1 . When Shao Tianshuai was 14, her dance teacher told her she had expressive eyes and an oval face, which were best suited for Kunqu Opera. She didn’t pay much
In 2001, Shao
Kunqu Opera, like many traditional Chinese operas, is
“This type of opera was on the edge of decline (衰退) and the theater only had a dozen performances a year before I applied there,” says Shao. “However, the UNESCO tag gave the art a
Usually, she performs her regular shows.
Now, at 36, she is one of the leading
“The heartwarming part is that so many young people like Kunqu Opera performances, whether online or offline. They are
| A．attention | B．access | C．effort | D．emphasis |
| A．aided | B．persuaded | C．requested | D．begged |
| A．stood | B．asked | C．fought | D．applied |
| A．professional | B．international | C．economical | D．technical |
| A．turned down | B．set down | C．passed down | D．settled down |
| A．master | B．design | C．admire | D．track |
| A．audiences | B．companies | C．hobbies | D．styles |
| A．smart | B．fresh | C．vivid | D．confident |
| A．For reference | B．For instance | C．In addition | D．In advance |
| A．holds | B．counts | C．lives | D．focuses |
| A．hostesses | B．waitresses | C．actresses | D．authoresses |
| A．nearly | B．merely | C．clearly | D．hardly |
| A．admit | B．attract | C．account | D．attempt |
| A．quantity | B．form | C．effect | D．nature |
| A．intelligent | B．amazed | C．determined | D．cautious |
2 . Life in the future will be different from the life today. Between then and now many changes will happen. But what will the changes be?
The population is growing fast. And most of them will live longer than people now.
Computers will be much smaller and more useful, and there will be at least one in every room. And computer studies will be one of the important subjects in schools then. People will work fewer hours than they do now and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and travel. Travelling will be much cheaper and easier. And many more people will go to other countries for holidays.
There will be changes in our food, too. More land will be used for building new towns and houses for all the people. Then there will be less room for cows and sheep, so meat will be more expensive. Maybe no one will eat it every day. Instead, they will eat more fruits and vegetables. Maybe people will be healthier. Work in the future will be different, too. Robots will do dangerous and hard work. Because of this, many people will not have enough work to do. This will be a big problem.
1. In the future there will be________.| A．fewer vegetables | B．much more fruit |
| C．more people | D．less people |
| A．walk on foot | B．work long hours |
| C．work fast | D．eat meat |
| A．people will eat more fruits and vegetables |
| B．many people may not be able to find work |
| C．room for growing fruits and vegetables will reduce |
| D．all the work will be done by robots |
3 . Online training is one of the fastest growing parts of the fitness industry. If you’re considering joining the online fitness community, consider these benefits and drawbacks.
One of the most popular reasons for working out following an online video is that it offers ultimate convenience. No need to roll out of bed at 5 a. m. to attend that 6 a. m. boot camp class, which may end up being full when you arrive.
Online training also has broad offerings. When you head online, you have instructors from around the globe, all ready and willing to help you master your favorite moves.
All these are undoubtedly positive-online training provides fitness resources to general consumers wherever they are, without requiring access to a gym or fitness studio.
Very few online fitness programs enable the instructor to see you, check your form, and offer corrections based on your performance.
| A．Another is the price. |
| B．But it’s not without problems. |
| C．The same goes for different types of exercise. |
| D．However, online personal training isn’t for everyone. |
| E．Instead, you can turn it on at home at your convenience. |
| F．That being said, online workouts aren’t perfect when it comes to safety. |
| G．This means you could perform exercises wrongly, or even unsafely, without knowing it. |
4 . Most people assume that the human brain is set on “automatic”—that means it learns all by itself. But this isn’t always true. We need to train ourselves to be better learners—to actively take part in the learning process and to reflect on what we have learnt. These kinds of learning behaviours are called“active learning”. I suggest doing the following things to take an active role in your learning.
1. Listen to the outer voice
There are two kinds of voices: the inner voice and the outer voice. Y our inner voice expresses your personal opinions, while the outer voice tells you about opinions from what you hear or read. Although your inner voice can be useful, it can also get in the way of learning. If you keep paying too much attention to it, you risk missing important information. Instead, active learners are open-minded and focus on what the speaker / writer is saying, not on what their brain is saying in the background. In this way, they are in a better position to make decisions.
