1 . Distance or Face-to-Face Learning: What’s the Difference?

Although many people think it is a modern phenomenon, distance learning has been around for at least 200 years in one form or another.

When comparing the two systems, the first and most obvious area to focus on is the way that learning is delivered. Distance learning is heavily dependent on technology, particularly the internet.    1    In comparison, when learning remotely, technology is the principal means of communication. The flexibility this provides means that students may be better able to learn at their own pace, following their own timetable, but it may also mean that learners have to be well-organized and self-disciplined. They must therefore be highly motivated in order to do well on the distance-learning courses.

    2    . Namely, the teacher is the “knower”, and is responsible for helping students understand the key components of the course. However, the nature of the relationship may differ slightly within the two modes of delivery. With face-to-face learning, the teacher and student have the opportunity to develop a personal relationship through lectures, seminars and tutorials. This is different from a distance-learning course, where the teacher may seldom or indeed never actually meet the student. This may make it hard for teachers to understand their learners’ specific learning needs.

    3    . Generally, students like to meet regularly and talk to people on the same course. However, this kind of interaction on a distance-learning course is less common. Although people can increasingly interact through online conversations and message boards, there is a significant difference between virtual and real interaction. Time and geography must also be considered when contrasting these two types of learning. Face-to-face learning must take place in real time and in one location.    4    .

In conclusion, it is difficult to state whether one form of learning is better than another, as they cater for different audiences. What is important to understand is the different ways in which they operate, and that there are strong similarities between the two systems, which can both produce positive results.

A．Historical examples of long-distance learning include students being sent a series of weekly lessons by post.

B．On the contrary, distance learning can happen at any time and in any location, since the learning is not restricted by geography.

C．On a face-to-face course, students may only require a computer for the purpose of writing an essay.

D．The technological advances of the past 20 or so years have meant that distance learning is now able to rival face-to-face learning as a credible alternative.

E．For many students, interaction with their peers is one of the best aspects of university education.

F．In terms of the teacher-student relationship, the core principles remain the same.

2 .
Let it go

Song: Let it Go（2013）on Disney’s Frozen soundtrack
Meaning: If you “let go” of a bad feeling or memory, you stop thinking about it or being upset by it; literally, if you “let go” of something, you stop holding onto it with your hands.
Example: I know you are upset that she left you, but you have to let it go and get on with your life.

Turn the page

Song: Turn the Page(1973) on the album Back in '72 album by Bob Seger
Meaning: If you “turn the page”, you forget about the past and start your life again after a bad period. Literally, if you “turn the page” while reading, you go to the next page in a book and start reading that one.
Example: “Six months after her divorce, she decided to turn the page and start a new relationship.”

Rock the boat

Song: Rock the boat（1974）on the album Freedom for the Stallion by the Hues Corporation
Meaning: If you “rock the boat”, you do or say something that might upset people or cause problems or trouble. Literally, if you “rock a boat” (a small one), you move if from side to side, often to frighten other people.
Example: during the dinner, I didn’t want to rock the boat, so I kept quiet about the terrible money situation.

Let your hair down

Song: Let your Hair down(2014) on the album Don’t kill the Magic by Magic.
Meaning: If you “let your hair down”, you act more freely than usual and really enjoy yourself. Literally, if someone with long hair “lets their hair down”. they untie it and let it fall freely.
Example: “Come on, this is a party！Let your hair down and have some fun!”

Poker face

Song: Poker face(2008) on the album The Fame by Lady Gaga.
Meaning: If you have a “poke face”, you have a neutral expression on your face that doesn’t show an emotion, and which doesn’t let other people know that what you are thinking or feeling. Literally, during a game of poker ,players often have a “poker face” (a neutral expression)，so they do not give other players any information about which cards they might have.
Example: “It is often useful to keep a poker face during business negotiations.”

1. One can comfort a friend who has failed an exam by saying “_____ ,” as quoted in a 1970s song.

A．let it go

B．let your hair down

C．turn the page

D．keep a poker face

2. What can we infer about “the current money situation” mentioned in the third box?

A．The diners were likely to be short of capital.

B．The restaurant chef was probably in heavy debt.

C．The speaker was confident of an economic boom.

D．The boat owner threatened to withdraw his funds.

3. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Magic of English Idioms in Animations

B．Idioms-Inspiration for Popular Music

C．Cheer Yourself up in the World of Music

D．Useful Idioms from Popular Song Titles

3 . 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. stems     B. insecure       C. squeezed     D. individual       E. glued     F. spreading G. head     H. simply        I. distracting        J. spacious     K. originally

You’ll Often Walk Alone

There has been a quiet pandemic (流行病) developing while most people’s attention has been on Covid-19. The lockdown has worsened a problem that has been     1     in many developed nations for decades: loneliness.

Part of the problem     2     from contemporary employment. Globally, two in five office workers feel lonely at work. This rises to three in five in Britain. Gig-economy (零工经济) jobs can leave people with     3     incomes and without the companionship of colleagues. The pandemic has made it more difficult to make, and maintain, friendships, particularly for new employees. Even before the crisis, the hope that     4     offices would encourage greater camaraderie (友情) proved to be false. Many people find the chatter     5     and withdraw with noise-canceling headphones. They then email colleagues who are sitting only a few desks away.

Perhaps loneliness relates to human history. Mass urbanization is a relatively recent development; if the history of human existence was     6     into a single day, the Industrial Revolution did not occur until almost midnight. For much of that time, humans lived in small groups of hunter-gatherers; cities may just overwhelm the senses. Ms. Hertz points her finger at a recent development: social media. The internet has led too much cyber-bullying (although it has also been a source of companionship during the lockdown). And people     7     to their smart phones spend less time interacting socially.

Some changes in behavior are owing to     8     choice. Before the pandemic no one was stopping people going to church or taking part in sports. They     9     preferred to do other things. Indeed, one reason for the decline in communal activities is that men choose to be with their families rather than     10     to the bar; American fathers spend three times as much time with their children as they did in the 1960s. That is surely a welcome development. So recreating a communal society may be difficult.

4 . 1. Blood is blue inside your body.

Human blood is the same color inside your body as it is outside: red. Our veins look blue because the tissue covering them changes the way light is absorbed and scattered, which affects our perception of their color.

2. Paul Revere shouted “The British are coming!”

You can thank Henry Weds-worth Longfellow and his poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” for spreading that tale. No one knows what, if anything. Revere shouted through the streets of Lexington, Massachusetts, though we don know he told one guard that “the regulars are coming out.”

3. The hottest part of a chill pepper is the seeds

Capsaicia, a chemical compound that binds to the pain receptors on our nerves to produce that very heat, is most concennrated in the inner white rib of the chili pepper. The seeds don’t actually contain any capsaicin, but they may be coated in it because they touch the rib.

4. Jesus Christ was born on December 25.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke never mention the date of Jesus’s birth. So why do we celebrate December 25 as the day that Christ was born? It could be because of a Roman Catholic historian from the third century, Sextus Julios Africanus, who believed Jesus was conceived on March 25 - nine months before what is now Christmas Day.

5. The Sahara is the world’s largest desert.

Technically, Antarctica is. The U. S. Geological Survey defines a desert as “arid land with meager rainfall [usually less than ten inches per year] that supports only sparse vegetation and a limited population of people and animals.” Antarctica averages only six inches of rain a year (mostly as snow) and is almost 5.5 million square miles. The Sahara is only 3.3 million square miles.

6. Chameleorts can change their coloring to match any background.

The lizards do adjust their skin tone to camouflage themselves in certain environments, but their color range is limited. The really vibrant hues you see on TV and in books aren’t usually meant for tricking predators. Those chameleons are trying to attract a mate or defend their territory. Male chameleons have even been known to change their colors to appear female, which helps them sneak by other males without the threat or fight.

1. It is _________ that essentially make(s) the pepper taste spicy.

A．the concentration of capsaicin	B．the coating of the seeds
C．the pain receptors on our nerves	D．the size of the inner rib

2. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．The Sahara isn’t seen as the world’s largest desert because it receives less rain than Antarctica.

B．Chameleons change their coloring to serve purposes other than fooling their enemies.

C．Wads-worth witnessed Paul Revere shout “The British are coming” with his own eyes.

D．The absorption of light by the tissue changes the blood inside our body from red into blue.

3. Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．Discoveries That Are Amazing	B．Facts That Are Misleading
C．Findings That Are Significant	D．Myths That Are Unknown

5 . Intrigued by Maya civilization from a very young age, 15-year-old Canadian William Gadoury thought he had made an incredible discovery from his study of ancient star charts. Through comparison, he found that the locations of the 117 known Maya cities correspond to the positions of the stars. Based on this, he believed he had spotted an unknown Maya city buried deep in the jungle.     1    

It isn’t difficult to see why. Extending south from parts of what we now know as Mexico into Central America, Maya civilization has been surrounded by mystery since its rediscovery in the 19th century. The Maya built impressive palaces and temples, including their representative step pyramids. What is most extraordinary about these complex structures is how they were built without the use of wheels, metal tools or even animal power. The Maya’s understanding of mathematics and astronomy was also quite amazing.     2    

The fact that Maya society was technologically primitive makes its achievements all the more incredible and mysterious.     3     By 700 AD, Maya civilization was at its peak. Yet, within just a couple of generations, it began to mysteriously decline. The cities were left to be taken back by the jungle. When Europeans arrived in Central America in the early 16th century to claim its riches, the remaining Maya people were living in small settlements.

Why Maya civilization collapsed remains a mystery. Was it a natural disaster? A deadly disease? Conflicts between cities? Or was it a combination of several different factors?     4     They had turned wetlands into fields for growing grains, and had dug huge canal systems. As their population expanded, yet more land was needed for agriculture and more trees for construction. By changing the landscape in this way, it is possible that the Maya people unknowingly reduced their ability to deal with natural disasters.

Whatever the reasons, Maya civilization largely disappeared within the deep jungle. Its once—great cities fell into ruin, leaving various mysteries for later people to solve.

A．Research suggests that those natural disasters may have led to the decline of the Maya.

B．But the greatest mystery of all is what caused the Maya to abandon most of their great cities.

C．It turned out that the lucky boy hit the jackpot and the Maya city was eventually brought to light.

D．Some research seems to indicate that the Maya people themselves may have played a part in their downfall.

E．Although his theory has been dismissed by scholars, it shows how powerful the secrets of Ancient Maya civilization are among people.

F．They applied this understanding to the Maya calendar, which was accurate to within 30 seconds per year.

6 . Directions: Read the following three passages. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Cutting air pollution is on the agenda of all countries nowadays. In the efforts to build low-pollution cities, there are some traps city planners must avoid falling into.

Many countries intend to accomplish the switch to electric cars in the next two decades. In Canada, the government is planning to initiate policies for promoting the use of electric cars: a financial subsidy(补助)on purchase, low-interest rates on loans, etc. However, simply switching to electric cars doesn’t mean pollution-free cities. Emissions at different levels will still be caused when the electricity to run them is generated. Also, brakes, tyres and other components all create airborne particles(大气细颗粒物)pollution as they wear out.

A number of city planners are counting on the car-sharing system to be a great contributor to the reduction of emissions. According to the Economist, car-sharing is fashionable and trendy, but, when it comes to cutting emissions, “unreliable actually”. To make sure the cars come in handy and are always in good condition whenever and wherever a use needs to hit the road, more frequent road trips need to be made by lorries to transport these cars to the right parking spots and to auto repair centers for maintenance, causing extra emissions.

Across the cities around the world, as more people move to city centres, while young people especially are opting for other means of travel, researchers have recently made an inference that motor vehicle use in urban areas has already reached its peak and will decline. City planners need to catch up with this trend, instead of laying new roads to deal with traffic jams. As users of London’s orbital M25 motorway will know, new roads rapidly fill with more traffic. In the US, studies have shown that building new roads can simply multiply the traffic, taking us back to the starting point.

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7 . For the decade between the end of the financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, the ride-hailing app Uber boomed. The company’s business model relied on the flexibility of the rapidly-growing gig economy(零工经济), and its sky-high valuation directly represented its dominant market position.     1    .

Now its sufferings illustrate how those trends are shifting again. After almost a decade of being able to rely on cheap and swift Ubers to get around, city residents must get used to a new experience. A shortfall of British drivers got so bad that the chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi met with unions to recruit new workers on a visit to London.

There are some factors accounting for this shortage. During lock-downs few were taking trips, but with the reopening, and the urge to mingle(社交往来)again, came a sudden bounce-back(反弹). Uber said that demand in London had risen by about a fifth in 2021 and even more in smaller UK cities.     2    .

