1 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
Catherine was the coolest kid in her class. Whenever she went, she was in the spotlight, with a bunch of kids following her and doing everything she did.
Her deskmate, Landy, however, was not in the cool kids’ group. Being the tallest kid in her class, she was teased by her classmates, who were always chanting “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti (意大利面 )”. Every time Landy heard those silly chants, she could feel her face burst into flames. God knew how she wished the ground to crack and swallow her!
Catherine didn’t really like it when the kids chanted “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti”. But she never told them to stop either, and nor did she ever talk to her. She liked being popular.
One weekend, Catherine went over to her grandfather for Thanksgiving. Her grandfather lives on a farm at the opposite end of town, where he keeps chickens. While helping to feed the chickens, Catherine noticed a peculiar one. Curling in the corner, it looked smaller than the others and was almost half-bare!
“What’s the matter with it?” She asked her grandfather, with a puzzled frown on her face. Her grandfather told her how chickens could act. “They have a pecking (啄) order,” he explained, wrinkles of concern spreading around his forehead. “If one chicken is different, the others will push it away and keep pecking it. Sometimes they peck it so much that it dies.”
“Oh, what a poor little thing!” Catherine let out a sigh as she scooped the frightened chicken up in her arms, whose heart was beating fast in the bony little body. Suddenly, she thought of Landy, the girl being “pecked” by her classmates. “I’m going to take it home and take good care of it,” she said with a determined look.
Back in school, Catherine told the cool kids about the chicken. “It’s looking healthy,” she said proudly. “It’s fatter and its feathers are growing. Even the cat likes it. She carries it around the garden, and...” Everyone was entertained by Catherine’s story of her lovely chicken, laughter lingering around the classroom.
注意：1.续写词数应为 150 左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1. Then Catherine spotted Landy sitting by herself in a corner.
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Paragraph 2. But Catherine walked directly toward Landy, regardless of what they said.
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Yoghurt
It was a rough week. The price of oil skyrocketed as the temperature dropped sharply in Maine. We were looking at a high of eight degrees that week, and I had missed three days of work so my paycheck was going to be lower than normal. I was stressed, to say the least. I shopped strategically, looking for every possible way to cut pennies so I could buy groceries and keep the house warm.
My eight-year-old son didn't understand when I told him we were struggling that week. He wanted a special kind of yoghurt, but I didn't have the extra three dollars to buy it for him. It was the kind of yoghurt with a cartoon kid riding a skateboard on the front of the box, and a mere two spoonfuls in each cup. It was the kind of product that wastes a parent's money and makes me hate advertising.
I felt guilty as a parent when those big eyes looked at me with confusion, as if to say, “It's just yoghurt. What's the big deal?” So I found a way. I put something back as single mothers often do. He got his yoghurt.
On the way driving back from the grocery store, I noticed a homeless man holding a sign by the side of the road. My heart hurt, and I tried not to look at him. I watched people stay away from him on the street and walk by without even meeting his eyes. My son didn't seem to care much, either. I looked at the man closely then — bare hands grasping a piece of cardboard, snot frozen to his face, a worn-out jacket. And there I was struggling because I had to buy oil and groceries. But I decided to help. I pulled over to the man and handed him a five-dollar bill.
Paragraph 1:Seeing this, my son became confused and surprised.
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On that day, my son performed an act that most adults wouldn’t have done.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3 . It may not be rocket science, but researchers have found aerospace engineers and neurosurgeons (神经外科医生) are not necessarily brighter than the general population.
Researchers examined data from an international group of 329 aerospace engineers and 72 brain surgeons who completed 12 tasks online using the Great British Intelligence Test.
The tasks examined various aspects of cognition (认知), including planning and reasoning, working memory, attention, and emotion processing abilities. The researchers then compared the results against those previously gathered from more than 18,000 members of the British public.
The findings, which were recently published, reveal that only neurosurgeons showed a significant difference, with quicker problem-solving speed but slower memory recall compared with the general population. “The difference in problem-solving speed exhibited by neurosurgeons might arise from the fast-paced nature of neurosurgery, which attracts those with a pre-existing talent for rapid processing, or it could be, though less likely, a product of training for rapid decision-making in time-critical situations,” the researchers noted.
The researchers said the study was, in part, carried out to lay to rest the question of whether one of the professions had the intellectual upper hand-a tension made famous by a comedy show in which a confident neurosurgeon is slapped down by an aerospace expert who says, “Brain surgery... it’s not exactly rocket science, is it?”
