1 . On a Friday evening in December, I lost my job. That was
Over the next week, I applied for
Back at home, I looked out the window at the heavy snow and
Later on when I opened her card, I was
| A．unexpected | B．unfair | C．unavoidable | D．unnecessary |
| A．forgot | B．refused | C．managed | D．planned |
| A．judge | B．monitor | C．fire | D．charge |
| A．encouraged | B．thoughtful | C．surprised | D．cheerful |
| A．puddings | B．posts | C．shares | D．places |
| A．small | B．safe | C．wealthy | D．unique |
| A．remember | B．afford | C．find | D．appreciate |
| A．spotted | B．felt | C．imagined | D．recognized |
| A．came in | B．walked away | C．settled down | D．got out |
| A．business | B．weather | C．room | D．situation |
| A．company | B．school | C．hotel | D．house |
| A．call | B．drive | C．visit | D．pay |
| A．shocked | B．satisfied | C．confused | D．inspired |
| A．searched | B．counted | C．packed | D．celebrated |
| A．guidance | B．joy | C．care | D．advice |
“April 23 is English Language Day,” says Melissa, jumping up and down. “What a surprise, dear. What would we have done without you reminding us?” jokes Lindsay.
Melissa burst out laughing loudly. “What I meant was that April 23 is a very special day for all of us and I just wanted to make sure non e of you forgot about it.”
“What are your plans for that day?” questions Rocky. “I want to do something special to promote our beautiful English language,” dreams Jennifer.
“I have an idea,” says Lindsay. “Mango Street’s house No. 10 has been recently occupied (居住) by a family who is not fluent in the English language.”
“Where are they from?” asks Melissa. “I don’t know that but I heard the lady talking to the grocery store owner. She had great difficulty explaining her requirements. Her son and daughter also could not understand much. Why don’t we help them improve their English?” wonders Jennifer.
“It is a wonderful idea. Shall we go and let them know what we think?” asks Rocky. “Not now. We will go to meet them tomorrow,” decides Jason.
The next day, the five friends ring the doorbell of house No.10. A young girl opens the door and smiles at them. “May we come in?” asks Melissa. “We are your neighbors.”
The girl calls her mother. The sweet fat lady invites them inside with a smile. All of them sit on the chairs laid out on the front porch (门廊).
Jason explains their plan of helping them understand and speak English better. The lady seems grateful.
“We will help you in learning how to speak and understand our language,” says Lindsay.
The lady smiles her thanks. She point s to the fruits on the table. Rocky picks up one fruit at a time and names it. Jason asks her to repeat. She tries a few times and is able to call each fruit by its name. Her son and daughter learn the names too.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
The friends stay for about an hour.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
On April 23, the new family holds a party for the five children.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. 介绍自己利用网络进行的活动；
2. 谈谈自己的收获或感悟。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4 . Being healthy is important. Often, we’re crazy about articles in health magazines talking about the latest popular diets, or advertisements that offer cures (疗法) for fatness that are often too good to be true. One of the latest crazy phenomena (现象) is intermittent fasting (间歇性禁食).
There are different ways of intermittent fasting.
Some people try intermittent fasting for weight management, and others use the method to deal with some conditions such as high cholesterol or arthritis.
As with many diets, it’s always wise to speak to your doctor or weight-loss professional before changing your eating habits. And, at the end of the day, it could just come down to what lifestyle choice suits you.
| A．But what is intermittent fasting? |
| B．However, this diet isn’t for everyone. |
| C．Intermittent fasting has two main origins. |
| D．Let’s look at some of the possible benefits. |
| E．The idea of this is to reduce calories over a period. |
| F．In a word, you should avoid turning to intermittent fasting blindly. |
| G．You can eat normally on five days of a week and reduce calorie intake on the other two. |
5 . Taking exercise in a crowded, noisy gym will improve your muscle but may not make much difference in your stress level. By contrast, hiking improves not only your physical fitness level, but your mental health as well. “I hike with friends every week. Whether I am wandering down a flat path along a river or climbing a rock y mountain in the wilderness, hiking can be beneficial to me because it exposes (使接触) me to outdoor scenes such as mountain s and rivers, which can always offer me good ideas about paintings and music,” Marry Copper, a hiker said.
