1 . If you spend more than a couple of days in the country of Georgia, you are very likely to be invited to a Georgian feast even by complete strangers. The multi-hour, multi-course feast is one of the most important events in Georgian culture.

A popular Georgian story shows the importance of the feast in Georgian culture. When God created the world, He held a meeting to give the different regions of the world to different cultures. But the Georgians arrived late at the meeting. After they apologized and explained that they’d been holding a feast with a stranger the night before and slept later than they’d meant to, God was so touched and impressed by their honesty that He gave the Georgians the best land of all: the part of earth He was saving for himself.

In order to survive the feasts without offending (冒犯) the hosts, it’s important for you to know a few things about it in advance.

A Georgian feast will likely have a seemingly unlimited number of dishes. So avoid fully cleaning your plate unless you want more servings. Don’t fill up on khachapuri-Georgian cheese bread. There are numerous regional varieties of cheese bread, but khachapuri is the most delicious of all. The cheese bread is usually a heavy lunch on its own, but at feasts it’s often considered a side dish or an appetent. Don’t make the mistake of having more than a few bites—only to discover that the main meal is still coming.

When you drink, follow the lead of the toastmaster, who presents a scries of toasts throughout the evening. Traditionally, drinkers would dry their glass (or, if keeping with tradition, drain their deer’s horn) with every toast. This isn’t always done now. Just remember the important rule: say “cheers” after every toast.

Consider bringing a small gift, such as sweets or flowers, as a gesture of thanks. Avoid bringing more fond, however, which might imply that you don’t think there will be enough on offer.

1. What can be most probably inferred from the story?

A．Georgia is short of natural resources

B．Most of the Georgians are lazy and wasteful.

C．The Georgian people are very honest and friendly.

D．It is important to go to a meeting on time in Georgia.

2. What can we know about khachapuri?

A．It is not a main dish at feasts at all.

B．Georgians usually have it for breakfast.

C．It is one of the unique Georgian drinks.

D．Many regional varieties are based on it.

3. What is the author most likely to suggest visitors do?

A．Drink all the wine every time.

B．Take some small gifts with them.

C．Clean the plate after each serving.

D．Bring some special food to the feast.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Amazing Food History in Georgia

B．Basic Rules of Being a Good Host

C．Bad Manners to Be Avoided at the Table

D．Things to Be Learned About Georgian Feasts

2 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Xu Xiake was born in 1587.     1     (he) parents were rich landowners. Yet he gave up a     2     (comfort) life, and decided to explore the mountains and rivers on foot.

China has more famous explorers. There was: Zhang Qian, who traveled into Central Asia during the second century BC, opening a trade road that became     3     is known as the Silk Road. Or Zheng He, the sailor who in the 15th century sailed as far away as Africa. Yet these explorations     4     (support) by governments. Xu was totally different.

“On the surface, Xu’s travels can neither be classified as great affairs of state     5     great adventures that changed the course of history,” writes cultural historian Cheng Pei-kai. “Xu travelled to satisfy his own     6     (curious).”

Scholar Julian Ward agrees, describing the lonely Chinese wanderer like the Middle Kingdom’s version of John Muir: “Deep in love with nature and eager to find freedom     7     worldly concerns, Xu was a man addicted to     8     (see) and describing the landscape.”

“The few coins     9     (slip) from a hole in my pocket while I was climbing a mountain in Yunnan. When I finally managed to the town, I sold all my clothes, bought myself a bottle of wine and a good dinner     10     (celebrate) my survival,” the dreamy explorer wrote in his diaries, which mix details of geology, geography and botany with such personal travel experiences.

4 . Via Rail

Train Tickets from New York to Washington

Station	Departure	Arrival	Price
Penn Station—Union Station	12:20 am	3:57 am	$19
Penn Station Union Station	4:20 am	8:33 am	$29
Penn Station—Union Station	6:02 am	10:14 pm	$60
Penn Station—Union Station	8:00 am	10:58 am	$70

Discount Policies

Seniors (above 60 years old) can benefit from a 20% discount offered by Via Rail, making it a cost-effective choice for their travel needs.

Luggage(行李) Allowance and Restriction

Via Rail allows passengers to bring up to four pieces of luggage. Carry-on items must not exceed (超过) 50 pounds and checked luggage must not weigh more than 50 pounds per item.

Passengers are allowed to bring bicycles and sports equipment on Via Rail trains.

Food and Drink Service

Via Rail provides food and drink service for purchase, offering a variety of dining options to passengers.

Payment

Via Rail accepts various payment methods, including credit cards, Interac Online, and pre-paid credit cards. It is advisable to check the website for the most up-to-date information on accept able payment methods.

Facilities for Passengers with Special Needs

Via Rail is committed to providing accessibility for all passengers. The trains are equipped with accessible restrooms, seating areas, and boarding assistance for passengers with mobility issues. Additionally, staff members are trained to assist passengers with disabilities to ensure a comfortable travel experience.

E-ticketing

Via Rail offers the option to use the e-ticketing system, allowing passengers to present their ticket on a mobile device without the need for printing.

1. Which train takes the least time?

A．The 12:20 am one.

B．The 4:20 am one.

C．The 6:02 am one.

D．The 8:00 am one.

2. How much should a couple in their seventies pay if they take the 6:02 am train?

A．$60.

B．$96.

C．$112.

D．$120.

3. What can we learn about Via Rail from the text?

A．It serves food and drink for free.	B．It is developing a new e-ticketing system.
C．It doesn’t allow sports equipment on board.	D．It provides convenient access to the disabled.

5 . 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。

Beth brought Louis to me when she came to visit me again.

I had to quit school and stay in the recovery center because of a rare disease. Beth was my best friend in the writing workshop. We just clicked. We both dreamed of taking writing as our career. So we often wrote about our life and shared it with each other. We even promised each other to co-author a book, a book of our own. But now ...

