1 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What will Todd Messegee be responsible for?

A．Directing a play.

B．Writing a play.

C．Starring in a play.

2. What will participants mainly do by the fourth day?

A．Attend a lecture on acting.

B．Practice the play.

C．Perform on stage formally.

3. What is the speaker doing?

A．Drawing up a plan for a program.

B．Advertising an acting program.

C．Announcing arrangements for a play.

2 . 阅读下面材料,根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段,使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Eight-year-old Evan stood by the sidewalk watching as Mrs. Carter opened her flower shop. He felt relieved that the shop hadn’t closed forever. Two days ago, when he passed by, there was a closed sign on the door and a note saying Mrs. Carter was sick. Evan was worried that he would never be able to get his “dream job” if the shop remained closed for too long.

Mrs. Carter, an 85-year-old woman, spotted Evan looking in her shop’s direction and waved hello to him. Excitedly, Evan ran up to her and expressed his desire to work at the shop. Mrs.Carter laughed quietly, finding it amusing that an eight-year-old wanted a job. Evan confidently explained that since his dad passed away, he had learned how to do various tasks, like taking out the rubbish, making sandwiches, and assisting his mom, Stacey, with groceries. He didn’t want any payment for his work; instead, he simply wanted a bouquet (花束) for his mom’ s upcoming birthday. He believed in working hard for what he wanted, just as his mom had taught him.

Impressed by Evan’s determination, Mrs. Carter agreed to hire him. She asked if he knew how to tie ribbons around flowers, and when she heard Evan’s affirmative(肯定的) response, they got down to making bouquets. Evan was excited to assist Mrs. Carter every evening for a whole week, and his presence brought joy to her boring work.Customers found Evan adorable and entertaining, which resulted in increased flower purchases and booming business for Mrs. Carter.

On Evan’s last day, Mrs.Carter felt emotional. Their bond had grown strong, and she saw him as a grandchild. As she prepared a splendid bouquet for Evan’s mother, tears welled up in her eyes. She invited him to visit her shop in the future, and Evan promised to tell his mom about her.

注意: 1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。

With the bouquet in hand, Evan rushed home to celebrate Mom’s birthday.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Evan handed his mom the bouquet, they were surprised to discover an envelope with several hundred-dollar bills inside.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . Deepfake: synthetic (合成的) media, including images, videos, and audio, is generated by Al technology to show something that does not exist or events that have never occurred.

Examples of deepfakes have been widely spread, including a video of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg giving a speech about his company’s plan, and a video of Elon Musk dancing and talking about the power of dreams, etc.

It’s easy for AI to produce such deepfakes using two different deep-learning algorithms (算法): one that creates the best possible clone based on a real image or video and another that detects whether the copy is fake (伪造的) and, if it is, reports on the differences between it and the original. The first algorithm produces a synthetic image and receives feedback on it from the second algorithm and then adjusts it to make it appear more real; the loop is repeated as many times as it takes until the second algorithm does not detect any false imagery.

Deepfakers often have evil motives, including creating misinformation and generating confusion. They tend to demean, terrify, and annoy, and have targeted not only celebrities but ordinary citizens as well.

Most of the academic research surrounding deepfakes focuses on the detection of huge amount of deepfake videos emerging online. One detection approach is to use algorithms to identify inconsistencies in deepfake videos. For example, an automatic system can examine videos for errors such as irregular blinking patterns of lighting. However, these approaches have been criticized because deepfake detection is characterized by a “moving goal post” where the production of deepfakes is changing and improving while detection tools are always on the way of catching them up.

However, education and medicine are two of the fields that may benefit from deepfake technology. In the classroom, historical speeches could be deepfaked to offer immersive and engaging lessons. In health care, it can improve the accuracy with which tumors (肿瘤) are spotted, making them easier to treat. Its use also permits using synthesized data instead of that from real patients to avoid privacy concerns.

1. How does AI create a deepfake video according to the passage?

A．By copying and combining the fake images.

B．By constantly teaching itself to perfect the output.

C．By acquiring feedback from multiple sources.

D．By repeatedly generating realistic images from scratch.

2. What is the challenge of detecting deepfake videos?

A．Ever-evolving deepfake techniques.	B．Insufficient academic basis on detection solutions.
C．A massive number of false videos online.	D．Limited availability of detection tools.

3. What is the author’s attitude toward deepfake?

A．Supportive.

B．Critical.

C．Objective.

D．Unconcerned.

4. What is probably the best title for the passage?

A．Potential threats: AI’s new playground	B．Deepfake: Human’s another helping hand
C．Artificial Intelligence: A piece of fake	D．Detecting deepfake: An ongoing battle

4 . Filming in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest

The Kamas Ranger District handles film permits for the Kamas district of the Wasatch- Cache National Forest.

To ensure that permits are issued in time for filming, the Forest Service requests that application form be handed in three to four weeks prior to filming.

