Cedar Point was an amusement park in Ohio I had been expecting to visit as a child. We lived close to the park, so I often heard the screams of people on the roller coaster, saw the tired kids with their parents when they left. Sometimes, I looked wistfully at the lights through my window at night.
When I was nine, my grandmother managed to save a little bit of money here and there and took me there one day that summer. I yelled, excitement bubbling inside me. As we arrived at the park for the first time, kids were everywhere, eating popcorn (爆米花) and blowing bubbles. My eyes widened in delight at the scene. I wanted to do all those things, but deep down, I knew we didn’t have enough money. We could only afford to buy a ticket only for one ride for fifteen minutes. I pulled my grandmother toward the ticket window to buy a ticket for the carousel (旋转木马).
It was exactly as I had imagined, straight out of a movie. My grandmother smiled fondly and leaned down, giving the ticket to the ride operator, Mr Salas. Letting go, I rushed to the ride, stopping only to pick which horse to sit on. They were all so beautiful, coming in different colors with’ different expressions ‘on their plastic faces. To me, it felt like the decision of a lifetime.
“Come on, sweetie! The ride is going to start!” my grandmother called out, laughing at my indecision. Seeing that, Mr Salas also smiled warmly. Finally, I picked the horse with the pink hair and blue saddle. In the following minutes, I was absorbed in enjoying the ride, forgetting my family was struggling. My grandmother waved each time the ride passed her by. Mr Salas watched me from a distance.
Sadly, the carousel ride ended much too quickly. My grandmother was waiting and took my hand. I got down from the horse unwillingly, feeling bittersweet.
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。
At that moment, Mr Salas approached us with a warm smile on his face.
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After a while, Mr Salas returned, with an all-inclusive ticket for Cedar Point for the entire day.
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2 . History has not yet
Whatever we
Historian Neil Howe sees
| A．remarked | B．convinced | C．guaranteed | D．revealed |
| A．numbers | B．houses | C．accommodates | D．contains |
| A．peers | B．adolescents | C．folks | D．guys |
| A．over | B．without | C．besides | D．beyond |
| A．diagnosed | B．dismissed | C．labeled | D．coined |
| A．end up | B．consider about | C．appeal for | D．approve of |
| A．distribution force | B．purchasing power | C．global view | D．unique outlooks |
| A．vivid | B．instructive | C．instant | D．profitable |
| A．feed up with | B．put up with | C．make up for | D．identify with |
| A．faking | B．revising | C．illustrating | D．maintaining |
| A．supervising | B．forming | C．representing | D．promoting |
| A．parallels | B．contrasts | C．comparisons | D．reservations |
| A．because | B．although | C．while | D．when |
| A．emphasis | B．generation | C．intensity | D．cultivation |
| A．routes | B．schemes | C．names | D．definitions |
1. 你的理想职业；
2. 选择它的理由；
3. 实现的途径。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可根据内容要点适当发挥，以使行文连贯。
My Dream Career
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . Atomic shapes are so simple that they can’t be broken down any further. Mathematicians are trying to turn to artificial intelligence (AI) for help to build a periodic table of these shapes, hoping it will assist in finding yet-unknown atomic shapes.
Tom Coates at Imperial College London and his colleagues are working to classify atomic shapes known as Fano varieties, which are so simple that they can’t be broken down into smaller components. Just as chemists arranged element s in the periodic table by their atomic weight and group to reveal new insights, the researchers hope that organizing these atomic shapes by their various properties will help in understanding them.
The team has given each atomic shape a sequence of numbers based on its features such as the number of holes it has or the extent to which it bends around itself. This acts as a bar code (条形码) to identify it. Coates and his colleagues have now created an AI that can predict certain properties of these shapes from their bar code numbers alone, with an accuracy of 98 percent.
The team member Alexander Kasprzyk at the University of Nottingham, UK, says that the AI has let the team organize atomic shapes in a way that begins to follow the periodic table, so that when you read from left to right, or up and down, there seem to be general patterns in the geometry (几何) of the shapes.
