1 . Every year about 40,000 people attempt to climb Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. They bring with them lots of waste. The
Hearing these stories, I’m
However, I soon discovered that much has changed since the days of disturbing reports of
The best of a Kilimanjaro
Does Kilimanjaro deserve its
| A．crowds | B．stories | C．reporters | D．settlements |
| A．age | B．face | C．name | D．position |
| A．crazy | B．doubtful | C．serious | D．pessimistic |
| A．grass | B．stones | C．camps | D．equipment |
| A．new | B．special | C．necessary | D．significant |
| A．paying off | B．blowing up | C．fading away | D．spreading out |
| A．experiment | B．experience | C．atmosphere | D．intervention |
| A．view | B．reason | C．quality | D．purpose |
| A．holding on to | B．going back to | C．living up to | D．giving way to |
| A．changes | B．permits | C．improves | D．dominates |
| A．add | B．match | C．count | D．imagine |
| A．lake | B．road | C．desert | D．village |
| A．Directly | B．Finally | C．Obviously | D．Frequently |
| A．fresh | B．little | C．artificial | D．permanent |
| A．reward | B．ecology | C．history | D．reputation |
2 . Hiring processes can be thought of as a battle between integrity and dishonesty. You might imagine this is a simple fight between truth-seeking firms and self-promoting candidates, and to a certain extent it is. But companies themselves tend to bend reality out of shape in ways that are self-defeating.
Start with the obvious wrongdoers: job applicants. When it comes to writing the resume (简历) , they tend to massage reality into the most appealing shape possible. Everyone beyond a certain level of experience is a transformational leader personally responsible for generating millions income; the world economy would be about 15 times bigger than it actually is if all such claims were true. The average British spends four and a half hours a day watching TV and online videos. But each average job candidate is an enthusiast for public welfare, using their spare time only for worthy purposes, like volunteering in soup kitchens.
But the tendency to stretch the truth infects companies as well as applicants. The typical firm will write a job description that invariably describes the work environment as fast-paced and innovative, and then lays out a set of improbable requirements for the “ideal candidate”, someone who almost by definition does not exist. Sometimes, the requirements include an ability to go back and change the course of history.
Too few firms offer an accurate account of what a position actually involves in their job previews, which are supposed to give prospective employees a genuine sense of the negatives and positives of the job, as well as a clear idea of the company’s corporate culture. One effective strategy is to lay out in text or video, what a typical day in the role would look like.
Such honesty can be its own reward. Research has long suggested that realistic job previews lead to lower turnover and higher employee satisfaction. A paper in 2011 by David Eamest of Towson University and his co-authors concluded that favourable perceptions of the organization’s honesty are the best explanation for why. So a process designed to uncover the truth about job applicants would run a lot more smoothly if firms were also honest about themselves.
1. Why are “leader” and “enthusiast” mentioned in paragraph 2?| A．To present a rule. | B．To clarify a fact. |
| C．To make a comparison. | D．To explain a phenomenon. |
| A．Overstate. | B．Overturn. | C．Overlook. | D．Overestimate. |
| A．They show a position as it is. | B．They are made either in text or video. |
| C．They are favorable for bigger firms. | D．They mainly contain negatives of a job. |
| A．Pains and gains of employees and employers |
| B．How to get the lying out of hiring. |
| C．How to be more appealing in hiring. |
| D．A wrestle between applicants and companies. |
Turtles Crossing
One spring afternoon, Alex rode his bike along the country road leading to his house. As he rounded a bend, a sign came into his view—Johnson’s pond. His dad took him canoeing (皮划艇) there sometimes. Alex loved it. Now it was spring time and the pond was always so alive. There, he could find frogs croaking, dragonflies hunting and turtles basking (晒太阳) on sunny rocks.
Alex was curious about the turtles he saw. Days earlier, he had gone to the library to check out books on turtles. Alex learned that turtles don’t have warm blood like people do. That’s why they have to sit in the sun to warm themselves. He also learned that in spring turtles lay eggs on the land away from the water.