The fee structure for filming in the National Forest is as follows:

Filming Special Use Fee

1 to 10 people-$150 per day

11 to 30 people-$200 per day

31 to 60 people-$500 per day

Over 61 people-$600 per day

Film Monitoring Fee

1 day filming-FREE

Extra days-$200 per day

Additional Fees

Additional fees will be charged in the following situations:

Large production (greater than 100 people), multiple site filming that may require additional film monitoring to protect natural resources and a performance agreement in the form of a deposited check.

Upon approval, a Special Use Permit will be issued with a bill for collection. Checks should be made payable to “USDA Forest Service, ” and payment must be received before filming.

Note

Some areas of the forest are especially sensitive to impacts from vehicles, domestic animals, and people. These areas include wetlands, streams, lake shorelines, and most meadow areas. Filming requests in these sensitive areas will require special surveys to determine possible environmental impacts. The request may be denied.

1. What is one expected to do for filming?

A．Issue the permit weeks before filming.	B．Submit the application form in advance.
C．Give top priority to time arrangement.	D．Outline the fee structure in the forest.

2. How much will a week’s film monitoring be charged?

A．$1200.

B．$200.

C．$1400.

D．$600.

3. Which of the following will be charged additional fees?

A．Paying the bill in cash.	B．Entry into the sensitive areas.
C．Production with over 61 people.	D．Filming in different sites.

5 . The human voice is a delicate thing. Each person’s distinctive voice is produced when air from the lungs causes the vocal cords (声带) to vibrate (震颤). These vocal cords can easily get damaged. According to a 2005 study, 30% of the population will experience a voice disorder at some point in their life.

In a study published in the journal Nature Communications this week, a group of bioengineering researchers from the University of California have put forward an attractive solution. They have designed and tested a soft patch (小片) that can be stuck onto a person’s neck, where it will pick up muscle movements and, with the help of machine-learning algorithms (算法) that process the signals, translate them into speech.

When a person loses their voice today, the easiest fix is to turn to typing, texting, or writing notes to communicate. Typing can be slow and convenient, says Jun Chen, the paper’s lead author, and writing notes is only possible in good lighting. The new solution would therefore be able to clear all these hurdles.

Dr. Chen’s device works based on something called the magnetoelastic effect. Essentially, when tiny magnetic (磁性的) bits are placed into soft materials, their magnetic properties can change as the material is stretched.

When the throat muscles move under the soft patch, the resulting magnetoelastic effects can be changed into electrical signals. In a test with eight participants, the variations can be changed by electrical signals.

Researchers recorded the signals as the subjects spoke and mouthed five different sentences. They then trained a machine-learning model which was then able to predict which of the five sentences the participants spoke-whether aloud or in silence-with more than 90% accuracy.

There is a way to go yet, for now the device can only recognize the five phrases it was trained on. Plus, to make it practical at scale, the researchers will need to collect a lot more data.

1. In paragraph 1, the author mainly wants to tell us that____.

A．lungs are easily damaged

B．the human voice is unique

C．vocal cords vibrate to produce sound

D．voice disorders are a problem worthy of attention

2. Why does the author mention the biometric effect?

A．To explain the working principle.	B．To present a solution.
C．To introduce the challenge.	D．To make a comparison.

3. What is the function of the soft patch?

A．Predicting five different sentences.

B．Destroying the background magnetic field.

C．Slowing the movements of throat muscles.

D．Helping turn muscle movements into electrical signals.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Predicting the Importance of Voice Restoration

B．Using Algorithms in Bioengineering Research

C．Overcoming Voice Loss with an innovative Patch

D．Finding the Principle of Communication Devices

6 . In recent years, much of my life as a consumer has shifted to what I like to call background. As I’ve subscribed to more apps and streaming platforms, significant sums of my money tend to slip away each month without my ever thinking about it.

Think of it as an automated trade. Spending without the trouble of spending. Acquaint ion without action. Or thought.

But while this flood of subscriptions was sold to me on the condition that it would make my life more trouble-free, there was a certain shock I felt upon discovering how much I was spending without realizing each month ($179.45).

You see, the thing about background spending is that it tends to happen, well, in the background without your full attention. And there lies the point.

“Hand over your credit card details and let us take care of the rest,” these companies promote. But by again sing their name, we’ve become lazy, positive consumers. And this laziness breeds (导致) more laziness because most of us can’t be bothered with conducting regular reviews of our subscription spending. We’re too lazy to even notice or cancel it!

I know it’s not just me who is suddenly living life as a smart-braised subscriber. The average consumer spends $273 per month on subscriptions, according to a 2021 study of 2,500 by digital services firm West Morose. Not a single person surveyed knew what his actually monthly spending was.

It’s understandable why this model is so attractive to businesses. As companies questioned traditional advertising models, subscription offered the promise of “selling once and earning forever.” And while subscription services have been around for decades (think Wine of the Month Club), more customers have been willing to sign up thanks to the widespread availability of smartphones and the increasing ease of home delivery.

