1 . The benefits of a bilingual brain

Hablas espafiol?Parlez-yous francais? 你会说中文吗?If you answered, “sí,” “oui,” or “会” and you’re watching this in English, _________ are you belong to the world’s bilingual and multilingual majority. And besides having an easier time traveling or watching movies without subtitles, knowing two or more languages means that your brain may actually look and work _________ than those of your monolingual friends.

So what does it really mean to know a language? Language ability is typically measured in two active parts, speaking and writing, and two   _________ parts, listening and reading. While a(n) _________ bilingual has near equal abilities across the board in two languages, most bilingual around the world know and use their languages in varying proportions. And   _________ their situation and how they acquired each language, they can be _________ into three general types. For example, let’s take Gabriella, whose family immigrates to the US from Peru when she’s two-years old. As a compound bilingual, Gabriella develops two linguistic codes simultaneously (同时地), with a single set of concepts, learning both English and Spanish as she begins to   _________ the world around her. Her teenage brother, on the other hand, might be a coordinate bilingual, working with two sets of concepts, learning English in school, while _________ to speak Spanish at home and with friends. Finally, Gabriella’s parents are likely to be subordinate (次要的) bilinguals who learn a secondary language by filtering it through their mother_________.

Because all types of bilingual people can become fully proficient in a language __________ accent or pronunciation, the difference may not be apparent to a casual observer. But recent   __________·in brain imaging technology have given neurolinguists a glimpse into how specific aspects of language learning affect the bilingual brain. It’s well known that the brain’s left hemisphere is more dominant and analytical in __________ processes. while the right hemisphere is more active in emotional and social ones, though this is a matter of degree, not an absolute split. The fact that language involves both types of functions while lateralization (脑部的偏侧性) develops gradually with age，has led to the critical period hypothesis. According to this theory, children learn languages more easily, because the plasticity of their developing brains lets them use both hemispheres in language acquisition, while in most adults, language is lateralized to one hemisphere, usually the left.

But regardless of when you acquire additional languages, being multilingual gives your brain some__________ advantages. Some of these are even visible, such as higher density of the grey matter that contains most of your brain’s neurons and synapses, and more activity in certain regions when engaging a second language. The heightened __________ a bilingual brain receives throughout its life can also help delay the onset of diseases, like Alzheimer’s and dementia by as much as five years.

So, while bilingualism may not   __________ make you smarter, it does make your brain more healthy, complex and actively engaged, and even if you didn’t have the good fortune of learning a second language as a child, it’s never too late to do yourself a favor and make the linguistic leap from, “Hello,” to, “Hola,” “Bonjour” or “你好’s” because when it comes to our brains a little exercise can go a long way.

1.

A．opportunities

B．changes

C．chances

D．collections

2.

A．deliberately

B．dominantly

C．differently

D．dramatically

3.

A．primitive

B．passive

C．pessimistic

D．primary

4.

A．balanced

B．imbalanced

C．biological

D．well-behaved

5.

A．depending on

B．in favor of

C．concentrating on

D．thanks to

6.

A．separated

B．brought

C．changed

D．classified

7.

A．process

B．prohibit

C．proceed

D．progress

8.

A．combining

B．continuing

C．ceasing

D．committing

9.

A．tune

B．tone

C．tongue

D．toe

10.

A．regardless of

B．due to

C．on the contrary

D．otherwise

11.

A．advances

B．increases

C．decreases

D．possession

12.

A．spiritual

B．complicated

C．logical

D．creative

13.

A．invisible

B．remarkable

C．minor

D．inevitable

14.

A．workout

B．size

C．volume

D．influence

15.

A．necessarily

B．commonly

C．barely

D．differently

2 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. backed   B. benefit   C. consumption   D. diversity   E. disordered   F. matter G. perceive   H. led   I. snacking   J. treat   K. wandering

Walking past a corner bakery, you may find yourself drawn in by the fresh smell of sweets wafting from the front door. You're not alone. The knowledge that humans make decisions based on their nose has     1     major brands like Cinnabon and Panera Bread to use the scents of baked goods in their restaurants, leading to big increases in sales.

But according to a new study, the food you ate just before your walk past the bakery may impact your chance of stopping in for a sweet     2    —and not just because you're full. Scientists at Northwestern University found that people became less sensitive to food odors (气味) based on the meal they had eaten just before. So, if you were     3     on baked goods from a coworker before your walk, for example, you may be less likely to stop into that sweet-smelling bakery.

