1 . What’s the purpose of philosophy? Alfred North Whitehead characterized it as a series of footnotes to Plato. On the surface, we don’t seem to have __________much in the two and a half millennia since Plato wrote his dialogues. Today’s philosophers still struggle with many of the same issues that exercised the Greeks.

Compared with philosophy, science has been one long__________story since it took its modern form in the 17th century. It has uncovered the workings of nature and brought untold benefits to humanity.

__________, not all philosophers are troubled by this contrast. For some, the worth of philosophy lies in the process, not the product. According to Socrates’ statement—“The unexamined life is not worth living?”—they hold that __________ on the human statement is valuable in itself. Others take their lead from Marx—“The philosophers have only interpreted the world—and view philosophy as an engine of political change, whose purpose is not to reflect reality, but to change it. Even so, the majority of contemporary philosophers probably still think of philosophy as a route to the __________.

According to the “spin-off” theory of philosophical progress, all new sciences__________ as branches of philosophy, and only become established as separate disciplines once philosophy has granted them the essential intellectual means to survive on their own. Then, it is __________ to suppose the lack of progress in philosophy. Whenever philosophy does make progress, it creates a new subject, which then no longer counts as part of philosophy. That’s __________ its progress is masked by the constant renaming of its intellectual fruits.

Philosophy hasn’t left everything to other university departments, and still __________ plenty of its own questions to exercise its own students. The __________is that it doesn’t seem to have any definite answers. When it comes to topics like morality, knowledge, free will, consciousness and so on, the lecturers still __________a range of options that have been around for a long time.

No doubt some of the__________ between philosophy and science result from the different methods of investigation that they employ. Where philosophy relies on analysis and argument, science is devoted to data. It is __________doubted that philosophers disagree more than scientists. But arguments have loopholes(漏洞).So there is always plenty of room for philosophers to take issue with each other, where scientists by contrast have to__________what they are told.

Perhaps there is more progress in philosophy than at first appears, even apart from the spin-off disciplines. Judging from its appearances, it may look as if nothing is ever settled. But behind them, philosophy is by no means incapable of __________.

1.

A．progressed

B．possessed

C．addressed

D．oppressed

2.

A．horror

B．life

C．case

D．success

3.

A．Therefore

B．Otherwise

C．However

D．Moreover

4.

A．reflection

B．basis

C．reliance

D．evaluation

5.

A．equality

B．truth

C．destination

D．peace

6.

A．serve

B．struggle

C．start

D．develop

7.

A．natural

B．possible

C．difficult

D．wrong

8.

A．how

B．when

C．why

D．where

9.

A．reserves

B．explains

C．analyzes

D．comprehends

10.

A．solution

B．difference

C．trouble

D．impression

11.

A．debate

B．explore

C．preserve

D．pursue

12.

A．agreements

B．distinctions

C．options

D．relations

13.

A．generally

B．frankly

C．privately

D．scarcely

14.

A．establish

B．check

C．accept

D．present

15.

A．suffering

B．peaking

C．advancing

D．signaling

2 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks ‘with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

On January 10, Uganda reopened schools after the longest closure in the world    1     the coronavirus pandemic. For most students, it was their first time back in the classroom in nearly two years.

When the buildings first shuttered, the Ministry ofEducation broadcast lessons on TV and radio stations, and some schools handed out printed materials. But this did not last for lack of funding. So the     2     (estimate) 15 million children affected by this closure put their studies on hold.        

Uganda’s National Planning Authority in August 2021 projected that 4.5 million of them will likely not return to school. The reasons for the dropouts are manifold. The teen pregnancy rate rose significantly. And many poor children in urban and rural areas    3     (force) to start working to help support their families.，“They turned children into laborers and that was a loss, especially for a family that has relied for almost two years on child labor,” says Munir Safieldin, the UNICEF Uganda representative.

Plus, in an economy pinched by the pandemic, many families cannot currently afford the fees,     4     start at about $135 per term for high school, and other costs (including academic materials and uniforms).

Children who are able to return school have been promoted one grade level, a decision made by the Ministry of Education to guarantee spots for newly     5     (enter) students. But many families and experts are concerned. Mary Goretti Nakabugo, the executive director of Uwezo Uganda, a nonprofit organization working    6     (promote) equitable quality education, argues that even before the closure, many of Uganda’s younger students had not yet acquired basic fundamentals, such as reading and understanding a text. “This is the time for us to rethink our curriculum, our teaching and learning,     7    students who are unprepared for classes will only end up even     8     (far) behind.”