Now it looked like tomorrow might be another sunny day. He decided he would ask Dad if they could go canoeing and look for turtles again. Just then Alex saw something in the road up ahead. It looked like a big gray rock. But it was a funny place for a rock to be. As Alex watched, the rock started to move. When he rode his bike up to get a closer look, he saw that it wasn’t a rock at all. It was a large turtle creeping (爬) its way across the road. It had a bony, beak-shaped mouth and a long, jagged tail. Alex suddenly realized what she was going to do.
He also knew not to get too close. He had read that a turtle has a powerful bite even though it doesn’t have teeth. It could even bite off someone’s finger. He stood at a distance and watched.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a car approaching. The turtle was still only halfway across the road. Alex knew he couldn’t pick it up to move it safely to the grass. What could he do? Thinking fast, he started jumping up and down and waving both hands wildly. ”Stop! Stop!“ he cried. The car slowed to a stop, and the driver stuck her head out of the window. It was his neighbor, Mrs. Ramos.
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。
”Are you alright, Alex?“ asked Mrs. Ramos.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Suddenly Alex got an idea how to protect them from car danger.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In our weekly staff meeting, our editor Ashley was not pleased with the quality of our reporting. “Our readership is way down. We need better stories for this Thursday’s school newspaper. Does anybody have any ideas?” she said.
I handed her my article about our basketball team beating Deerfield High School the previous night by one point. “Sports stories are fun,” she said, “but not good enough for the front page. We need something to really get people ‘s attention.”
After our meeting, we left the newsroom together and heard someone screaming, “Perry is missing!” Perry was a big red parrot and had been our school mascot (吉祥物) for ten years. He played an important role in students’ lives, both in and out of class. He had also been a constant presence at school events, inspiring a sense of unity among students.
Everyone gathered around Perry’s empty cage, heartbroken. Suddenly, a student from the crowd came over and showed me a photo. “You’re a reporter for the school paper, right? I happened to take this yesterday,” he said. In the photo was a Deerfield High School basketball player with something large hidden under his shirt around the size of a parrot.
“He must have stolen Perry to get back at us for winning the game!” Ashley cried. We hurried back to the newsroom, agreeing to run the photo on the front page with the headline “Deerfeld Stole Perry.” “This is just the story we need. Everyone will read it,” Ashley said confidently.
After she left, I took a closer look at the photo. The clock in the background read 4:15 pm, but our game against Deerfield hadn’t started until 4:30 pm. Why would the boy have taken Perry before we even played? An uneasy feeling came over me that we might have falsely accused someone.
I went to Perry’s usual caretaker to ask if he knew Perry was missing. ”He’s not missing. He’s retired. He’s ready for some quieter days,“ he said. Learning the truth, I immediately told Ashley and suggested writing a story to say goodbye to Perry.
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。
To my surprise, Ashley insisted on reporting the “Deerfield Stole Perry” story.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On Thursday, the paper came out with the headline “Bye-Bye, Perry” on the front page.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________THE STONE IN THE ROAD
Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a small kingdom. However, he was not content and always dreamed of expanding his territory. He tried every means to make his kingdom more powerful but ended up with little progress. Later he realized that a powerful country greatly relied on its national quality. He thought, “Nothing good can come to a nation whose people only complain and expect others to solve their problems.” For him, it was a crucial task to find a way out. One day, an idea occurred to him that he could do something to test and teach his people.
Early one morning, the king disguised himself and went to a local village. He placed a large stone in the middle of the main street and hid some gold coins under the stone. He made it a rule that anyone removing the stone could get the coins. Then he hid behind a huge maple tree and watched.
Soon the villagers began their daily routine and came to the street one after another. The first person down the street was a milkman with his cart. He crashed into the stone, spilling the milk everywhere. “What fool put this stone here?” he shouted. He picked himself up and angrily went away.
After a while, a group of women came along, each balancing a pot of water on her head. One woman tripped over the stone and her water pot went crashing to the ground. She picked herself up and limped away in tears. Neither she nor her friends thought about moving the stone out of the road.
Then came more people. The king watched all morning, only to find that those people complained about the stone, but nobody made an attempt to move it. The king was in despair. “Is there no one in this village who feels any responsibility to keep their neighbors from harm?” Shaking his head, he decided to turn back.
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。
Just then, the king saw a young girl coming along.
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Just then, the king stepped out from behind the tree.