Graham Nib lo at the University of Southampton, UK, stresses that humans will still need to understand the results provided by AI and create proofs of these ideas. “AI has definitely got unbelievable abilities. But in the same way that telescopes (望远镜) don’t put astronomers out of work, AI doesn’t put mathematicians out of work,” he says. “It just gives us new backing that allows us to explore parts of the mathematical landscape that are out of reach.”
The team hopes to improve the model to the point where missing spaces in its periodic table could point to the existence of unknown shapes.
1. What is the purpose of building a periodic table of shapes?| A．To gain deeper insights into the atomic shapes. |
| B．To create an AI to predict the unknown shapes. |
| C．To break down atomic shapes into smaller parts. |
| D．To arrange chemical elements in the periodic table. |
| A．Its holes. | B．Its bends. |
| C．Its atomic weight. | D．Its properties. |
| A．Design. | B．Help. | C．Duty. | D．Threat. |
| A．Thanks to AI, new atomic shapes have been discovered. |
| B．Mathematicians turn to AI to create more atomic shapes. |
| C．AI helps build a relationship between chemistry and maths. |
| D．A periodic table of shapes can be built with the help of AI. |
5 . Travelling abroad can present many challenges, including long journeys, language problems, and culture shocks, plus the expense of transport and accommodation.
One of the wonderful benefits of going abroad is that you can learn history and culture without real effort. There’s a natural tendency to absorb other cultures and pick up historical concepts, while enjoying yourself at the same time.
Another great benefit is that living in a foreign culture is the only real way to fully understand its language.
Removing yourself from the familiar and travelling to a new country can be a very powerful tool for gaining self-awareness and deeper understanding.
| A．It’s far superior to learning it in a classroom. |
| B．The new land gives you a fresh social environment. |
| C．The direct experience helps you remember something easily. |
| D．Many people wonder what they should do in a foreign country. |
| E．Travelling abroad can also boost creativity and drive innovation. |
| F．Another benefit of travelling abroad is the relaxation you can get. |
| G．However, there’s rarely a dull moment when you’ re in a different country. |
6 . When you ask people to judge others by their speech, a trend emerges: Listeners dislike disfluency. Slow talkers producing loads of ums and pauses(停顿)are generally perceived as less charming. But science tells us there may be even more to disfluency.
Disfluencies do not occur in arbitrary positions in sentences. Ums typically occur right before more difficult or low-frequency words. Imagine you’re having dinner with a friend at a restaurant,and there’re three items on the table: a knife, a glass, and a wine decanter(醒酒器). Your friend turns to you and says, “Could you hand me the...um...” What would you assume they want? Since it’s unlikely that they will hesitate before such common words as knife, and glass, chances are you’ll pick up the decanter and ask, “You mean this?”
This is exactly what we demonstrated through controlled eye-tracking studies in our lab. Apparently, listeners hear the um and predict that an uncommon word is most likely to follow.Such predictions, though, reflect more than just simple association between disfluencies and difficult words; listeners are actively considering from the speaker’s point of view. For example, when hearing a non-native speaker say the same sentence but with a thick foreign accent, listeners don’t show a preference for looking at low-frequency objects. This is probably because listeners assume non-native speakers may have as much trouble coming up with the English word for a common object, like a knife, as for unusual ones and can’t guess their intention.
In another experiment, listeners were presented with an atypical speaker who produced disfluencies before simple words and never before difficult words. Initially, participants displayed the natural predictive strategy: looking at uncommon objects. However, as more time went by, and they gained experience with this atypical distribution of disfluencies, listeners started to demonstrate the contrary predictive behavior: They tended to look at simple objects when hearing the speaker say um.
These findings represent further evidence that the human brain is a prediction machine: We continuously try to predict what will happen next, even though not all disfluencies are created equal.
1. What does the underlined word “arbitrary”mean in paragraph 2?| A．Random. | B．Strategic. | C．Obvious. | D．Consistent |
| A．They can be understood easily. | B．They actively put themselves in others’ shoes |
| C．Their vocabularies are limited. | D．Their disfluencies are a little less predictive. |
| A．Simple things are difficult in some cases. | B．Listeners can adjust predictions accordingly. |
| C．Distribution of disfluencies is changeable. | D．Disfluencies in communication can be avoided. |
| A．Pauses Coexist with Prediction. | B．Brains Are Powerful Prediction Machines. |
| C．Active Listeners Simplify Talks. | D．Disfluency Says More Than You Think. |
7 . ①A group of 41 states and the District of Columbia began a legal case against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, insisting that the company knowingly used features on its platforms to cause children to overuse them. The accusations in the lawsuit raise a deeper question about behavior: Are young people becoming addicted to social media and the internet? Here’s what the research has found.