Kusemererwa Jonathan Henry, a teenager living in Kamwokya, one of the largest slums in the capital of Kampala, had just started high school and made new friends     9     the lockdown started. “We were used to the short school breaks but this was too long. At first, all I would do is sit at home and sleep;, he says. Fortunately, his dad’s financial help combined with his personal savings allowed Jonathan to open a fruit and vegetable stall. ”Before the lockdown, I never knew how to fend for     10     , but now I don’t even need to ask for money to   buy clothes.“ Still, Jonathan longed to get back to class. ”The day a date was announced for us to resume school, I washed my uniforms, bags and polished my shoes, that’s how excited I was to get back.”

3 . With an eye on urbanization, population growth and efficiency, tiny spaces were a big theme at this summer’s Dwell on Design conference in Los Angeles. Designers from around the world proudly presented housing and products for living small – from transformable furniture to 3D printed interior objects.     1    Urban housing supplies are already straining (紧张) worldwide with 54% of the global population of 7.2 billion living in cities, according to the United Nation’s World Urbanization Prospects 2014 report. By 2050, that number is expected to rise to 6.33 billion, or 66% of a forecasted world population of 9.6 billion.

In North America, about 82% of the total population – roughly 473.8 million people – lives in urban areas.    2    Many of the new units being built are getting smaller and smaller, challenging municipal(市政的) housing codes and zoning regulations.

Micro-apartments tricked out with scaled-down, adaptable furniture and decor could make urban living more compatible (兼容的) with the way people increasingly live now – and help cities as they attempt to absorb more people in the future. The challenges include how to do so affordably, comfortably and with enough privacy to make these spaces homes as well as housing.

Re-thinking the toilet

The greater Tokyo area is the world’s most densely populated metropolitan region with some 38 million residents packed into about 5,200 sq miles.    3    TOTO, the Japanese bathroom fixtures and plumbing company, showcased micro-toilet design for bathrooms as small as 9 sq feet (0.84 meters) at the Dwell on Design conference.

The design also carries the EPA WaterSense label, averaging a lean 1 gallon per flush. This “saves a family of four more than $90 annually on their water bill, and $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilet”, said TOTO USA’s Lenora Campos.

Convertible furniture re-imagined

To furnish a micro-apartment comfortably, Resource Furniture has re-imagined the old Murphy beds and folding tables with sophisticated book shelves, desks and sofas that can convert into beds. Drawers pull out from under stairs.    4    

A．A sleeping layer might include a platform bed with a desk or closet space underneath, for example.

B．There’s a very fixed idea of what an apartment needs to be and who you expect to live in the unit will affect the design.

C．Often their strategies sought to reduce the human footprint on the environment and save energy.

D．So small sinks and showers are nothing new in compact Japanese bathrooms.

E．Storage space is cleverly hidden within walls and pushed up to ceilings.

F．The number of single-person households is rising, although housing has not kept pace with demographic change.

4 . An exhibition of vivid photographs and a restored documentary give fresh insight into the Antarctic explorer, who died a century ago.

One hundred years ago, the leader of the last great expedition of the heroic age of polar exploration died from a heart attack as his ship, Quest, headed for Antarctica. The announcement of the death of Ernest Shackleton on 30 January 1922 was greeted with an outpouring of national grief.

This was the man, after all, who had saved the entire crew of his ship Endurance — which had been crushed and sunk by ice in 1915 — by making a daring trip in a tiny open boat over 750 miles of polar sea to raise the alarm at a whaling station in South Georgia.

It remains one of the greatest rescue stories of modern history and led to the idolising of Shackleton in the United Kingdom, a reputation that survived undamaged for the rest of the century. As his contemporary Raymond Priestley, the geologist and Antarctic explorer, later put it: “When disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.”

And here and now in 2022, his death is being marked with an elaborately illustrated exhibition — Shackleton’s legacy and the power of early Antarctic photography — which opens at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), and which includes a range of images and artefacts from his expeditions. Additionally, a digitally remade version of South, a documentary film of Shackleton’s 1914-16 Endurance expedition, is being screened at the British Film Institute.

The film and most of the exhibition’s finest images are the handiwork of Frank Hurley, who sailed with Shackleton and who was one of the 20th century’s greatest photographers and film-makers. Both film and exhibition feature striking camera work and provide vivid accounts of the hardships that Shackleton and his men endured as they headed off to explore Antarctica.