However, the team found few differences between the cognitive abilities of aerospace engineers and neuroscientists, although the results suggest the former had higher scores for attention and mental control—such as turning objects in one’s head—while neurosurgeons showed higher scores in semantic (语义的) problem solving—such as definitions of rare words.
“Essentially what we think it shows is that everyone has a range of skills, some people are better at some things and other people are better at other things, and it is very difficult to be better in everything across the board,” said Aswin Chari, an author of the study.
1. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?| A．The research subjects. | B．The research method. |
| C．The research aspects. | D．The research background. |
| A．Fast development of neurosurgery. | B．Talent of neurosurgeons. |
| C．Training for rapid decision-making. | D．Nature of problem solving. |
| A．attempted to answer the question asked by the aerospace expert in the show |
| B．were eager to solve the conflicts between neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers |
| C．intended to settle the argument over the intellectual superiority of the two professions |
| D．wanted to find out which of the two professions was more intellectually demanding |
| A．To inform people of the results of a cognitive study. |
| B．To encourage people to be confident in themselves. |
| C．To reduce prejudice against certain professions. |
| D．To correct misunderstandings about intelligence. |
The ancient art form—Peking Opera is the essence of Chinese culture, which shows traditional Chinese values, such as loyalty, modesty and honesty.
The saying about Peking Opera still rings true: one minute of performance
Nadim Diab, or Li Long as his Chinese name, a Lebanese who lives and works in Beijing,
He started from zero to perform as a Peaking Opera actor, which was very difficult, such as leg stretching
The 32-year-old Diab,
“Beauty and difficulty are two sides of
Square dancing is a well-known recreational group activity in China. It
Ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, when authorities launched the
As soon as his workday ended, Jordan rushed out of the office. He drove his car to the nearest supermarket to prepare for his mother’s surprise birthday party that evening. Unfortunately for Jordan, it was Friday and the parking lot was packed with shoppers. He had to drive around looking for a space to park.
After nearly 20 minutes, he noticed a space, but that was specially used for unloading goods. He hesitated for a while, but thinking shopping would take him just a few minutes, he parked his car there and rushed into the supermarket. He hurried down the aisles (过道), checking the shopping list his sister had messaged him. Soon Jordan had almost everything. Now he just needed to pick out a birthday cake.
“Just a few minutes more, ” he repeated these words in his mind several times as he sped down the target aisle. But when he got there, there was a long line of people wanting to buy cakes or cookies. He was getting more and more anxious, and began to regret not ordering a cake the day before.
Half an hour later, it was finally his turn. He asked for a chocolate cake, and carefully placed it in the cart. Now he could go! Jordan raced towards the nearest till (收款处).“Oh, I really have good luck!” he thought. “There’s no one there! ” However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone approaching the till ahead of him.
It was a young woman. Thinking he would surely be late if he failed to check out before the woman, he decided to take action. He pushed his shopping cart forward and narrowly missed hitting her. “Hey! ” the woman cried. “Be careful. You could have hurt me!
Jordan felt embarrassed, but he pretended not to hear. He quickly paid for all his goods and rushed out of the supermarket, leaving the woman staring at him from behind. He looked at his watch and imagined that he would make it with good luck.
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。
When returning to the parking lot, Jordan found his car was gone.
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Jordan felt surprised that the woman should give him a lift.
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7 . From sausage rolls to sweets and a coffee with a bin, there were many things that made Greg Robinson smile.
When the father-of-two, who was in his 50s, died suddenly in April 2021, his family’s life was turned upside down.
Greg ran a gift shop in his hometown of Donaghadce. Whether it was at work, walking the dog, with his local flute band or just out in his belayed town, his family said Greg made time for those in need. Now, on the week of his first anniversary, his family shared some of the things that made him smile with their community.
“We wanted to plan something together that allowed us to put our energy into something positive and give us something practical to do, which we knew would have an impact on others,” they told the reporter.
“We knew that by making others smile, we in turn would feel the benefit of that too. We have realised the importance of little things that have made us smile throughout the past year.”
As Greg loved his town and the community, all the gifts were purchased locally. Among them are vouchers (代金券) for a bakery, for some of his favourite sausage rolls, an ice-cream shop where he used to buy a quarter of sweets, and a cafe because “a wee coffee and a bun would have made dad’s face light up with excitement”.
