1 . America is one of the best travelling options for everyone. Here the Good Hotel Guide shares some of the top American hotels for travelers to choose from.
The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort
If you want a quiet, stress-free getaway, The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort might be just the place. Sitting right on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, this hotel is a destination unto itself. Meanwhile, staff goes out of their way to attend to their guests’ needs. However, if you are hoping to explore urban areas, be warned this hotel is located approximately 25 miles south of the city.
The Peninsula Chicago
Travelers describe the guest rooms as comfortable thanks to their modern techie touches, like a bedside remote command station that controls the lights, television and room temperatures. During your stay, guests recommend making time for the tasty Cantonese dishes served in the Shanghai Terrace restaurant. However, for many travelers, it was The Peninsula Chicago’s friendly service staff that convinced them to stay here again.
Sonesta Los Angeles Airport LAX
Located just 1,312 feet from Los Angeles International Airport, this hotel offers free 24-hour airport shuttles, easy access to the city center. With nearby motorways, Hollywood is just 12 miles away from Sonesta Los Angeles Airport LAX. Couples in particular like the location — they rated it 8.5 for a two-person trip because of its convenience and the welcoming staff.
Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel
This modern hotel provides free 24-hour dedicated shuttle service to Los Angeles International Airport, just 3 minutes’ drive away. Guests can relax in the outdoor heated pool. Recent guests give the courteous and professional staff high praise. Couples like the location best — they rated it 8.7 for a two-person trip.
1. If you want to relieve your tension, which hotel would you like to choose?| A．Sonesta Los Angeles Airport LAX. |
| B．The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. |
| C．The Peninsula Chicago. |
| D．Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel. |
| A．The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. |
| B．The Peninsula Chicago. |
| C．Sonesta Los Angeles Airport LAX. |
| D．Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel. |
| A．They offer convenient access to the downtown area. |
| B．They have quality customer service. |
| C．They are popular among couples. |
| D．They are located near the airport. |
2 . Activities For Families with Children
There are plenty of things to do and see around Cusco, Peru that children will enjoy.
Horse riding
Many children will enjoy the opportunity to ride a horse. The Happy Ranch horse farm organizes horse rides through the countryside passing wheat fields and small towns, wooden huts, open air markets and cooking outside over a fire. Price for a horse ride is US $ 12 per person.
Cooking class
If you enjoy local food, taking a cooking class could be fun. Several restaurants offer classes, which start with a visit to a local market to buy fresh ingredients (原料). Wearing a cook’s hat, children can help washing and cutting. Prices for a 3 hours class start at US $ 13 per person.
Hot air balloon
A hot air balloon ride will give you great views of the city. The balloon goes up about 200 meters if weather conditions are OK, less if conditions are windy. The balloon will stay at that altitude for about 10 minutes. Prices are US $ 20 for an adult, half price for children.
Ceramics class
A fun activity for kids is taking a ceramics class at the Fine Arts Center. With the help of an experienced potter, kids can make their own creation on the potter’s wheel from clay. The basic clay class costs US $ 15 per person and takes 1.5 hours.
1. Which activity takes you to view Cusco’s village life?| A．Cooking class. | B．Horse riding. | C．Hot air balloon. | D．Ceramics class. |
| A．They are usually offered by cooking schools. |
| B．It takes a family of three US $13 to take one. |
| C．Visitors prepare ingredients by themselves. |
| D．Children take part in the whole cooking process. |
| A．US $ 20. | B．US $ 30. | C．US $ 40. | D．US $ 50. |
3 . It was a warm evening in August in 1995. Robert Blocker was driving to Yale University after being appointed as the university’s Dean (院长) of Music. He didn’t expect to see many people, but a couple of students met him and showed him around.
“When I looked at the history of the university and how people are devoted to the school’s art programs, I was honored by the chance to work there. I could not wait for the next day to start my job. And that excitement never changed because every day was different. My job as dean was not scheduled. I walked around the campus and students talked to me. I went to rehearsals (排演) by the students and teachers and got inspired by them,” he adds.