While these subscription promise ease and happiness, not all of us are satisfied. Last year, the Kameny Institute found 40 percent of consumer believe they have too many subscriptions. Almost half of us also think we pay too much for streaming video-on-demand subscriptions.

1. What can we know about background spending in paragraph 2?

A．Its purpose.

B．Its feature.

C．Its procedure.

D．Its requirement.

2. What makes it possible for background spending to happen?

A．Its attractive price.	B．Some people’s poor habit.
C．Its secure service.	D．Some people’s addiction to it.

3. Why is the subscription model appealing to businesses?

A．It offers good home delivery services.

B．It is like traditional advertising models.

C．It is popular among smartphone producers.

D．It brings repeated profits through a single sale.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards background spending?

A．Supportive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Critical.

D．Unclear.

7 . Glen Edwards became a hero when he rescued a construction worker trapped on top of a 160-meter-high building.

As a crane (吊车) _______ working on a construction site, Edwards _______ found himself in a life-saving mission when a fire broke out. He recalled how he _______ the trapped worker from his crane’s cabin (驾驶舱), and how he came up with the idea of saving the man by lowerin a cage to him to let him _______.

However, his attempt to _______ the cage before the man was by no means an easy job, as each post (弹) of wind prevented to throw his crane off balance. Besides, the smoke and flames also added to the difficulty. _______ the great challenges, Edwards refused to give up and fought to _______ control. Luckily, someone on the ground offered _______ on where to land the cage through a radio. Edwards _______ the crane’s movements, inch by inch, until the cage hanged (盘旋) just inches from the edge of the _______. With determination, Edwards successfully landed the cage.

Eventually, Edwards watched the cage _______ the man away from the horrible fire below and lowering him to safety. The crowd _______ a big round of applause, a tribute (致敬) to the courage and skill _______ by Edwards. He knew that his quick thinking and strong _______ had made all the difference between life and death in the face of disaster.

A GoFundMe page has now been set up to raise money for him —— with organizers _______ people to “buy Glen a beer” for his life-saving efforts.

1.

A．engineer

B．operator

C．cleaner

D．salesman

2.

A．regularly

B．unfortunately

C．intentionally

D．unexpectedly

3.

A．helped

B．spotted

C．realized

D．guided

4.

A．escape

B．hide

C．walk

D．slide

5.

A．clean

B．cover

C．position

D．open

6.

A．Despite

B．Without

C．For

D．From

7.

A．switch

B．maintain

C．lose

D．give

8.

A．instructions

B．problems

C．explanations

D．courses

9.

A．quickened

B．described

C．adjusted

D．repeated

10.

A．door

B．garden

C．crane

D．roof

11.

A．persuading

B．lifting

C．warning

D．dragging

12.

A．went through

B．put on

C．asked for

D．broke into

13.

A．displayed

B．admitted

C．exchanged

D．required

14.

A．preference

B．response

C．emotion

D．determination

15.

A．choosing

B．encouraging

C．ordering

D．teaching

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Yang Jiang was a well-known Chinese playwright, translator, and author. She belonged to     1     unique and beautiful existence in Chinese literature. She was the first Chinese academic     2    (translate) Miguel de Cervantes’ Spanish novel Don Quixote to Chinese and at that time, her translation     3     (honor) as the recreation of the original work       4     the basis of loyalty.

Yang was born into a rich family in 1911,     5    (original)named Yang Jikang. After eventually     6     (graduate) from Soochow University, she enrolled at the graduate school of Tsinghua University. She met her husband there, Qian Zhongshu, another acclaimed writer in China.

Other than translations, Yang     7     (author) many plays, novels, and essays during her writing career. Her short novel Mr. Wang,     8    (write) in 1984, was selected as an article in the textbook. In 1986, she got the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, a famous Spanish civil order, for her     9     (achieve) in Don Quixote. Her bestseller was We Three in 2003,     10     sales exceeded 180,000 copies in two months. Yang passed away in 2016, at the age of 105.

9 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What made Catherine start boxing?

A．A film.

B．A friend.

C．A game.

2. What did Catherine’s family think of her when she took up boxing?

A．Brave.

B．Smart.

C．Crazy.

3. What does Catherine usually do before a boxing match?

A．Stay relaxed.

B．Go camping.

C．Get training.

4. What is the best thing Catherine gains from doing boxing?

A．Friendship.

B．Fitness.

C．Respect.

10 . 听下面一段对话，回答以下小题。
1. Where does Stella live?

A．In Memphis.

B．In Boston.

C．In St. Louis.

2. What would Peter and his family like to do on Beale Street?

A．Visit a museum.

B．Listen to music.

C．Have dinner.

3. What kind of hotel does Peter prefer?

A．A big one.

B．A quiet one.

C．A modern one.