“When someone dies, it is often the case that people are scared to mention the loved one in case it makes you sad, but the journey has taught us that this isn’t the case. The wonderful memories of dad shared by our community bring so much comfort,” his family said.
“We love those times when we hear how dad had impacted their lives, from showing kindness as a teenager at high school, to chatting away to customers in his shop,” they added.
For Greg’s children, they will be forever grateful for their dad teaching them “to focus on the positive parts of the day, looking for ways that we can express gratitude for everyday things”.
1. What do we know about Greg from the first three paragraphs?| A．Greg was often ready to help others. |
| B．Greg had a great passion for cooking. |
| C．Greg earned his living by playing in a band. |
| D．Greg’s death had little impact on his family. |
| A．They gathered and comforted Greg’s family. |
| B．They expressed sadness about Greg’s death. |
| C．They were still afraid to talk about Greg. |
| D．They shared good memories of Greg. |
| A．An Act of Kindness in Memory of Greg |
| B．Unusual Ways to Thank Greg’s Community |
| C．A Huge Celebration of Greg’s Family Reunion |
| D．Special Gifts to Record the Family Life of Greg |
A small village in Yunnan Province is
One of the best papermakers is Yan, who was already interested in Dai paper at an early age.
Unlike ordinary papermaking where trees need to be cut down, Dai paper is environmentally friendly. This is
Although Dai paper carries the culture and
9 . Cat-Cow, Crow, Downward-facing dog and Pigeon: these names might sound like animals but they are actually yoga poses.
What is yoga?
Yoga is exercise for the body and mind. It combines moving your body into different positions while focusing on your breathing. Yoga was first practiced around 5, 000 years ago in what is now northern India, where it was linked to the religion of Hinduism. For example, a yoga sequence was developed to greet Surya, the Hindu god of the Sun.
Yoga encourages you to connect your mind and body and to link your existence to the wider universe. Many people find this helpful because they are reminded of the “bigger picture”, which can make their worries or unhelpful thoughts feel more manageable. Yoga's focus on breathing and movement can be calming.
What if my body isn't bendy?
Yoga isn’t just for gymnasts.
| A．How do I get started? |
| B．Why is it good for me? |
| C．It’s a skill that can be learned by anybody. |
| D．Take your time with these poses and keep practicing ones that you find difficult. |
| E．Learning how to move your body into these poses does take practice but your wellbeing is likely to improve. |
| F．However, yoga has now evolved and is practised all over the world by people of different faiths and backgrounds. |
| G．Research has shown that yoga can be especially helpful for young people's mental health by giving time out from daily distractions and boosting concentration. |
10 . Roughly the size of a soda can, sitting on a bookshelf, a relatively harmless device(设备) may be turning friends away from your home. The elephant in your living room is your Internet-connected camera, a device people are increasingly using for peace of mind in their homes. But few stop to think about the effect these devices may have on house guests. Should you tell your friends, for instance, that they’re being recorded while you all watch the big game together?
"It’s certainly new territory, especially as home security cameras become easier to fix," says Lizzie Post, president of the Emily Post Institute, America’s distinguished manners advisors. " I think it will be very interesting to see what manners appear in terms of whether you tell people you have a camera or not, and whether guests have a right to ask that it be turned off, if it’s not a security issue. "Post wants to make clear that she’s not talking about legal rights, but rather personal preference.
When it comes to security cameras, Post says it’s a host’s responsibility to make sure guests feel comfortable within their home. If the host casually acknowledges that there is a camera in the room by telling a story about it, that may be enough to provide an opening for a guest to say if they are uncomfortable.
However, if a contractor(合约工)is working in your home, you don’t need to tell them that there are cameras watching. Then again, the camera can also work in contractors’ favor. "If anything does go wrong while they’re in the house, they don’t want to be blamed for it," she says. "In fact, the camera could be the thing that proves that they didn’t steal the $20, or knock the vase off the table.
1. The visitors are concerned that the security camera may .| A．threaten their health | B．spoil their peace of mind |
| C．disturb their privacy | D．affect their preference |
| A．Indicating its position. | B．Making their guests feel at ease |
| C．Turning it oil in time. | D．Having a casual talk with guests. |
| A．It can prevent the accidents happening. | B．It can prove their innocence. |
| C．It can record their working progress. | D．It can make their work more enjoyable. |
| A．Negative. | B．Pessimistic. | C．Favorable. | D．Objective. |