After nearly three decades as the Dean of Music at Yale, the 77-year-old retired from the position on Aug 31. Also an expert pianist, he remains a professor of piano at the music school, as well as professor of leadership strategies at Yale School of Management. Among his countless contributions as dean, Blocker developed long-term relationships with fellow musicians in China. He once toured cities, including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hangzhou, giving lectures to the youngsters.
“China is a very special place for me. I am very happy to be back after the pandemic (疫情) to meet my friends and colleagues,” Blocker says, adding that he is particularly excited about being with young students.
Yang Suxian, director of the Shenzhen Piano Music Festival, says, “He has been very supportive and has participated in the Shenzhen Piano Music Festival for years, even during the pandemic.”
Blocker’s vision of a more hopeful world is reflected in his belief that music bridges the understanding between people.
“Music brings hope. People may speak different languages and have different ideas but music speaks to each other’s heart, and that’s why we keep this work going on and why the work never ends,” he says, “Our job is to let music heal the world by allowing us to understand and find a common place in our hearts.”
1. How did Robert Blocker feel after being appointed as the university’s Dean?| A．Anxious. | B．Thrilled. | C．Terrified. | D．Challenged. |
| A．Teaching leadership skills. | B．Reviving art programs of the school. |
| C．Giving concerts when touring cities in China. | D．Organizing rehearsals for students and teachers. |
| A．To advertise the festival in Shenzhen. | B．To stress Robert’s preference for music. |
| C．To review the hardships during the pandemic. | D．To show Robert’s care about Chinese musicians. |
| A．Spreading music to the whole world. |
| B．Translating music into a common language. |
| C．Helping people to reach an agreement on music. |
| D．Guiding people to know themselves better through music. |
4 . AQ, or Adversity Quotient (逆商), refers to an individual’s capacity to effectively navigate and overcome adversities. It shares similarities with concepts such as resilience (应力) and persistence. Those with a high AQ have the ability to bounce back after facing setbacks.
Adaptability to shifting circumstances
Similar to how creatures in the natural world must adapt to survive, individuals in the professional realm must also embrace change. Individuals with high AQ understand that change is constant and inevitable, and instead of resisting it, they embrace it as an opportunity for growth and development.
Emotional stability is a crucial quality when facing adversity. Individuals with a high AQ possess the capacity to manage their emotions effectively, ensuring that they do not get overwhelmed by negativity or despair. They remain calm under pressure and approach problems with a clear and rational mindset.
Positive Mindset
High AQ individuals maintain a positive and optimistic outlook on life. They usually view adversities as temporary hurdles and believe in their ability to overcome them.
Problem-Solving Skills
| A．Ability for self-management. |
| B．Capacity for emotional regulation. |
| C．Cultivating AQ is essential for personal growth. |
| D．Such individuals often exhibit the following qualities. |
| E．High AQ individuals excel at finding effective solutions. |
| F．They actively pursue growth through challenging situations. |
| G．Their ability to adapt enables them to overcome diverse challenges. |
5 . Want to know what is coming soon to a cinema near you? Probably not a 1.5-hour-long movie, as in the old days. On October 20th comes Killers of the Flower Moon. At nearly three and a half hours, its length is nearly double that of the average film last year. Even movie fans struggle to concentrate for that long and some viewers even nod off. Afterwards there is a mad dash for the toilets. When does watching a film become such a slog?
The Economist analyzed over 100,000 feature films released internationally since the 1930s, the start of Hollywood’s golden age, using data from IMDb, a movie database. The average length of productions rose by around 24%, from one hour and 21 minutes in the 1930s to one hour and 47 minutes in 2022. For the ten most-popular titles, the average length grew to around two and a half hours in 2022, nearly 50% higher than in the 1930s.
One driver of this trend is that studios want to squeeze the most out of their costly intellectual property (知识产权), but they are competing with streaming platforms for eyeballs. The hope is that a spectacular, drawn-out “event” movie will draw audiences away from the small screen and into cinemas. This approach has often paid off: Avengers: Endgame Marvel’s three-hour superhero masterpieces, was the highest-grossing (票房最高的) film in 2019. Last year long movies series made up most of the highest-grossing films in America.