②David Greenfield, a psychologist and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction in West Hartford, Conn, said the devices tempt users with some powerful approaches. One is “intermittent reinforcement,” which creates the idea that a user could get a reward at any time. But when the reward comes is unpredictable. Adults are easily influenced, be noted, but young people are particularly at risk, because the brain regions that are involved in resisting temptation and reward are not nearly as developed in children and teenagers as in adults. Moreover, the adolescent brain is especially accustomed to social connections, and social media is all a perfect opportunity to connect with other people.
③For many years, the scientific community typically defined addiction in relation to substances, such as drugs, and not behaviors, such as gambling or internet use. That has gradually changed. In 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the official reference for mental health conditions, introduced the idea of internet gaming addiction.
④A subsequent study explored broadening the definition to “internet addiction.” The author suggested further exploring diagnostic criteria and the language, for instance, noting that terms like “problematic use” and even the word “internet” were open to broad interpretation, given the many forms the information and its delivery can take.
⑤Dr. Michael Rich, the director of the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, said he discouraged the use of the word “addiction” because the internet, if used effectively and with limits, was not merely useful but also essential to everyday life.
⑥Greenfield agreed that there clearly are valuable uses for the internet and that the definition of how much is too much can vary. But he said there also were obvious cases where immoderate use disturbs school, sleep and other vital aspects of a healthy life. “Too many young consumers can’t put it down, ” he said.“ The internet, including social media like Meta, are the drugs affecting the mind.”
1. What was Meta accused of?| A．It added problematic features to its platform. |
| B．It started a discussion to mislead young people. |
| C．It tempted children to use social media too much. |
| D．It conducted illegal research on its parent company. |
| A．their under-developed brain |
| B．the random pattern of rewards |
| C．their desire to be socially connected |
| D．the possibility of escaping from reality |
| A．Addiction is something about behaviors instead of substances. |
| B．The online language can be interpreted from a broad perspective. |
| C．Current diagnostic criteria of “internet addiction” isn’t satisfactory. |
| D．There should be an agreement on the definition of the word “internet”. |
| A．proper use of the internet does good to children |
| B．the internet is to blame for disturbing healthy life |
| C．there are cases against immoderate use of the internet |
| D．the word “addiction” is improperly used on the internet |
As a senior editor in a famous press, I always think of days twenty years before when I was 18, I lived with my grandparents, and my parents earned their living in another city, struggling to support our family. I had taken to delivering newspapers to support myself and my education.
I would be up every morning by 5 am and walk five kilometres from where I lived to the newspaper office. By 6 am, I would collect 50 copies which must have weighed over five kilograms. My delivery range spanned (横跨) three kilometres. After distributing the copies, I would rush home—another three kilometres away—cook my breakfast, and be off to my school.
One Friday morning, I got home after my deliveries, finding Afzal, a boy from the neighbourhood, at my doorstep. Afzal said his mother wanted to see me. When I asked him why, Afzal said, “She will tell you.” Tired after walking around for over 11 kilometres, I was looking forward to breakfast and some rest. I assumed his mother wished to subscribe (定期订购) to the newspaper, so I followed him to his home nearby.
A woman in her 40s opened the door. I later learned she was Afzal’s mother, Mrs Kader. She asked me to sit, pulled up her chair next to mine and gently asked, “Tell me about your routine, right from the time you wake up in the morning.” I wasn’t quite sure why she wanted to know, but I told her about my morning job in a few words. She asked me, “How many miles do you walk every day?” I replied, “A little more than 11 kilometres.” My reply shocked her.
Then she patted my back and went inside, reappearing carrying a large plate full of food for breakfast for me. It was a heart y breakfast, one that brought back memories of happy days spent with my parents. Later, as I was about to leave after thanking them, Mrs Kader asked me to wait and she went inside again.