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Holidays are not necessarily for fun or rest. Doing something meaningful can also gain special pleasure. When the final bell rang, the students were reminded that there was no school on Monday—the Labor Day. “Enjoy your extra day off” said the teacher to her class.
An extra day off unsuited Kayla just fine. She loved breaks. She wanted to go out to play with her friends. When the school bus dropped Kayla off, she ran into the house happily.
“How was school, Kayla?” asked her mom.
“It was great, Mom. I am excited about no school on Monday.”
“You just started back to school two weeks ago. Already in need of a break, huh?” asked Kayla’s mom with a laugh.
Kayla slept in the next morning. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. I trained most of the day, so Kayla enjoyed playing videogames inside. On Sunday, her friends came over and they played basketball for several hours.
Then it was Labor Day, you know, the extra day off that Kayla was so looking forward to. But Kayla was awakened early that morning by her dad. He told Kayla that in honor of Labor Day, the family would be cleaning both inside and outside the house. Kayla couldn’t believe it. This was a holiday. A day when she was supposed to be enjoying freshly squeezed lemonade while playing in her tree house. As Kayla wiped here yes, she began to wonder if this was just a bad dream.
“Kayla, your breakfast is ready. We have a lot of work to do today. Let’s get a move on,” said Kayla’s mom. As she sat down at the kitchen table, Kayla asked her parents，
“Are you serious about working today? Isn’t Labor Day a holiday?”
“Yes, Kayla. It is,” replied her dad. “But your mom and I thought working hard today would make you appreciate why Labor Day was observed in the first place.”
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At first Kayla felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But things began to change as she was doing the chores.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sports bring us together
Sports are more than competitions.I used to be very shy and often felt lonely. Although I did well in all the academic subjects, I was afraid of physical education. Even kids in the neighborhood would laugh at me. “Look at that girl,” they said. “Her feet don’t leave the ground when she runs!” Their words embarrassed me. At school, whenever the teacher organized some competitive games, no one in the class would choose me as their partner or team member. As a result, I often ended up looking at others enjoy their games.
Things would go on like that if not for a sports meet in my high school. By mistake, my name was put on the list of those who would compete in the women’s 1500 meters race. By the time people found the mistake, it was too late to change.
My deskmate, Mary, was a natural athlete. She said to me, “I couldn’t run that race in your place, because I have signed up for three items already.” I nearly broke down. 1500 meters! Running against the best runners in front of the whole school! It would be the worst nightmare I’d ever have!
“You still have time to catch up because there is still one month before the sports meet,” Mary patted me on the shoulder, “That is cool! You will run for our class! And we will do training together.” Yes, this is not just for myself, but for my class. But still, 1500 meters to me was like Mount Everest (珠穆朗玛峰) to a beginning climber. I had no idea even how to start my preparation.
Mary invited me to join in their training. Every afternoon after class, several of us ran together. When the fear of being laughed at flooded over me, I saw others running right beside or stand by the tracks cheering for us. They gave me strengths.
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。
Before I could realize how fast one month went by, I was standing behind the start line of the sports meet.
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As expected, I was almost the last to cross the finish line.
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Tom was a skilled teenage surfer. He had always been attracted by the ocean and the challenge of riding its waves. He had trained tirelessly for years, sharpening his skills and perfecting his technique. He had participated in many competitions and won several titles. But one day, his world was turned upside down.
It was a routine training day. While Tom was concentrating on his training in the sea, a shark came in through the broken shark-proof net and approached him. The animal knocked over Tom’s surfboard and bit his right leg, tearing through his flesh (肉体) and causing massive damage. Despite the seriousness of his injuries, Tom was lucky to survive the attack. He was rushed to the hospital, where he received an emergency operation. With the efforts of doctors, his leg was saved.
Tom’s recovery was long and painful, but he refused to give up on his dream of surfing. At first, his progress was slow. He had to learn to walk again, and then to run, and then to jump. Every movement was a struggle. But with the help of his family and friends, as well as his own fierce determination, Tom gradually began to make progress. He spent hours every day in the gym, doing strength and balance exercises to rebuild his body.
