1 . Sitting in the classroom I felt confused, for I couldn’t read the blackboard. Then Mum took me to the hospital. Within a few days, I was diagnosed (诊断) with a severe visual impairment (视力障碍). In fact, I was practically blind. Amazingly, I’d managed to reach the age of 13 without anyone realizing, not even me! “It all makes sense now,” Mum said. As a kid living on a farm, I was forever falling over things. I was known as the clumsy (笨拙) one to my parents and four sisters. But now, I was being told that I saw the world differently — I could only make out the outlines of things. I was given reading glasses but they didn’t help much.
Refusing to let my diagnosis hold me back, I continued doing everything I loved. As long as everything was in its place, I could feel my way around.
Later I got married to Lance and had amazing kids. I could change nappies (尿布) and dress the kids fine — it just took a little longer as I relied on touch to work out where things were. Cooking, on the other hand, was not my forte. I was terrible — always mixing up sugar and salt!
Nowadays, my grandkids have all been brought up not to leave toys on the floor or move chairs away from the table. “We don’t want Grandma tripping,” Lance will say.
Over the year, I’ve enjoyed lovely family holidays, but sometimes felt like Lance or the kids were too protective of me. So I was thrilled when I booked myself on a trip to the Gold Coast with people who were just like me in a travel company. I’m not missing out — my life is beautiful. I’m so lucky to have a wonderful family and lots of experiences.
Life is precious — you don’t need to “see” that.
1. What can we know from the first paragraph?| A．The reading glasses got the problem fixed. |
| B．She always tripped because she was awkward. |
| C．She got severe visual impairment at the age of 13. |
| D．Nobody realized her sight was poor until she was 13. |
| A．Weakness. | B．Favourite. | C．Strength. | D．Business. |
| A．She is able to see things clearly now. |
| B．She led a lonely and hopeless life. |
| C．She could help care for the kids. |
| D．She went to the Gold Coast all by herself. |
| A．We need to go to travel frequently on our own. |
| B．We should always turn to the family for help. |
| C．Everyone should pay special attention to the blind people. |
| D．Everyone can enjoy the beauty of life with a positive mind. |
2 . Some people believe that humans could live on the planet Mars by the year 2100. Our own planet, the Earth, is becoming more and more crowded and polluted. It is hoped that people could start all over again and build a better world on Mars. Here is what life there could be like.
At present, our spacecraft are too slow to carry large numbers of passengers to Mars — it would take months. With the development of technology, by the year 2100, the journey might only take about 20 minutes in spacecraft that travel at the speed of light! However, the spacecraft would travel really fast, so the journey to Mars might be quite uncomfortable. Many people would feel ill.
Humans can’t live without water, air or food. So far, nobody knows whether there would be enough water or air on Mars for people. Moreover, scientists are not sure whether plants could grow on Mars. Food would most probably be in the form of pills (药片) and would not be so tasty.
Compared with life on the earth, life on Mars would be better in some ways. People would have more space. They might live in houses with huge comfortable rooms. Also, robots would do a lot of their work so that they could have more time to relax. There would probably be no schools on Mars. Every student would study at online schools with “e-teachers”.
Life on Mars would be interesting and challenging. However, it may take hundred or years to make it true. So the most important thing we need to do now is to protect our beautiful blue planet — the Earth!
1. The underlined word “spacecraft” means ________.| A．spaceships | B．hot-air balloons | C．space stations | D．planes |
| A．Fast and enjoyable. | B．Fast but uncomfortable. |
| C．Slow and boring. | D．Slow but comfortable. |
| A．There would be enough water and air on Mars for people. |
| B．Food on Mars would be more delicious than that on the earth. |
| C．People would be busy with work on Mars. |
| D．The writer thinks living on Mars would be full of challenges. |
| A．Schools on Mars | B．Food on Mars |
| C．Life on Mars | D．Environment on the Earth |
3 . Keeping kids busy with various activities provides them with a well-rounded social life. Growing up, I knew many teenagers who were actively involved in both sports and student government. Those teenagers all ended up going to college and graduating. This may not be the situation in all cases, but from what I have noticed, teens who stay active and do good in the community are typically the ones who deal with anxiety and depression(抑郁) better.