Another explanation for longer films has to do with directors’ growing influence. Who would dare tell the likes of Mr. Nolan to cut out his masterpieces? Moreover, streaming platforms, which do not have to worry as much about the length because viewers can pause whenever they like, may attract big names by promising them sufficient fund and creative freedom. Netflix funded and released three-hour The Irishman in 2019, a film that would have benefited from a decisive editor, Irish or otherwise.
1. The underlined part “a slog” in paragraph 1 refers to a(n)___.| A．pleasure | B．effort | C．conflict | D．feast |
| A．The average length affects the popularity of films. |
| B．Great advances have been made in film industry. |
| C．Hollywood starts a golden age of feature films. |
| D．The average duration of movies has stretched. |
| A．Competition for the target audience. | B．Thirst for more classic productions. |
| C．Influence of streaming platforms. | D．Preference for decisive editors. |
| A．Movie Enthusiasts | B．Movie Marathons |
| C．Movie Production | D．Movie Influence |
6 . When put to tests, bees have long proved that they’ve got a lot more to offer than pollinating (授粉), making honey and being loyal to a queen. The hard-working insects can change their behavior when things seem difficult, and now some scientists find there is proof that they also like to play.
Scientists from Queen Mary University of London performed an experiment, in which they set up a container that allowed bees to travel from their nest to a feeding area. But along the way, the bees could choose to pass through a separate section with some small wooden balls. Over 18 days, the scientists watched as the bees “went out of their way to roll wooden balls repeatedly, despite no apparent incentive (刺激) to do so.”
Earlier studies have shown that the black and yellow bugs are willing to learn new tricks in exchange for food or other rewards. In this case, to get rid of external factors, scientists made sure the bees had adapted to their new home and that their environment was stress-free.
The finding suggests that like humans, insects also interact with objects as a form of play. Also similar to people, younger bees seem to be more playful than adult bees. “This research provides a strong indication that insect minds are far more complicated than we imagine. There are lots of animals who play just for the purpose of enjoyment, but most examples come from young mammals and birds,” said Lars Chittka, a professor of sensory and behavioral ecology at Queen Mary University of London, who led the study.
The study’s first author. Samadi Galpay, who is a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London, states that it is more evident that bees may be capable of experiencing feelings. “They may actually experience some kind of positive emotional states, even if basic, like other larger animals do. This finding has effects on our understanding of the sense and welfare of insects, which, consequently, encourages us to respect and protect wildlife on Earth ever more,” she says.
1. What is the new finding about bees?| A．They are fond of having fun. | B．They are faithful to the queen. |
| C．They are adaptable to changes | D．They are skilled at rolling balls. |
| A．By teaching bees new tricks. | B．By rewarding bees with food. |
| C．By making bees feel at home. | D．By building new homes for bees |
| A．The forms of bees’ interaction. | B．The complexity of bees’ minds. |
| C．The examples of mammals’ play. | D．The purpose of mammals’ enjoyment. |
| A．It backs up prior understanding of insects. |
| B．It reveals reasons for bees’ positive feelings. |
| C．It drives research on animals’ emotional state. |
| D．It contributes to wildlife conservation on Earth. |
I live in a poorer quarter of my small Maine town, but I like it here. It’s pretty and I know all my neighbors.
Some years back I returned home to find that my house had been broken into. As I said, I know all my neighbors and therefore I had a pretty good idea who the burglar was. I spoke with the police and when I made my suspicions (猜想) known, they rolled their eyes. “He’s got quite a record already,” they told me. “If you accuse Jared (not his real name), he will go to the youth center.”
I asked the police to hold off until I could speak with Jared. In the interim (期间), I went to his high school and told the principal what had happened. I also came up with a way that wouldn’t involve the law.
My next stop was Jared’s house. When he saw me, fear filled his eyes. “It’s OK, let’s take a walk.” I said as he walked beside me. I asked why he had broken into my house. “If I take you to court, you will stay in the youth center for six years.”