Finally, after months of hard work, Tom was ready to get back into the water. His first training was incredibly difficult, as he struggled to overcome his fear of the ocean and the memory of the shark attack. But gradually, he began to regain his confidence and his love for surfing. As his strength and skills returned, Tom set his sights on competing once again. He trained tirelessly, working with a coach to perfect his technique and improve his performance. And finally, the day of the competition arrived.
注意：1．所续写的短文词数应为150个左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Standing in front of the starting line again, Tom felt nervous．
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Tom fell into the sea．
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With New Year coming , the weather was becoming colder. I was second grade then, 7 years old. One day, on my way home from school, a lady gave me a piece of paper saying that the neighborhood was asking people to give New Year presents to those who needed them. When I showed my mom this paper, she encouraged me to take part in it and spread kindness to others less fortunate than us. She said we would become “Neighborhood Angels”.
Several days later, my mother said, “Get ready, and we will go.” “Where are we going?” I asked my mother. “ I will drive you to to Boots Department Store to buy something you think would be suitable for a neighborhood present.” she replied. As we went into the store, my mother gave me $20 to pay for the present. Then she said, “I’ll see you outside in the car.” She left me alone to do the shopping. I was not used to buying things on my own, as I had always been with one of my parents before. Everything seemed very strange and confusing to me, but I carried on. I asked myself what I should buy and for whom. Suddenly, I remembered the poor boy called Jack who lived in our neighborhood. I used to see him often without a jacket during the freezing winter months, so I decided, then and there, to buy him a warm jacket.
I looked at many jackets and eventually chose a heavy blue one. The price was just within my spending limit. The assistant at the checkout asked , “Is this for someone?”, as I paid for the jacket happily. I said it was,and she wished me a Happy New Year. I felt as if I were a real “Neighborhood Angel”.
Paragraph 1
That evening, my mother helped me packed the jacket in beautiful paper.
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Paragraph 2
My mother and I waited breathlessly for Jack’s front door to open and finally it opened. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10 . In the days before the Internet, critical thinking was the most important skill of informed citizens. But in the digital age, according to Anastasia Kozyreva, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute of Human Development, and her colleagues, an even more important skill is critical ignoring.
As the researchers point out, we live in an attention economy where content producers on the Internet compete for our attention. They attract us with a lot of emotional and eye-catching stories while providing little useful information, so they can expose us to profit-generating advertisements. Therefore,we are no longer customers but products, and each link we click is a sale of our time and attention. Toprotect ourselves from this, Kozyreva advocates for learning the skill of critical ignoring, in which readers intentionally control their information environment to reduce exposure to false and low-quality information.
According to Kozyreva, critical ignoring comprises three strategies. The first is to design ourenvironments, which involves the removal of low-quality yet hard-to-resist information from around. Successful dieters need to keep unhealthy food out of their homes. Likewise, we need to set up a digital environment where attention-grabbing items are kept out of sight. As with dieting, if one tries to bank onwillpower not to click eye-catching “news”, he’ll surely fail. So, it’s better to just keep them out of sightto begin with.
The next is to evaluate the reliability of information, whose purpose is to protect you from false and misleading information. It can be realized by checking the source in the mainstream news agencies which have their reputations for being trustworthy.
The last goes by the phrase “do not feed the trolls.” Trolls are actors who internationally spread false and hurtful information online to cause harm. It may be appealing to respond to them to set the facts straight, but trolls just care about annoying others rather than facts. So, it’s best not to reward their bad behaviour with our attention.
By sharpening our critical ignoring skills in these ways, we can make the most of the Internet while avoiding falling victim to those who try to control our attention, time, and minds.
1. What can we learn about the attention economy from paragraph 2?| A．It offers little information. | B．It features depressing stories. |
| C．It saves time for Internet users. | D．It seeks profits from each click. |
| A．To discuss the quality of information |
| B．To prove the benefits of healthy food. |
| C．To show the importance of environments. |
| D．To explain the effectiveness of willpower. |
| A．Reveal their intention. | B．Turn a deaf ear to them. |
| C．Correct their behaviour. | D．Send hard facts to them. |
| A．Reasons for critical thinking in the attention economy. |
| B．Practising the skill of critical ignoring in the digital age. |
| C．Maximizing the benefits of critical ignoring on the Internet. |
| D．Strategies of abandoning critical thinking for Internet users |