A 2015 study published by professor of biology Theodore Garland concluded, “If kids exercise regularly through the school years, they may be more likely to exercise as adults, which could have far-reaching positive effects on human health and well-being. Our results suggest that any positive effects of early-life exercise on adult exercise tendencies will require reinforcement(强化) and maintenance if they are to be long-lasting.” This study found that along with physical activity, having a spirit of adventure would also help improve children’s physical and mental health.
Some parents disagree. They feel that pushing a child to stay active and involved causes unnecessary stress and can have the opposite effect, making him/her hate being involved or being active. Parents also fear their children will experience failure, which they believe could lead to low self-confidence.
The key to helping the youth stay motivated is not pressuring them too hard. People who have strict parents typically rebel(反抗) or feel they will never be good enough. Keep in mind that encouraging the youth to be competitive isn’t the best thing. Some of the unhappiest people I have met are competitive. Positive reinforcement is the best way to keep people motivated.
An active and involved youth will show personal qualities that will become useful in the future. Some of these include leadership, teamwork, a healthy lifestyle, educational benefits, respect and trust, which will lead to success in the future.
1. According to the author, active teens _________.| A．get much better education | B．concentrate more on self-improvement |
| C．do well in both sports and management | D．deal with some mental problems better than others |
| A．the positive effect of early-life exercise is not necessarily lasting |
| B．physical activity helps children become more confident |
| C．early-life exercise has positive effects on relationships |
| D．school life experience has a long-lasting influence |
| A．They believe it may take a lot of time. | B．They think it is unnecessary to push kids. |
| C．They are worried about the opposite effect. | D．They are afraid it makes their children feel depressed. |
| A．The importance of trusting the youth. | B．The key to keeping the youth motivated. |
| C．The possible problem faced by the youth. | D．The reasons for helping the youth stay positive. |
4 . Volunteering to take care of neighborhood pets is a great way for kids to learn responsibility.
Ideas for getting started
Have your kids make flyers(传单) to place around the neighborhood,showcasing their willingness to help out by caring for neighborhood pets.
Helping out
Your children can volunteer for small pet-sitting jobs that are easy for both you and them to manage.
Learning opportunities
Offering activities,like animal caretaking,benefits little animals and your children at the same time.
Emotional benefits of animals
The benefits of interaction between children and animals go beyond the physical aspect,as well.
| A．Pets also meet many psychological needs. |
| B．Young children can benefit from the difficult actions. |
| C．Small tasks can allow parents to gain a sense of understanding. |
| D．Use these opportunities to teach your kids about a new creature. |
| E．Walking gentle dogs is both safe and rewarding for the young caretakers. |
| F．For the youngest child,a flyer may be as simple as a picture to which you add the words. |
| G．Speak words of appreciation and don’t forget to comment on the great job they are doing! |
Aeronautics (航空学) specialists from the University of South Australia spent months studying the dragonfly’s flight, creating 3D models from digital images,
Chahl’s team used a special photography technique to classify
Investigating the way that dragonflies remain stable during flight actually
The Getty Center sits on a hilltop in the Santa Monica Mountains,
The Center’s award-winning architect, Richard Meier, did
In addition to museum tours, the Getty also provides various free on-site tours, including tours of the gardens. These
China has made solid progress in pushing forward rural vitalization (乡村振兴) as
In 2018, China released a five-year plan
In 2021, agricultural technology progress
8 . If you had boarded a passenger plane in 1950, you would have seen five people in the cockpit (驾驶舱): two pilots, a radio operator, a navigator and a flight engineer. Over the years, technical advances have gradually removed the need for the last three, leaving just two pilots. That has been the norm (标准) in commercial aviation for decades.
However, things could be simplified further — one of the two remaining pilots could soon go. Many military aircraft are already manned by a single pilot, and for commercial aviation this would mean stepping into a brave new world.
But how will airlines make this brave innovation come true? One way is to greatly increase automation in the cockpit, devoting more tasks to computers. Another is to shift the same tasks from the cockpit to the ground. “The latter approach seems to be more workable, at least in the short term, because much of what is required already exists,” says Patrick Smith, an airline pilot flying Boeing 767 aircraft. “A trained ground operator could observe a number of flights at once and even fully control the plane remotely if needed.”