The study found that participants who had just eaten a meal of either cinnamon buns (肉桂面包) or pizza were less likely to     4     "meal-matched" odors, but not non-matched odors. The findings were then     5     by brain scans that showed brain activity in parts of the brain that process odors was altered in a similar way. These findings show that just as smell regulates what we eat, what we eat—in turn—regulates our sense of smell.

Feedback between food intake and the olfactory (嗅觉的) system may have an evolutionary     6    , said senior and corresponding study author Thorsten Kahnt, an assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "If you think about our ancestors     7     around the forest trying to find food, they find and eat berries and then aren't as sensitive to the smell of berries anymore, "Kahnt said. So it could theoretically help facilitate (促进)     8     in food and nutrient intake.

While we may not notice the hunter-gatherer adaptation having an effect on our day-to-day decision-making, the connection between our nose, what we seek out and what we can detect with our nose may still     9    . If the nose isn't working right, for example, the feedback may be disrupted, leading to problems with     10     eating and obesity. There may even be links to disrupted sleep, another tie to the olfactory system the Kahnt lab is researching.

3 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. figured       B. novelty       C. practical       D. exhausting       E. regret       F. fortune G. hopefully       H. collected       I. perspective       J. conflicts       K. basically

My First Job

Jocelyn, Scotland

I grew up in a rural community where it was common for kids to help out on the nearby farms. When I was about fifteen or sixteen, I started working Saturdays picking potatoes. We’d be     1     at seven in the morning and driven out to the fields, where we’d walk behind these huge machines and bag all the potatoes they’d dig up. It was     2    , but I enjoyed being outside and we all had a laugh together. Of course, as a teenager, I provided cheap labour, but that didn’t bother me. The £30 I earned every week — cash-in-hand, of course — felt like a(n)     3     back then.

ELA, Poland

I did politics at university and I really wanted to go and see more of Europe, so I       4     I needed a part-time job. A friend of mine did market research for this local company and she put in a good word for me. I mostly worked weekends, but once in a while they’d asked me to do the odd evening as well. I    5     went door to door asking specific questions what people drank, who they were planning to vote for, all sorts. It was fun to begin with, meeting so many new people, and the money was quite good too, but the     6     soon wore off. It soon got very repetitive. I don’t       7     it, though. I learned that a smile goes a long way — and as I know that some people were lazy and made up their data, I’ve learned not to take statistics for granted too!

Carla, Chile

I joined the army after leaving school because I was a restless person and didn’t like ‘academic’ things. Funnily enough, I’ve actually spent quite a lot of time in a classroom since I joined, as we get training for things like logistics. It’s OK, though — you see the     8     benefits more than at school, so I don’t regret joining at all. And if I wasn’t in the army, I would never have gone somewhere like Haiti. I went there as part of a UN humanitarian mission. For sure, people associate the army with war, but nowadays it’s more about peacekeeping and helping people involved in       9    . My area — logistics — is really about solving problems and communication. I’m certainly staying in the army and     10     I’ll achieve a high rank.

4 . Picture this: you’re out to dinner with a friend who you know makes a lot more money than you do. When you open the _________, your heart sinks. There’s not a dish in sight that is less than $35, and even a soup is going to run you $18. You probably vow (发誓) to _________ dollar pizza slices the rest of the month to balance out this dinner. _________, this time, what if you just turned to your friend, closed the menu, and said, “Sorry, I have to be honest. I can’t afford this. Let’s go somewhere else?”

That’s the idea behind “loud budgeting”, a trend that could not only relieve you of the _________ burden, but help you deal with these sorts of stressful situations both mentally and emotionally. In an age when everybody is showing off nice things on social media and _________ to be something they’re not, it feels somewhat revolutionary to just tell the truth about what you can’t afford.

The term was first introduced by TikTok (抖音) comedian Lukas Battle. Battle explained his concept in an interview: simply put, loud budgeting is being _________ about what you do and don’t want to spend money on. Since his video, the concept has caught on rapidly among the _________, who are pointing out that it has come at a significant time when everything is uncontrollably expensive.