The flexibility and casual working arrangements that once so benefited the company now work in reverse in times of labour shortage.     3    . Uber has been forced to raise charges in London and offers a bonus if drivers can recruit others.

In the past two years, the price of an Uber has increased by 92 percent, according to Rakuten Intelligence. Higher prices are likely to be here to stay.     4    . Perhaps, then, Uber will demonstrate just how abnormal the decade between the end of the financial crisis and the arrival of the pandemic really was. The era of cheap Ubers may be at an end.

A．Workers have little, or no, loyalty to the company and can switch between different apps depending on which offers the better, or closer, ride

B．The government is now racking its brain to figure out ways to help support Uber to get through this difficult time.

C．The prospect of this huge industry cannot be underestimated.

D．In the meantime, thousands of drivers had found other jobs; even while economies were locked down drivers were still needed for takeaway and online shopping deliveries.

E．The question is what happens when more normal circumstances return.

F．It even sparked the word “Uberisation” to describe how its example helped transform industries, jobs and society.

8 . Which Way Home, a documentary by Rebecca Cammisa, charts the journeys to Mexican and Central American children who leave their home countries to come to the United States riding on top of a train they call “La Bestia” (the beast). All of the children dream of a better life for themselves and their families. Some of them hope to reunite with family members in the U. S. Others have dreams of going to school or getting a job so they can send money back home.

Kevin

Fourteen-year-old Kevin is from Honduras. A seemingly happy-go-lucky guy, Kevin is the group’s ring leader, telling jokes, making leaps across car roofs, and providing some comic relief in the film. Kevin has a strong sense of duty to his family. His mother, Lupe, tells him to buy a house for them in the U. S., so she can escape Kevin’s violent stepfather. He plans to head to Manhattan once he crosses the border, but during the filming he is taken off of the train by American border agents who send him back to Honduras. Without hesitation, Kevin leaves Honduras again and jumps on the train. Throughout his journey, Kevin encounters violence and brutality that should never be a part of childhood.

Juan Carlos

Juan Carlos is a 13-year-old from Guatemala. When we meet him, we learn that his father abandoned the family years ago and moved to America for a better life, leaving Juan Carlos’s mother, Esmeralda, to care for several children on her own. His younger brother, Francisco, made it into the U. S. a month earlier and now lives with their grandmother in Los Angeles. Juan Carlos feels responsible for providing for his mother and his other family members and decides he must do something to help support them. With the weight of the world on his shoulders, he writes a letter telling Esmeralda that he, too, is leaving for the U. S.

Olga

Olga is the only female migrant featured in the film. She is nine years old and travelling with her friend, Freddy, who is also nine. They are being taken to the U. S. illegally. Both are headed for Minnesota, where Olga hopes to reunite with her mother, and Freddy hopes to find his father. During the making of the documentary, the film crew loses track of Olga and Freddy, and we never find out what becomes of them.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Feature-Length Documentary. Director Rebecca Camissa said her goal for the film was to create public awareness of child migration, and to “promote a dialogue that leads to creating humane immigration policy reform in the United States

1. Which of the following is true of Which Way Home?

A．It is adapted from a book which tells stories about three child migrants.

B．It won an Academy Award for its theme that corresponds to the reality.

C．It aims to make viewers conscious of the phenomenon of child migration.

D．Its director has managed to create humane immigration policy reform

2. While the documentary was being made, the crew lost touch with ________.

A．Kevin and Juan Carlos	B．Juan Carlos and Olga
C．Juan Carlos and Freddy	D．Olga and Freedy

3. What can be learned from the passage about Kevin and Juan Carlos?

A．Both of them felt responsible for their families

B．Neither of them managed to get to the United States

C．Neither of them had any relative in the United States

D．Both of them were found on the way to their destinations

9 . At the top of a hill called Mount Lee in Los Angeles on the west coast of the USA is a very famous sign, recognizable to people around the world. My job is to look after this sign.     1     The first film was made there in 1907 and by 1912, at least 15 independent studios could be found making films around town.

In the 1940s, TV started to become popular and some Hollywood film studios closed, but then TV companies moved in and took them over. Modern Hollywood was born.     2     If one of them ever fell down I would have to put it back up at exactly the same angle. They follow the shape of Mount Lee and this is part of their fame.