Even after he survived the great expedition, he still longed for another trip to Antarctica, and after long negotiations set sail in Quest, from England, with the aim of circumnavigating (环航) Antarctica, Shackleton was by now very ill and had suffered at least one heart attack. On 2 January 1922, he wrote in his diary: “I grow old and tired but must always lead on.” Three days later he had a major heart attack and died a few hours later. He is buried on South Georgia, scene of his greatest triumph.

“Shackleton was an inspirational leader. He had an innate sense of what was possible and achievable. He also had a huge personality but led by example. At the same time, he was sensitive to the needs of the individuals he was leading. For example, after Endurance broke up, his men had lost their protection and shelter. Their social fabric had been destroyed. There would have been disagreement. Yet Shackleton succeeded in keeping them together and made sure they survived.”

1. People were overcome with grief when Ernest Shackleton died because          .

A．it was a huge pity that such a brave explorer should have died from a heart attack

B．he was the man that wrote about one of the greatest rescue stories of modern history

C．he came to his entire crew’s rescue and symbolised hope in extreme circumstances

D．there was no one to pray to anymore when disaster came and there was no hope

2. What can we learn about the exhibition?

A．It presents Shackleton’s 1914-16 Endurance expedition with powerful Antarctic photos.

B．It celebrates the 100th anniversary of the great explorer Ernest Shackleton’s birth.

C．It consists of vivid photographs, artefacts, and documentaries of Ernest Shackleton.

D．It is created by Frank Hurley, who witnessed Shackleton’s heroic acts with his own eyes.

3. Which of the following is NOT true about Ernest Shackleton according to the passage?

A．He was the leader of a heroic exploration to the South pole, who died from a heart attack off shore.

B．He saved the crew members of the sunken Endurance by travelling to raise the alarm in a tiny boat.

C．He is universally recognised as the greatest Antarctic explorer who has enjoyed enduring fame.

D．He was inspirational, practical, responsible, sensitive towards his men, but had a strong character.

4. What does “Their social fabric had been destroyed. ” in the last paragraph most probably mean?

A．What they wore would not be accepted by others upon returning.

B．They could no longer socialise with others even if they went back.

C．The ship could not keep them together even if they survived.

D．They could not function socially as they had when there was shelter.

5 . Direction: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. labour              B. manner              C. highlighting        D. circumstances              E. updated F. characterised        G. integrated             H. admirable              I. accommodate              J. overseeing       K. flexible

The house of the future? A sun-filled, shape-shifting, shed-share paradise

What will homes be like 10 years from now? Judging by the winners of the Home of 2030 competition, sharing will be key.

Shared home-working spaces, communal garden sheds and houses built using apps—these are just some of the ideas in the winning proposals for the government’s Home of 2030 competition to develop prototype “homes fit for the future”,    1    the “best of British design”. The aim was to imagine what the best age-adaptable, energy-efficient, healthy homes might look like in 10 years’ time; but, according to the winning architects, most of the best ideas have been around for generations.

“You can’t get much more     2    and adaptable than the Georgian townhouse,” says Jennifer Beningfield of Openstudio, leader of one of the two winning teams announced today. “We’ve taken this very simple model and     3    it for the 21st century. Our idea was to create infinite choice and variation from something very simple.”

Her team’s scheme imagines a terraced (排房的) housing type made from two standard components, a base unit and a loft, joined with “connector” pieces, taking into account multiple configurations (布局) over time as family     4    change. Standing between the homes, the connectors would     5    stairs and a lift, as well as storage and shared workspace. One of the most important aspects since the pandemic, says Beningfield, is providing “space to work from home, without having your laptop on the kitchen table”. Each home would have its own private outdoor space, while they would all back on to large communal gardens, arranged in the     6    of a traditional London square.

Built off-site to demanding Passivhaus standards, with a twin wall timber frame, the homes would be     7    by generous 2.7m high ceilings and tall 2.5m windows and doors, massively increasing the amount of daylight brought into the rooms, compared with most new-build spec housing. Beningfield, who studied and worked in South Africa and the US, says that off-site construction is crucial, given the shocking build quality of so many new homes in the UK – which she fears will only get worse after Brexit, if much of the skilled     8    is forced to leave.

As is so often the case with blue-sky (纯理论的) ideas competitions, the ambitions of the Home of 2030 winning teams are     9    – and, in this case, completely buildable – but there is little evidence to suggest that either the government or the volume housebuilding sector has any intention of putting them into practice. For that, we must look to Sunderland in 2023, and hope that a(n)    10    union of other councils, communities and smaller-scale builders have the imagination to follow their lead.

6 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct.