Experts agree that hiking reduces stress. According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), hiking increases the body’s production of endorphins, a type of chemical that improves mood (情绪). Endorphins also help you sleep more soundly, which will lower your stress level. However, not all scientists agree that hiking raises your endorphin level. Instead, some researchers believe that hiking causes the release of the chemical norepinephrine, which helps make you less excited or upset.
The controversy (争议) is ongoing, but it is clear that however it happens, hiking is useful when you are feeling anxious. Hiking can also help improve your confidence. Walking down a path is a repetitive motion, which can lead your brain into relaxing; you may “zone out” to the point where you won’t be thinking about anything in particular. Being outside in the open air may also help you exercise better because most people do indoors; getting out from under a roof can lift your spirits.
Hiking may improve your mood more than a gym workout will, but your risks are also greater. People sometimes try to make their own way rather than stick to established paths. They are proud to say they like to have an adventure. However, people who try to do something new could be attacked by wildlife and get hurt and lost. So stick to the known roads and bring a cellphone with you, and always tell someone where and when you are going hiking, even if you have a partner going with you.
1. Why does Marry Copper like hiking?| A．She dislikes exercising in the gym. | B．She can meet new friends when hiking. |
| C．She can draw inspiration from nature. | D．She has the spirit of adventure in the wilderness. |
| A．Scientists have reached an agreement. |
| B．Sound sleep can increase the body’s endorphin level. |
| C．Stress is caused by the body’s production of endorphin. |
| D．The chemical norepinephrine could make people calm. |
| A．Negative | B．Positive | C．Objective | D．Unclear |
| A．How can hiking cause controversy? | B．Why do people like exercising outdoors? |
| C．What do hikers like to do in the wilderness? | D．What benefits can hiking bring to people? |
6 . Have you ever thought how good it would be if an unfinished handwork project, which stopped because the owner passed away, could be lovingly completed?
Friends and knitters (编织者) Jennifer Simonic and Masey Kaplan started the Loose Ends Project in September 2022. The pair match “volunteer finishers” with unfinished projects online so they can carefully complete them and then return them to the people they were being made for.
It all started when founders, Simonic and Kaplan, realized that they had both been asked by friends to finish knitting hats, sweaters or other unfinished projects by their moms. When more friends asked them for help, they felt it would be a good idea to “have strangers be able to finish things for each other”.
Helping strangers this way, which also assists (帮助) them to get through their grieving process, was something that the two had happily agreed to do, understanding how wonderful it feels to be dressed in something a loved one has created.
Adding a moving couple of extra steps, once the finishers receive the project, they may highlight (突出) the last stitch (针) worked by the dead maker in a special way before they restart the work.
In just a few months, Loose Ends has built up a global team of over 7, 000 volunteers. New volunteers are asked to share their skill sets and interests. When Loose Ends receives a project, the founders determine a good fit based on these skills. The Loose Ends team will let the volunteers try the work to “check if they’re feeling it too”, as Simonic and Kaplan never want the work to be a boring task.
Volunteers do not charge for their work, while families are only asked to cover the delivery costs. The group tries to match projects to volunteers living nearby to reduce the delivery costs to the lowest.
1. What is the goal of the Loose Ends Project?| A．To promote handwork art. | B．To sell handwork products online. |
| C．To complete unfinished handwork projects. | D．To recycle good handwork projects. |
| A．Touching | B．Amazing | C．Unforgettable | D．Painful |
| A．They may make a special design for the last stitch. |
| B．They may mark the original maker’s last stitch. |
| C．They may add receivers’ information on them. |
| D．They may sign their names on the works. |
| A．Quick | B．Tiring | C．Safe | D．Thoughtful |
7 . We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.