I am responsible for maintaining and protecting the sign.     3     When I first arrived in 1989, security was pretty low-tech-we put up a fence around the sign to stop people messing with it. But people just jumped over the fence. The back of the sign was black with graffiti(涂鸦)there was wire across it, but they still got through. So I decided to improve the effectiveness of the security.

Now we have motion-detectors and cameras. Everything goes via the internet to a dedicated surveillance(监控)team watching various structures around the city. Even so, people still try to climb over the barrier, mostly innocent tourists surprised that you can’t walk right up to the sign. But they can get a closer look on one of my regular tours.

    4     They want to light the sign, paint it pink, or cover it in something to promote their product. You’ll get a really enthusiastic marketing executive call up, terribly excited because they think they’re the first person to think of this or that idea. They mostly get turned down. That’s because we don’t like to change the image and we hope it will have the same significance for generations to come.

A．The letters in the sign weren’t straight and still aren’t.

B．I have been working there for nearly 30 years.

C．People call up with the most ridiculous ideas.

D．It says Hollywood and that’s of course the place where films have been made for over a hundred years.

E．We used to have real problems.

F．Payment must be made for those ideas for commercial purposes.

10 . A hundred years ago, the largest city in the world was London, with a population of 6.5 million. Today it is beaten by Tokyo. With barely a quarter the population of London a century ago, the Tokyo metropolitan area has since ______ to 34 million, promoting it to first place in the global city league table. Tokyo’s phenomenal growth is largely due to a single factor: migration from the countryside to the city.

This ______ migration can now be seen in scores of cities around the globe. And it has brought us to a crucial moment in human history. In 1990, most people lived in the countryside, with a little over 10 percent of the world’s population living in ______. From next year, the UN Population Division predicts that for the first time in history, more people will live in cities than in the country, and the biggest growth will be in “mega-cities,” with populations over 10 million.

The ______ of mega-cities - there are now 20 in total - has brought with it huge environmental and social problems. Cities occupy just two percent of the land surface of the Earth but consume three-quarters of the resources that are used up each year. Their residents are making ruinous ______ on soils and water supplies for food and on forests for wood and paper.

______ the world’s population to the countryside isn’t an option. Dividing up the planet into plots of land on which we could all survive self-sufficiently would create its own natural disasters, not to mention being highly unlikely to ever ______. If we are to protect what is left of nature, and meet the demand to improve the quality of living for the world’s developing nations, a new form of city living is the only option. ______, governments, planners, architects, and engineers are beginning to wake up to this idea, and are dreaming up new ways to green the mega-cities. Their approaches ______ two main principles: recycle whatever possible and remove as many cars as possible. So as well as developing energy-efficient buildings, emphasis is being placed on increasing the use of ______ and redesigning how cities are organized to integrate work and living areas into a single neighborhood, rather than ______ cities into residential, commercial, and industrial zones.

Planners and architects now agree that to improve the social and environmental condition of cities the top ______ is to cut car use. They say zero-emission cars running on electricity or burning hydrogen are not ______. What is needed is a wholesale rethink of how new cities are laid out — and how existing ones expand — to ______ the need for cars in the first place. One way of achieving this is to build cities with multiple centers where people live ______ their work in high-rise blocks that are also near public transport hubs. In parts of the world this is already taking place.

1.

A．added

B．mushroomed

C．responded

D．adapted

2.

A．out-of-date

B．rural-to-urban

C．close-to-bottom

D．on-the-site

3.

A．cities

B．migration

C．poverty

D．communities

4.

A．increase

B．advantage

C．management

D．distribution

5.

A．criticism

B．comments

C．demands

D．impressions

6.

A．Promoting

B．Relating

C．Returning

D．Introducing

7.

A．disappear

B．decrease

C．exist

D．occur

8.

A．Generally

B．Naturally

C．Previously

D．Fortunately

9.

A．rely on

B．set aside

C．result in

D．look into

10.

A．self-driving cars

B．public transport

C．green buildings

D．eco-friendly packaging

11.

A．changing

B．arranging

C．separating

D．forcing

12.

A．concern

B．secret

C．reform

D．priority

13.

A．enough

B．possible

C．common

D．scarce

14.

A．emphasize

B．minimize

C．neglect

D．consider

15.

A．eagerly for

B．far from

C．close to

D．ignorantly of