How language transformed humanity

Language is very probably the one characteristic that separates us from the chimpanzees, our closest relatives. All other major differences between us likely stem from language. “It allows you to implant (植入) a thought from your mind directly into someone else’s mind”, says Mark Pagel, professor and head of the Evolution Laboratory at the University of Reading.

Humans use discrete (分离的) pulses of sound—their language—    1    (alter) the internal settings inside someone else’s brain to suit an individual’s interests. Language is a form of social learning instead of something     2    (pursue) all by oneself.

Social learning is visual theft: for example, if I can learn by watching you, I can steal (and benefit from) your best ideas, wisdom or skills without having to invest the time and energy to develop these     3    .

There are two options for dealing with this crisis: either return into small family groups so the benefits of each group’s knowledge     4    (share) only with one’s relatives or expand one’s group to include unrelated others.    5    our relatives, the Neanderthals, who withdrew into small groups, humans chose the second option, and language was the result.

“Language evolved to solve the crisis of visual theft and to exploit cooperation and exchange”, says Professor Pagel.

In fact, as Professor Pagel argues, language is a “social technology”     6    (allow) for cooperation between unrelated individuals and groups. According to the archaeological record, it was this cooperation and sharing of ideas     7    came before human migration around the planet and the following human population explosion.

But almost incomprehensibly, thousands of languages evolved. So just     8    a shared language facilitates communication and cooperation between unrelated groups, different languages slow the flow of ideas, technologies—and even genes.

“Can humans afford to have all these different languages?” asks Professor Pagel. In a world     9    we want to promote cooperation, in a world that is more dependent than ever on cooperation to maintain and enhance humanity’s levels of prosperity, multiple languages     10    not be practical.

In fact, humanity’s “destiny is to be one world with one language”, concludes Professor Pagel.

7 . How to recognize cyber attacks

Cyber-attacks may sound like something that happens only in Hollywood movies. You _________a team of talented Hackers gathered around computer monitors trying to break into a secure bank or government server. In reality, cyber-attacks are much less exciting but no less _________.

A/An_________attack involves a cyber-criminal sending out thousands or oven millions of links and flies. They assume that someone will_________ fall for their trap and open an infected file or page. Somebody always does. The best way to protect yourself is to learn how to _________cyber-attacks as well as how to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Cyber-attacks can happen to anybody. It doesn’t matter who you are; cyber criminals can target you. While many often think of hacking victims as_________about digital security best practices, this isn’t always the case. Kickers are smart. True, there are plenty of apparent scams (骗局) like ‘the Nigerian Price" emails. But there are as many attacks that can fool even the skillful computer-users.

Nowadays, cyber-criminals create fake websites and email addresses. You may think you are clicking a link to Dropbox (多宝箱) only to download malware onto your computer, _________may never know when you have visited the wrong site and downloaded a/an_______file. So, it’s up to you to be vigilant (警觉的) and protect yourself.

So you need to lean to recognize the signs of cyber-attacks. First, recognize _________activity on your accounts or devices. ____________ some things may be obvious such as account password changes, others aren’t so easy to spot. Usually, hackers insert pieces of code into valid files and programs. And then, you might receive a file from a trusted sender whose mail has been __________. Sometimes, the data are even real, but the hacker may have inserted a few lines of code that can also infect your computer. You should take the time to check your “Task Manager” to get a sense of what____________are running. Check anything suspicious that’s __________in the background. That’s often the sign of malware.

Other things to ____________for include: random device or internet slowdown; the software you don’t recognize; inability to access your account or unscheduled shutdowns and restarts.

As with everything, ____________ is the best medicine. So, instead of waiting for cyber-attacks to hit you, recognize the signs to protect yourself.

1.

A．gather

B．picture

C．find

D．establish

2.

A．dangerous

B．worried

C．cautious

D．helpless

3.

A．historic

B．typical

C．potential

D．specific

4.

A．halfway

B．originally

C．periodically

D．eventually

5.

A．predict

B．limit

C．warn

D．recognize

6.

A．fearless

B．soundless

C．clueless

D．careless

7.

A．in conclusion

B．and

C．but

D．as if       .

8.

A．empty

B．supervised

C．tracked

D．infected

9.

A．powerful

B．suspicious

C．specific

D．frequent

10.

A．While

B．Since

C．If

D．When

11.

A．guaranteed

B．assessed

C．leaked

D．composed

12.

A．mechanisms

B．files

C．programs

D．commands

13.

A．attacking

B．chatting

C．hiding

D．running

14.

A．sum up

B．watch out

C．mark off

D．turn down

15.

A．strategy

B．practice

C．solution

D．prevention

8 . Deliverance(解救) for Delivery Drivers?