It’s true that single-pilot operations could help airlines save money, but there is another reason which makes them quicken their pace for this crucial breakthrough. Boeing predicts a need for 600,000 new pilots in the next two decades, but by some estimates, there will be a deficit (赤字) of at least 34,000 pilots globally by 2025. Reducing the number of pilots on some crews or aircraft could lessen the impact of this.
Perhaps the biggest barrier to a single pilot will be selling the idea to passengers. In 2019, Don Hairis, a professor at Coventry University, conducted a survey on the prospect of flying on an airliner with just one pilot. Just a minority of participants said they’d be willing to take that flight, and the general idea was that removing a pilot increased the possibility of accidents. In the study, Harris concluded that the single-crew airliner would be still probably 20 years away.
1. What is the potential trend in commercial aviation according to the text?| A．It will make air travel eco-friendly. |
| B．It will switch to single-pilot operations. |
| C．It will tighten its flight control for safety concerns. |
| D．It will bring in many military aircraft to the industry. |
| A．Raising the standards in admitting new pilots. | B．Making pilots adaptable to different situations. |
| C．Using computers to automate the flight process. | D．Gaining piloting support from ground operators. |
| A．The shortage of pilots. | B．The need for new airlines. |
| C．The airlines’ brave innovation. | D．The financial problem airlines face. |
| A．The prospect of single-crew airliners is bright. |
| B．It's urgent that airlines reduce airplane accidents. |
| C．Passengers are willing to try new types of airplanes. |
| D．Airlines have a long way to go before the innovation occurs. |
A cultural tourism promotion event titled “Hometown of Confucius, Hospitable Shandong” opened in Rome Italy, on May 6,2023.
Shandong is
Shandong is willing to work with Italian partners
During the opening ceremony, Riccardo Busi, president of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), announced the decision to establish the China Coordination Office of the FIAP in Shandong province,
10 . Textspeak is an informal term for the abbreviated (缩写的) language used in text messaging and other forms of electronic communication. In the digital age, it’s common to hear how textspeak is ruining language. Some people argue that technology has made us lazy about how we speak and write.
Of course, language does change when it’s used digitally. Textspeak is an evolution of language. It’s even the focus of a field of linguistics (语言学) called CMC, which is committed to the study of interaction facilitated by technology like computers, mobile phones and tablets.
Contrary to the idea that these innovations are aggravating language, CMC demonstrates a creative repurposing of symbols for technology. These swift and clever evolutions illustrate the flexibility of language and its capacity to communicate meanings not relating to words.
People have been complaining about language being “ruined”. In A.D. 63, for example, a Roman scholar complained that students of Latin were writing in an “artificial language”. In fact, this writing was a new language that would become French! Similarly, in 1871, the then-president of Harvard University said,“Bad spelling, incorrectness, inelegance of expression in writing, and ignorance of the simplest rules of punctuation... are far from rare among the young who are well-prepared for college studies.”
Today, people are able to communicate rapidly using a wide variety of tools and technologies. Perhaps no linguistic development better indicates changes in the ways we communicate than the popular emoticon (表情符号). It is a visual representation of a smiley face turned sideways. Although an emoticon may look like a smile, a frown or any number of facial expressions, it doesn’t really represent a face. Instead, it’s intended to convey a feeling, such as “I’m happy” or “just joking”.
So, far from ruining language, the example indicates how people can now communicate complex feelings in a simple manner. This kind of change is perfect for our modern, fast-paced world.
1. What can be learnt about “textspeak” from the text?| A．It has ill effects on language. |
| B．It is ruining language in the digital age. |
| C．It is a visual representation of facial expressions. |
| D．It is an evolution of language and communication. |
| A．Language changes and adapts to new technologies. |
| B．Language has become more rigid with technology. |
| C．Language is being corrupted by modern innovations. |
| D．Technology has made us lazy in our use of language. |
| A．Simplifying. | B．Opposing. | C．Worsening. | D．Shortening. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Favorable. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