What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all don’t have enough conversational ability. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s embarrassing and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s a valuable social practice that leads to big benefits.
It is easy to consider small talk as unimportant, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t even exist (存在) if there weren’t casual conversations. Small talk is the grease (润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. “Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,” he explains. “The secret to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.”
In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, professor of psychology at UBC, invited people to a coffee shop. One group was asked to interact with its waiter, the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported obviously higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. “It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,” says Dunn. “But interactions with peripheral (边缘的) members of our social network is important for our happiness and health.”
Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a greater sense of belonging, a link with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. “Small talk is the basis of good manners,” he says.
1. What does the underline word “casual” in paragraph 3mean?| A．Addictive | B．Public | C．Personal | D．Informal |
| A．Showing good manners. | B．Making business deals. |
| C．Focusing on a topic. | D．Keeping in contact with other people. |
| A．It raises people’s confidence. | B．It makes people feel good. |
| C．It improves family relationships. | D．It matters as much as a formal talk. |
| A．Conversation Counts | B．Ways of Making Small Talk |
| C．Importance of Small Talk | D．Uncomfortable Silence |
8 . While scientists have many ideas, they are not certain why humans yawn(打哈欠). Still, there is one thing experts know—yawns seem to be contagious(传染)!
Have you ever caught a yawn from someone else? Most people have. In fact, a person is six times more likely to yawn after seeing someone else do so. Experts have done many studies into why yawns seem to pass from person to person. As a result, they have a few theories(理论) for the reason behind it.
One possible explanation has something to do with social mirroring, which is caused by mirror neurons(镜像神经元) in the brain. These mirror neurons help the brain notice useful behavior of others and then copy it. When one person sees another yawn, his mirror neurons observe the action and consider it to be beneficial. That may cause him to yawn, too.
Another popular theory is that yawns are contagious because of social relationships. Being social creatures, humans form friendships, families and live together in groups. That’s why many people mirror others, such as smiling when another person smiles. Yawning may be just another example of this. In fact, research has shown that one is most likely to catch yawns from another person if the two share a social relationship.
The answer could even be that yawns aren’t truly contagious at all. Instead, people yawn together simply because they’re in the same environment. Experts say many things may cause yawning, including temperature and time of day. Whatever the explanation is, experts do know that contagious yawns aren’t limited to humans. One study found that lions in South Africa also caught each other’s yawns.
1. What kind of behavior may be copied by mirror neurons?| A．Important and attractive. | B．Useful and beneficial. |
| C．Hard to understand. | D．Easy to copy. |
| A．Those who yawn a lot. | B．Those who like smiling. |
| C．Those closely connected with them. | D．Those sharing the same interest with them. |
| A．Tips on how to avoid yawning in public. |
| B．A real explanation for contagious yawning. |
| C．Other examples of animals yawning together. |
| D．Things that may cause yawning among humans. |
| A．Why yawns are contagious | B．What causes people to yawn |
| C．Who yawns more than others | D．Why humans yawn now and then |
9 . Keeping animals safe on the road
Roadkill is not a rare sight when driving down most highways and sometimes also on roadways in cities.
They chose Nanjing as the study subject, where there are more than 9,700 kilometers of paved roads. A total of nine roads were chosen for the research, including three national highways.
| A．You may not feel good about seeing roadkill |
| B．The object is to educate people about road safety |
| C．The length of the roads combined was over 224.27 kilometers |
| D．It refers to animals being hit by cars or other vehicles by accident. |
| E．Cats, dogs and blackbirds were the three commonly killed animals |
| F．In the past, research in China focused on roadkill in nature reserves |
| G．Roadkill incidents are more likely to happen in November and January |
From October 4 to October 6, the National English Speaking Competition
During the three-day event, young
When
