wasn’t easy to earn. She said each fingerprint must be clear, the painting must have more than four different colors, and the distance between each fingerprint mustn’t be more than 1 centimeter.
The world record for this category had been broken 15 times since 2014, with the previous one set by an Indian with a work measuring 1, 188 square meters.
Before this painting, Kuang had spent 14 years in drawing a pen-and-ink painting of 247 meters long and 1. 6 meters wide, telling stories of historical myths. He also said he would never stop exploring more creative works.
1. What can we know about the painting created by Kuang Xianpeng?| A．It’s worth at least 80, 000 yuan. |
| B．It measures 1, 188 square meters. |
| C．It took him 14 years to complete it. |
| D．It consists of over 4.8 million fingerprints. |
| A．Difficult. | B．Satisfying. |
| C．Thrilling. | D．Frightening. |
| A．The colors of paints. |
| B．The amount of strength. |
| C．The quality of xuan paper. |
| D．The distance of fingerprints. |
| A．He is full of creativity. |
| B．He is full of imagination. |
| C．He is very courageous. |
| D．He is rich in experience. |
7 . The populations of common animals are just as likely to rise or fall in number in a time of accelerating global warming as those of rare species, a study suggests.
Until recently, scientists were still accumulating data on how animal populations were shifting over time globally across the different regions of the planet.
Making use of the newly available data, a team of University of Edinburgh researchers studied nearly 10000 animal populations recorded in the Living Planet Database between 1970 and 2014 to provide a new perspective on animal population change. These include records of mammals, reptiles, sharks, fish, birds and amphibians.
The team found that 15 percent of all populations declined during the period, while 18 percent increased and 67 percent showed no significant change. Amphibians were the only group in which population sizes declined, while birds, mammals and reptiles experienced increases. The overall decline in amphibians makes them a priority for conservation efforts, researchers say, as their loss could have knock-on effects in food chains and wider ecosystems.
Gergana Daskalova, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who led the study, said, “We often assume that declines in animal numbers are prevalent everywhere. But we found that there are also many species which have increased over the last half of a century, such as those which do well in human-transformed landscapes or those which are the focus of conservation actions.”
Dr. Isla Myers-Smith, also of the School of GeoSciences, who co-authored the study, said, “Only as we bring together data from around the world, can we begin to really understand how global change is influencing the biodiversity of our planet.”
1. With the global temperature rising, what happens to the animals?| A．Rare animal species tend to decline. |
| B．Common animal species tend to increase. |
| C．Global wanning is accelerating with the loss of animal species. |
| D．The population of common animals changes just like rare ones. |
| A．By analyzing existing information. | B．By studying animals，behavior. |
| C．By comparing different studies. | D．By recording the data of animals. |
| A．Sharp. | B．Common. | C．Steady. | D．Relative. |
| A．Objective. | B．Optimistic. | C．Subjective. | D．Pessimistic. |
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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 . Imagine a world where you move around in front of a personal computer in your own sound space. You listen to your favorite songs, play loud computer games or watch a movie — all without other people hearing the sound and without headphones.
That is the possibility presented by “sound beaming”, a new technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company. On Friday, the company introduced a desktop device that sends sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones or a special receiver.
Noveto Systems gave The Associated Press (AP) a chance to test its SoundBeamer 1.0 before its introduction. The AP’s Louise Dixon writes that listening to the device is like something from a science fiction movie.The sound seems so close that it feels like it is inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.
Noveto expects the device will have many uses. Office workers could listen to music or conference calls without others hearing. People could play a game, a movie or music without waking up others in the same room. Because the device does not use headphones, it is possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly.
The device uses a 3-D sensing module that finds and follows the ear position of the listener. It sends ultrasonic waves (超声波) to create sound pockets by the user’s ears. The 3-D method creates sound on all sides of the listener, therefore the listeners feel completely transported into the scene.
By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when he moves his head. It is also possible to move out of the sound beam's path and hear nothing at all.
While the idea of sound beaming is not new, Noveto was the first to launch the technology.
According to the chief executive officer Christophe Ramstein, a “smaller” version of the device will be ready for release to consumers next year.
1. What does the underlined word “possibility” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The listener may put on music to block out other sounds. |
| B．The listener may hear sound only for him or her without using headphones. |
| C．The listener may enjoy songs or movies without being interrupted by others. |
| D．The listener may have the ability to pick up some special sounds. |
| A．Amazing. | B．Impossible. |
| C．Strange. | D．Meaningful. |
| A．It places the listener on the scene to hear the sound. |
| B．It fixes a sound beam’s path which can not be changed. |
| C．It follows the listeners around to send and receive sounds. |
| D．With 3-D tracking technology, it sends ultrasonic waves to the target listener. |
| A．To promote the SoundBeamer. | B．To introduce a new sound device. |
| C．To recommend new headphones. | D．To explain a technical phenomenon. |
10 . When our professor Dr. Dressel outlined the requirements of the term paper, he sounded especially terrible, so I recalled another classroom nightmare, Mrs. Grace from Forsyth High. I could still picture her neat script in the margins of my papers, carefully listing each of my grammatical shortcoming in bright blue ink.
“One of these days,” she was fond of saying, “you’ll find that what you’re learning here will be useful.” Few of us believed her, but that didn’t discourage her from relentless training in composition repeatedly. At the slightest protest, her dark eyes would flash, “You’ll find that the real world is far more demanding than my term papers, but meanwhile they can help prepare you for it!”
When Dr. Dressel handed back my papers, an A+ stood out on the page. I disbelieved. I even bent over for a closer look. Professor Dessel, standing next to my table, said, “your term paper is among the finest by a junior student. It tells me that somewhere along the line you had a remarkable English teacher. You should go to that teacher and express your gratitude.”
On the evening, I forced myself up to the Mrs. Grace’s house. The woman who answered the door was far different from the Mrs. Grace I remembered. She was pale and frowning. I gave my term paper into her hands. She glanced at it, then looked back at me wondering.
“My professor knew someone like you was responsible for my paper and”, I stammered, “I just wanted to thank you. I really appreciate all you did for me.”
Mrs. Grace began to cry. “You’re the first person ever to thank me,” she sobbed. “This has been such a hard year. I’ve been sick all fall, but your visit has done me more good than all the medicine I’ve taken. God bless you!” She threw her arms around me and hugged me hard. Then we both shed some tears.
“I’m so glad you stopped by,” she said.
“So am I!” I replied.
Never again have I been reluctant to express gratitude.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about the term paper the author had?| A．The author’s professor had strict requirements of it. |
| B．The author’s term paper was not well written. |
| C．The author was not to blame for his academic performance. |
| D．The author didn’t get any help from the professor. |
| A．重复的 | B．严苛的 | C．大量的 | D．无效的 |
| A．He regretted not listening to her class carefully. |
| B．He was unwilling to do so at first. |
| C．He was proud that he had finished the term paper. |
| D．He hardly appreciated what Mrs. Grace had done. |
| A．Always prepare for the demanding real world. |
| B．We should express gratitude to those who help us. |
| C．It is important to be willing to communicate. |
| D．People should insist on doing what they think is right. |