It’s not just a TikTok thing though. Even those in the financial services industry are on board with the _________. Nikolina Cuca, a financial advisor, says that she’s seen social media add pressure to her clients, causing them to spend _________ on luxury items. “There should be no shame about trying to match your spending to your means. This trend helps young people moderate spending by __________ the idea of living within budgets.”

Beyond just saving money, loud budgeting is also bringing people closer. Honest money talks lead to greater respect among friends and family. By __________ discussing money goals, people are creating stronger bonds based on mutual understanding for each other’s financial situations. And perhaps the most valuable part of the loud budgeting trend is that it provides a sense of __________. For example, if you tell a friend you are trying to cut back spending on drinks out, you are much __________ to stick with the goal than if you just keep it to yourself.

With its focus on being open, spending wisely, and building __________, loud budgeting is more than just a passing trend, but a cool way for the younger generation to __________ their finances. As more people adopt this approach, it is likely to stay a big part of how we handle money in the future.

1.

A．door

B．menu

C．bill

D．wallet

2.

A．appeal to

B．lead to

C．stick to

D．object to

3.

A．Otherwise

B．Meanwhile

C．Therefore

D．However

4.

A．financial

B．cultural

C．physical

D．economical

5.

A．refusing

B．pretending

C．agreeing

D．guaranteeing

6.

A．worried

B．angry

C．honest

D．excited

7.

A．male

B．female

C．young

D．old

8.

A．tradition

B．truth

C．treasure

D．trend

9.

A．below their standards

B．beyond their means

C．towards their goals

D．despite their differences

10.

A．normalizing

B．criticizing

C．memorizing

D．visualizing

11.

A．endlessly

B．intelligently

C．openly

D．formally

12.

A．belonging

B．accountability

C．flexibility

D．rigidity

13.

A．less motivated

B．less equipped

C．more hesitant

D．more likely

14.

A．connections

B．business

C．habitats

D．reputation

15.

A．lose faith in

B．take charge of

C．do away with

D．make up for

5 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

The Day I Survived

It had been raining buckets that week, and authorities had issued a flood warning, though not for where I was. Still, I had placed sandbags on the floor outside my garden door just in case.

As I was drifting off to sleep, I suddenly heard the sound of rushing water,     1    I were lying beside a waterfall instead of in my bedroom. When I     2    (swing) my legs off the bed, I was shocked by the sensation of cold water lapping against my knees and rising fast.

    3    (feel) my way in the darkness, I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight. As I stepped out of my bedroom, water was shooting through the gaps of the garden door. The water     4    have gone over the sandbags, I thought. All around me, my things began to float: chairs, bookshelves, and pieces of my drum set.

I heard the garden door starting to break down     5    the pressure of the flood, and the water was now up to my waist. I began to panic. In bare feet and with my shorts     6    (glue) to my body, I started to walk to my only escape: the door that leads upstairs.

I struggled to the door and tried to pull it open, but the force of the water wouldn’t let me do so. I looked around and grabbed a broom     7    was floating behind me. Using it to pry (撬) open the door, I managed to make a gap of about a foot, just wide enough     8    (force) myself through. Finally, I made it outside. If I had woken up just a few minutes later, I would have drowned. The entire neighborhood was destroyed by the flood.

Later, we     9    (assure) that something like this happens only once every 100 years. I hope so. It pains me to see     10    was once a lovely, cozy street now turns into a waterscape.

6 . Global Rise of TCM

Phan Thi Kim Chi’s connection with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) began at an early age. Growing up in a small village in Vietnam, it was inconvenient for Phan to travel to hospitals in neighboring cities. Whenever she caught a cold or experienced a headache as a child, her family would seek the help of a local TCM practitioner.     1     According to Phan, even though TCM has long been commonly practiced and accepted in Vietnam, finding a good school to learn TCM in Vietnam is not easy.

As a foreign student, Phan finds the TCM basic theory course to be the most challenging one in the curriculum.     2     It requires years of learning and practice to truly understand the concepts of yin and yang, harmony between human and nature, and the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Sometimes she even translates the TCM vocabulary and scripts into Vietnamese so she can remember and comprehend them better.

    3     According to a report, the total number of international students studying TCM in China was 8, 187 last year, with the largest population of 6, 441 coming from Asian countries, followed by 832 from Africa and 432 from Europe. Also, many Chinese medical universities had projects that sent professors overseas to teach TCM.