ZOOOOOOOOM!!! A gust of air, the hum of spinning wheels, and a flash of color whizzing past. I’m sure that we have all stepped into the crosswalk, at one time or another, and experienced this sudden, heart-stopping ______. I am, of course, referring to delivery drivers ______ through crossroads to deliver takeaway food.

Over the past few years, delivery drivers have been criticized, fined, and even ______ for breaking traffic laws across China. Delivery drivers often ______ red lights, disregard speed limits, and pay little attention to pedestrian crossings. But they also often pay the ______ price — each year, it seems like fatal injuries involving delivery drivers are increasing. ______, since delivery drivers are usually poorly paid, how much blame do they really deserve for running against the clock?

Well, it ______ to be a complicated issue. Recently an article titled “Delivery Drivers, Stuck in the System” was shared widely on social media. According to the article, ______ between delivery services Ele.me and Meituan has caused each app to take increasingly extreme measures to out-do(超过) the other. This has included the shortening of delivery time windows. It has been ______, in part, through a combination of rewards for early delivery and severe punishments for late delivery. Over time, the platforms have only increased these ______ on drivers. As a result, drivers find themselves in a dilemma(左右两难的困境)：break traffic laws or, in some cases, lose hundreds of yuan in earnings for late deliveries.

According to surveys and reactions online, ______ care much whether their deliveries are a few minutes late, while most believe that it is not worth risking someone’s life for. In response, Ele.me and Meituan have added a combination of features to ______ delivery times for slow elevators or bad weather conditions.

Although these new ______ cannot solve the underlying problems of intense competition or the inherent dangers of driving, they should, in some measure, start reducing some of the pressure on drivers. In the meantime, as ______, we can help to make life for delivery riders safer and easier. ______, be a considerate person and don’t leave them waiting for too long. If you see a food delivery guy rushing toward you on an escalator or into a door, consider standing back and letting him go first. After all, they are putting their lives on the line just to deliver our food.

1.

A．fright

B．delight

C．pain

D．sorrow

2.

A．running

B．walking

C．rushing

D．wandering

3.

A．arrested

B．fired

C．blamed

D．praised

4.

A．destroy

B．ignore

C．observe

D．interrupt

5.

A．everlasting

B．dramatic

C．slight

D．final

6.

A．However

B．Namely

C．Indeed

D．Surprisingly

7.

A．decides

B．refuses

C．turns out

D．takes turns

8.

A．comparison

B．contrast

C．competition

D．cooperation

9.

A．adapted

B．achieved

C．adopted

D．assumed

10.

A．motivations

B．advantages

C．pressures

D．skills

11.

A．some

B．few

C．many

D．we

12.

A．reduce

B．expand

C．narrow

D．extend

13.

A．actions

B．behaviors

C．features

D．conditions

14.

A．humans

B．consumers

C．friends

D．taxpayers

15.

A．In one word

B．As a result

C．For example

D．On the contrary

9 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. counting        B. create            C. loss            D. Luckily            E. offer        F. preferred G. supports        H. transfer            I. type             J. Unfortunately     K. video

The digital revolution has had a huge impact on every aspect of our society. For content creators, life looks nothing like it did just a couple of decades ago. Back then, all you had to do is to take the tape off the camera and put it on your     1     player. At most, you had to read an article to understand the difference between HS and Betamax. Video was only consumed in two ways: television or cinema. Nowadays, you’ll probably run out of fingers     2     how many video formats (格式) there are out there, let alone the number of platforms and devices on which video is played.

Understanding what each video format is and does is no child’s play. In fact, it is a “must” if you want your work to look the best regardless of where and how it is played. If, for example, you want to     3     a video website, the type of file you’ll need to use will most likely to be different from the one you’ll have to create for your social media accounts. In order to make this whole process a lot easier, we have put together a list of the most common video formats and which ones you should use for each purpose.

So what’s the best video format?

    4    , there isn’t a cure-all when it comes to video sharing. The good thing is that it’s actually really easy to     5     between video formats. If you do so, be sure to always save the original file in order to avoid     6     of image quality due to file compression(压缩).

Here are three of the most common video uses and the     7     formats for each of them:

Social media: MP4 is supported by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, IGTV, and YouTube. Facebook also    8     MOV, while YouTube accepts most video formats.

TV and computers: AVI, MOV, and MKV     9     the highest quality image which makes them great options for big screen streaming.

Website: WEBM and HTML5 are the video formats meant for your account. However, using tools such as Wix Video will allow you to work with almost any file     10    , as well as offer you much more control over your work.