A look of regret appeared across Jared’s face and I caught the moment. “Look,” I said, “and listen carefully. I spoke to the high school. I’ve offered to mentor (辅导) you for one school year. This means you have to meet with me for one hour every week. We will spend a half hour on homework and a half-hour talking about anything you like. But you must repay the money you stole from my house. “He took the offer. To Jared’s credit, he showed up in a quiet, dedicated (专用的) space in school every Friday morning.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150个左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I learned about his broken family.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I held out my hand to Jared and said, “That’s it.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8 . Between the last application season and the current one, Swarthmore College, a school nationally renowned for its academic rigor, changed the requirements for students for admission into its next freshman class. It made filling out the proper forms easier.
Swarthmore is hardly alone in the desire to eliminate obstacles for a bounty of applicants. Over the last decade, many elite colleges have adjusted their applications in ways that remove disincentives and maximize the odds that the number of students contesting to get in remains robust — or, even better, grows larger.
In one sense, that’s an egalitarian (平等主义的) approach worth compliment and a sensible attempt to be sure that no qualified candidate is missed. But there’s often a less pure motive in play. In our increasingly status-oriented society, a school’s reputation is improved by a low acceptance rate, which can even influence how U. S. News & World Report ranks it. And unless a school is shrinking the size of its students body, the only way to bring its acceptance rate down is to get its number of applicants up. So, many colleges methodically generate interest only to frustrate it. They woo applicants for the purpose of turning them down.
And there can be other justifications for what looks like a loosening of application demands. Smith College and several other similarly prominent colleges no longer require the SAT or ACT, and Kathleen McCarney, the president of Smith College, said that that’s not a bid for more applicants. It’s a recognition that top scores on those tests correlate with high family income and may say more about an applicant’s economic advantages — including, say, private SAT tutoring — than about their academic potential.
Jim Bock, Swarthmore’s dean of admissions, said that by lightening the essay load for its current applicants, the college was less concerned about increasing its overall number of applicants than about making sure candidates of great merit didn’t miss out on Swarthmore and vice versa. He mentioned the hypothetical example of a high school student from a low-income family who works 10 or more hours a day and doesn’t have sufficient time to do different essays for different schools.
But will Swarthmore’s applicants this year give quite as much thought regarding whether it is suitable and the right home for them? I’m betting not.
When it’s very easy for a student to apply to yet one more college and each school is simply another desirable box of cereal on the top shelf that he or she is determined to reach, there’s inadequate thought to a tailored match, which is what the admission process should strive for. It’s what the measure of success should be.
1. What changes has Swarthmore College made in the application process?| A．It simplified its application procedure. | B．It lowered its requirements for admission. |
| C．It expanded the size of its next freshman class. | D．It eliminated obstacles for minority applicants. |
| A．respect | B．pursue | C．impose | D．cheat |
| A．should pay an essential role in the admissions process |
| B．conceal the uneven distribution of educational resources |
| C．reflect test-takers’ academic potential to a large extent |
| D．are closely related to test-takers’ family income levels |
| A．improving the school’s reputation nationwide |
| B．increasing the overall number of applicants for the school |
| C．recruiting as many genuine students as possible |
| D．making suitable matches between applicants and the school |
In Northwest China’s Gansu Province lies Zhangye National Geopark, which is blessed
The incredible landscapes
10 . On July 20, Yu Yifei, a medical intern (实习生), made his way home in a subway train after his first day’s training. When a heavy rain struck the city, he
Flood
As water continued to flow into the carriages, passengers’
As more passengers were pulled from the
| A．saw | B．prevented | C．kept | D．saved |
| A．record | B．height | C．point | D．depth |
| A．pushed | B．made | C．burst | D．pulled |
| A．rising | B．falling | C．reaching | D．disappearing |
| A．uncertain | B．unfortunate | C．unusual | D．unable |
| A．foolish | B．unique | C．considerate | D．desperate |
| A．excitement | B．fears | C．adaptation | D．deaths |
| A．managed | B．failed | C．intended | D．hesitated |
| A．tried on | B．got on | C．put on | D．looked on |
| A．later | B．further | C．earlier | D．former |
| A．gained | B．lifted | C．sank | D．ran |
| A．platform | B．air | C．boat | D．water |
| A．stopped | B．continued | C．explained | D．refused |
| A．regaining | B．refreshing | C．reminding | D．replacing |
| A．bored | B．heartbroken | C．energetic | D．tired |