The booming situation of TCM is not limited to schools and clinics. It has also become a lifestyle choice for many young people. There is a trend among young people to place more emphasis on health conditioning and preservation. However, experts remind that TCM emphasizes the importance of diagnosing and treating based on identifying syndromes (症状). It is impossible to offer a one-size- fits-all approach to all patients.     4    

A．They highly recognized the effectiveness of TCM, especially its use in pain treatment.

B．Even when drinking herbal milk tea, it’s best to make choices accordingly.

C．Being extensive and far-reaching, TCM is deeply connected with Chinese philosophy.

D．Overseas students of TCM, like Phan, are not rare.

E．This led her to major in TCM at a traditional medical school in China.

F．Many other Chinese medicine institutions have adopted similar strategic initiatives.

7 . What makes a certain piece of writing great? Well, it depends on whom you ask. There are, in my mind, three different readers: casual readers, lit critics, creative writers. They would say the following about Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre:

Casual reader: Jane’s story is very relatable, especially to women who survived their teenage years. The story’s elements of romance, mystery, and coming-of-age make it enjoyable to read.

Literary critic: Jane Eyre pulls inspiration from the Gothic and romantic literary traditions. The atmospheric setting mirrors Jane’s inner world and serves as a character itself.

Creative writer: Jane has an appealing character and her pursuit of a fulfilling life is timeless. While Jane’s emotions are often verbose (冗长的), each word still feels necessary in most passages.

All of these responses are reasonable interpretations of the great literary work Jane Eyre. What’s the difference between these three? The casual reader is primarily interested in the story’s relatability and entertainment value; the literary critic, who knows how to read literature like a professor, looks for ways to situate this work in its broader literary context.

The creative writer must do both: the job of the casual reader and the job of the critic. He/she engages with the work on a personal level while also researching what makes a work successful. This is Reading Like a Writer (RLW), which means being impacted by a piece of literature while investigating how the writer did it. Successful works of writing succeed for different reasons-a distinctive voice, moving storytelling, an empowering message, etc. Writers don’t make the achievement randomly: they earn it by crafting every plot point and character, every line break, with care and precision. It’s up to you to pay attention to these craft elements, the choices the writer makes and how they contribute to the work as a whole.

Yes, reading like a writer is extra work. But it’s necessary work to the writing practice. By observing the strategies writers employ to tell convincing stories or write engaging arguments, you equip yourself with the knowledge to perform these strategies yourself.

1. The author cites three reader responses to Jane Eyre ________.

A．to argue that the novel is poorly written

B．to explain different reading perspectives

C．to prove how detailed literary analysis can be

D．to show the misinterpretation by creative writers

2. According to the passage, which of the following most probably demonstrates RLW?

A．Discussing fascinating plots and characters in a novel.

B．Examining the literary sources a Greek classic draws on.

C．Analyzing why a short story is popular and how it is structured.

D．Summarizing the main events of a short story for a class assignment.

3. What does the underlined pronoun “it” refer to?

A．Care and precision in writing	B．Recognition of works as success
C．Investigation of writing style	D．Character analysis through words

4. The author suggests RLW is “necessary work” (para.7) because readers can ________.

A．write lengthy novels like Jane Eyre	B．gain knowledge in employment
C．become professional literary critic	D．improve their own writing craft

8 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。1.

A．The man’s failure in final exams.	B．The man’s career prospects.
C．The woman’s new employment.	D．The woman’s personal story.

2.

A．He had too few interviews because of heavy coursework.

B．He rejected the company because he disliked the boss.

C．He had waited for a month before receiving the offer.

D．He was rejected by the company and felt depressed.

3.

A．The man should read the job ads carefully.

B．The man should ask his senior friends for help.

C．The man should try to sell the products himself.

D．The man should explore the employer’s business fully.

4.

A．Memorizing financial knowledge.	B．Solving a business challenge.
C．Presenting his personal qualities.	D．Arriving early at the interview.

9 .

A．He was out of money.	B．He misplaced his wallet.
C．He paid bills late.	D．He felt stressed at work.

10 .

A．The man cooks Indian food frequently.

B．The man dislikes the recommended food.

C．The woman seems to enjoy complex flavour.

D．The woman tried Indian meals two weeks ago.