2. Get to the truth
Active learners do not accept everything they learn. They attempt to find the truth at the heart of each idea. Even when an idea sounds entirely unlikely, there may be an aspect of it that is based on truth. So if someone says that dinosaurs still exist today, think about why they believe this. Where does the idea come from? Do they have enough data to support their views?If you try to find out the source of an idea, no matter how crazy it seems, you will increase your chance of learning something.
1. What do most people believe about the human brain?| A．It needs to be trained. |
| B．It can learn in an automatic way. |
| C．It can’t help us reflect on what we have learnt. |
| D．It can help us take part in the learning process actively. |
| A．Try hard to figure out the facts. |
| B．Let the outer voice get in the way. |
| C．Pay no attention to what others say. |
| D．Pay no attention to an idea that sounds impossible. |
5 . A man went to buy fruits and asked the shopkeeper about the
After the woman left with a smile, the shopkeeper looked toward the customer and said, “I didn’t mean to
After he learned the story, tears
| A．quality | B．variety | C．price | D．taste |
| A．raised | B．addressed | C．examined | D．explained |
| A．strength | B．request | C．contact | D．thought |
| A．excitement | B．joy | C．anxiety | D．shock |
| A．nervously | B．peacefully | C．cheerfully | D．hurriedly |
| A．cheat | B．harm | C．frighten | D．ignore |
| A．check | B．comparison | C．stop | D．preparation |
| A．content | B．grateful | C．excited | D．ready |
| A．neighborhood | B．community | C．block | D．department |
| A．reasonable | B．high | C．half | D．minimum |
| A．concentrating | B．depending | C．focusing | D．pressing |
| A．disappear | B．decline | C．increase | D．start |
| A．dried up | B．welled up | C．slowed down | D．settled down |
| A．bargaining | B．arguing | C．comparing | D．balancing |
| A．explore | B．serve | C．help | D．connect |
6 . Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. On one hand, our intelligence is given to us at birth, and special education can never make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of a person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to say that intelligence is something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random from the population, it is likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If, on the other band, we take two identical twins, they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.
Imagine that now we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence.
1. Which of these sentences best describes the writer’s point in Paragraph 1?| A．To some extent, intelligence is given at birth. |
| B．Intelligence is developed by the environment. |
| C．Some people are born clever and others born stupid, |
| D．Intelligence is fixed at birth, but is developed by the environment. |
| A．close relations usually have similar intelligence |
| B．unrelated people are not likely to have different intelligence |
| C．the closer the blood relationship between people, the more different they are likely to be in intelligence |
| D．people who live in close contact with each other are not likely to have similar degrees of intelligence |
| A．the importance of their intelligence | B．the role of environment in intelligence |
| C．the importance of their positions | D．the part that birth plays |
7 . Drew Lanham grew up on the farm his grandfather built in Edgefield County, S. C. in the 1920s. Lanbam, now 54, says his father felt a responsibility to stay on the land and care for the animals and crops there. To Lanham, that family land was connected with his love for birds. He would spend hours observing birds like the prairie warbler and the bobwhite quail when he was young.
Lanbam said he believed from a very early age he would be someone who studied birds. However, he lost track of that dream on the road to becoming an engineer. “Before I left for college, everyone around me said, “You’re good at math and science. Be an engineer. Make money, Drew. And for a while, I tried that, but hated every last moment of it,” he said.
When he took a return trip to the farm, the farm was unrecognizable. All of these wonderful forests that he’d grown up in had been cut. But some wildlife remained. “I remember the day when I left. I was driving up this dirt road, and the birds were singing ‘Zee, zee, zee’,” he said. The birds’ song lit a fire under Lanham. After his visit back to the farm, he couldn’t see himself returning to work as an engineer. Therefore, he got on track to study to become an ornithologist (鸟类学家).
Lanbam researched the eastern bluebird. “The work was often hot and bard and long hours. But there were moments when I would look up and there would be the songs of birds. These moments made me realize that I was doing what I bad always dreamed of,” he said.
Lanham thinks that his turn towards the study of nature is carrying his father’s legacy (溃产) forward.