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。
Then Mrs Kader appeared again, with a new bicycle.
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I bowed to Mrs Kader gratefully and left for school.
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Kuppan was a good badminton player. His rise within the ranks of the badminton players of the school was impressive but unusual. One day he was nothing, the next he was a member of the school team.
In the School Championships, he sprang a surprise by knocking out the top seed, Richard Lee, in the semi final. In the final, he easily beat another competitor Abdul Rauf by 15-3 and 15-10. He was the School Champion. It was unbelievable. The previous year he did not even get past the first round, This year he was the champion.
Success got into his head, He began to think he was really good, In fact, he arrogantly (傲慢地) told Richard Lee and the others that they would never beat him again. He claimed he was simply too good for them, in a league of his own.
Well, it was true that Kuppan was a good and skillful player. He had natural ability and talent. So he picked up the game very quickly and soon became the best. However. he did not realize that nobody can remain at the top all the time. What goes up must certainly come down. Kuppan thought he could stay up indefinitely.
The other players were annoyed by Kuppan’ s declaration. They resolved to train harder to beat the guy who had insulted (羞辱) them, They even trained on their own every day while Kuppan wandered around talking with pride about his success. The State Individual Championships were coming up，So was the Interschool Tournament. The school’s coach worked hard to improve the school players. All of them trained hard, except Kuppan. He would miss training or perform half- heartedly. He was more interested in entertaining the admirers that had gathered around him. He thought he was too strong to be defeated.
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。
The State Individual Championships reached us in time.
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Kuppan tried to make a difference in the second round,
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10 . In our information-driven society, shaping our worldview through the media is similar to forming an opinion about someone solely based on a picture of their foot. While the media might not deliberately deceive us, it often fails to provide a comprehensive view of reality.
Consequently, the question arises: Where, then, shall we get our information from if not from the media? Who can we trust? How about experts- people who devote their working lives to understanding their chosen slice of the world? However, even experts can fall prey to the allure of oversimplification, leading to the “single perspective instinct” that hampers (阻碍) our ability to grasp the intricacies (错综复杂) of the world.
Simple ideas can be appealing because they offer a sense of understanding and certainty. And it is easy to take off down a slippery slope, from one attention-grabbing simple idea to a feeling that this idea beautifully explains, or is the beautiful solution for, lots of other things. The world becomes simple that way.
Yet, when we embrace a singular cause or solution for all problems, we risk oversimplifying complex issues. For instance, championing the concept of equality may lead us to view all problems through the lens of inequality and see resource distribution as the sole panacea. However, such rigidity prevents us from seeing the multidimensional nature of challenges and hinders true comprehension of reality. This “single perspective instinct” ultimately clouds our judgment and restricts our capacity to tackle complex issues effectively. Being always in favor of or always against any particular idea makes you blind to information that doesn’t fit your perspective. This is usually a bad approach if you would like to understand reality.
Instead, constantly test your favorite ideas for weaknesses. Be humble about the extent of your expertise. Be curious about new information that doesn’t fit, and information from other fields. And rather than talking only to people who agree with you, or collecting examples that fit your ideas, consult people who contradict you, disagree with you, and put forward different ideas as a great resource for understanding the world. If this means you don’t have time to form so may opinions, so what?
Wouldn’t you rather have few opinions that are right than many that are wrong?
1. What does the underlined word “allure” in Para.2 probably mean?| A．Temptation. | B．Tradition. | C．Convenience. | D．Consequence. |
| A．They meet people’s demand for high efficiency. |
| B．They generate a sense of complete understanding. |
| C．They are raised and supported by multiple experts. |
| D．They reflect the opinions of like-minded individuals. |
| A．Simplifying matters releases energy for human brains. |
| B．Constant tests on our ideas help make up for our weakness. |
| C．A well-founded opinion counts more than many shallow ones. |
| D．People who disagree with us often have comprehensive views. |
| A．Embracing Disagreement: Refusing Overcomplexity |
| B．Simplifying Information: Enhancing Comprehension |
| C．Understanding Differences: Establishing Relationships |
| D．Navigating Complexity: Challenging Oversimplification |