1. Why did Drew Lanbam become an enginect at first?| A．He enjoyed studying math and science. | B．He was persuaded by people around. |
| C．He wanted to make big money. | D．He lost interest in birds then. |
| A．He was trapped on the dirt road. |
| B．He wanted to save the destroyed farm. |
| C．The birds reminded him of his childhood. |
| D．The birds awakened his love for wildlife. |
| A．Lanbam continued his father’s responsibility. |
| B．Lanham’s father would be proud of his son. |
| C．Lanbam’s job was better than his father’s. |
| D．Lanham expanded the farming land. |
8 . Many of us develop a desire to travel.
“I left home when I was 20 with a
That beginning marked the accomplishment of a
Her career has
| A．Therefore | B．However | C．Besides | D．Meanwhile |
| A．short | B．complex | C．successful | D．ordinary |
| A．funny | B．awful | C．fairy | D．different |
| A．goal | B．choice | C．hobby | D．problem |
| A．farming | B．adventure | C．employment | D．tourism |
| A．approached | B．charged | C．left | D．informed |
| A．travel | B．apply | C．wander | D．train |
| A．terrible | B．strange | C．faraway | D．lifelong |
| A．accept | B．review | C．discover | D．lose |
| A．calling for | B．giving up | C．looking for | D．breaking up |
| A．step | B．measure | C．advantage | D．lead |
| A．driven | B．shown | C．taken | D．forbidden |
| A．politely | B．patiently | C．rudely | D．honestly |
| A．explanation | B．advice | C．requirement | D．wish |
| A．on | B．by | C．of | D．with |
9 . There’s no doubt that language in all its richness — written,spoken,sung or read aloud — plays a crucial role in our early development. It has become increasingly common to begin teaching children literacy(读写能力)skills at an early age. The thinking often goes that starting early gives children more time to learn and get ahead.
However,many studies show little benefit from an early overly-academic environment. Children who attend academically focused preschools do not have higher academic abilities in later grades than those who did not,several studies now show. Too much academic pressure may even cause problems in the long run. A study published in January 2022 suggested those who attended preschools with a strong academic emphasis,showed lower academic achievements a few years later,compared to those who didn’t.
Anna Cunningham,a senior lecturer in psychology at Nottingham Trent University who studies early literacy,argues that if a setting is too academically focused early on,it can cause the teachers to become stressed over tests and results,which can in turn affect the kids. “Academic requirements early on don’t end up being meaningful. Children end up memorizing rather than understanding context,”adds Anna.
In many countries,formal schooling starts at 4. But not everyone favors an early start. In Finland,often known as the country with one of the best education systems in the world,children begin school at seven. Despite a later start,Finnish students score higher in reading comprehension than students from the UK at age 15. Besides,the Finnish kindergarten years are filled with more play and no formal academic instruction.
Research also found that later readers catch up — even are slightly better than the early readers in comprehension abilities. Learning later allows children to more efficiently match their knowledge of the world to the words they learn. So our craze with early literacy appears to be somewhat unfounded.
1. What might supporters for an early start agree with?| A．Early start gives an advantage. |
| B．Early reading makes perfect kids. |
| C．Children are more sensitive to language. |
| D．Literacy skills are good for early development. |
| A．Memorizing textbooks. |
| B．Knowing more than the surface. |
| C．Focusing on test results. |
| D．Reading aloud in the morning. |
| A．To praise Finland’s education. |
| B．To criticize the UK’s education. |
| C．To show a way to improve reading. |
| D．To prove the benefit of a later start. |
| A．Later readers — Harder to catch up |
| B．Earlier readers — Not necessarily better |
| C．No rush — The later to begin,the better |
| D．Learning to read — The secret to getting ahead |
10 . Whoever you are, learning how to communicate internationally is the best way to reach out to more people with different cultures.
Learn how people deal with things in their countries. The best way to handle cultural differences is to research how different countries handle business meetings or any other type of communication.
Be aware of language barriers (障碍). You may sound smart with humorous English jargon (行话) among those who have been speaking the language for most of their lives.
Go over any form of written communication before you send it out. It is easy to cause misunderstandings when you deal with people from different parts of the world.
Always stay updated with the social developments.
| A．This may happen without your knowing. |
| B．Pay more attention to cultural differences. |
| C．Employers need to understand that culture shock is real. |
| D．However, people from other countries may not understand it. |
| E．Different cultures like to receive information in different ways. |
| F．It’s known that technology has improved rapidly over the years. |
| G．For example, the Japanese prefer you get straight to the point instead of making small talk. |