“I’m applying for my college this term. So I’ll be very busy in the following days. Please help me look after Louis, please ... Just drop me a quick note about it when it’s convenient for you.” She pressed her hands tightly together and looked at me anxiously. I stared at Louis, feeling bitter but hard to refuse. Beth kissed me goodbye.

That evening, I was left alone in the room, with the dog. Louis looked at me, shaking his tail. But I felt uninterested, so I lay on the bed, closing my eyes. Then some noises woke me up.

It was Louis, of course. This six-month-old puppy was laboriously(费力地) dragging his. large, hard-sided carrier. I watched in amazement. Then Louis dragged his worldly possessions, one by one: first, his bowl, then his ball and sweater. This project took most of the evening.

What happened next made me realize that not only did this dog have a mission but he obviously put thought and reasoning into each move. He took each of the personal items and put them in the carrier. After Louis finished packing his “suitcase”, he attempted to jump inside.

The message was quite clear. He wanted to go see his “mommy”—Beth. He must have seen her pack her suitcase and go away. He must do the same so he could find her.

It was so interesting that I couldn’t help taking out a pen and beginning to describe the whole thing in great detail and then emailed it to Beth. I almost got Beth’s reply immediately.

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。

“Tell me more about Louis.” Beth begged at the end of her email.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That summer, Beth gave me a special gift—a book of Louis’ daily journal.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Xixi, located less than five kilometers from the West Lake in the west of Hangzhou, is China’s first national wetland park. The area covers about 10 square kilometers and it     1     (be) around for more than 1,500 years, although it was only recently reopened     2     (offer) visitors a chance to escape from the concrete of the city. Despite its growing popularity,     3     wetland’s winding waterways, thick greenery and wide     4     (variety) of wildlife guarantee its peaceful spots in nature.

Wetlands themselves are one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems,     5     (act) as natural green lungs, water purification (净化) systems and flood control. But wetlands are     6     (serious) threatened by environmental pollution worldwide nowadays. More than 200square kilometers of wetland in the country have disappeared every year     7     average in the past decade, the China Institute for Marine Affairs warns. The wetlands of the Yellow and East China seas have lost up to 90 percent of their natural function, the institute reports,     8     makes the 226 plant species, 50 kinds of fish and aquatic (水生的) animals as well as 126 kinds of birds in Xixi even     9     (valuable).

Xixi’s native vegetation,     10     (water) by six crossing rivers, consists of subtropical mountainous swamp (沼泽) and evergreen forest.

7 . Nowadays, the demand on charities is greater than ever.     1     They create simple but great ideas to help people in need, even when their money is tight. Here’s a perfect example.

Have you heard of the Ice Bucket (桶) Challenge? The social media initiative started in the United States and spread around the world, raising $115 million for the research on ALS (渐冻症) — a disease which Hawking suffered from. You take a video of yourself dumping (倾倒) a bucket of ice water over your head, and then encourage three more people to do the same.     2    

Manju Kalanidhi, a journalist in India, thought it was an amazing way to raise awareness of ALS and raise funds for its research.     3     Water is too precious to waste there, even for a good cause. Then in 2014, it hit her: why not make it a Rice Bucket Challenge to fight hunger?

“    4     I shared it on Facebook and said, ‘This is a Rice Bucket Challenge. Why don’t you do it, too?’” Participants donate a bucket of rice to an individual or family — no, it’s not dumped — take a photo and post it on social media with a message encouraging others to do the same. Or people can donate through a website.

Manju didn’t have a big army of volunteers, but she did have donations and people who need food.     5     To date, Manju says the Rice Bucket Challenge has raised thousands of dollars and distributed an estimated 35,000 kilograms of rice.

A．But it didn’t make sense in her country.

B．In such a novel way, she put them together successfully.

C．The rate of giving has increased among the wealthiest nations.

D．I gave a bucket of rice to someone in need and clicked a photo.

E．Luckily, the world never goes short of kind and creative souls.

F．This has been making it so easy to motivate people to give back.

G．The participant donates $100 if they don’t complete the challenge.

8 . We tend to think of large cities as melting pots — places where people from all sorts of backgrounds can mix and interact. But according to new research, people in big cities tend to primarily interact with other individuals in the same socioeconomic bracket (阶层), but people in small cities and rural areas are much more likely to have diverse interactions.

The researchers used GPS data collected in 2017 from 9.6 million cellphones across 382 metropolitan (大都市的) areas in the United States to determine how often people of different socioeconomic ranks crossed paths during the day — essentially how many times people had the opportunity to interact, even briefly, with someone in a different income bracket. They collected data on almost 1.6 billion path-crossings.

This large amount of extremely precise data allowed the researchers to see what has been missed by similar studies in the past. People living in the 10 most populous metropolitan areas, which include cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, along with their surrounding areas, were significantly less likely to interact with people of different socioeconomic ranks than people in metropolitan areas with fewer than 100,000 residents.

The good news is that there are ways to build cities to promote more socioeconomic mixing. Looking at large cities, the researchers found that those that placed frequently-visited hubs (中心) in between different neighborhoods — instead of in the center of each neighborhood — were less separated.

“These big cities have managed to develop diverse interactions because the hubs that people visit the most — which turn out to be shopping centers, squares, and similar places — are between rich and poor neighborhoods,” said Hamed Nilforoshan, a doctoral researcher at Stanford University. “Those hubs act as bridges, allowing people to see each other and interact.”

1. What might be a conclusion of the new research?

A．Urban residents interact more.	B．Large cities act as melting pots.
C．Urbanization leads to different social ranks.	D．Big cities showcase socioeconomic separation.

2. How was the research carried out?

A．By bridging the income brackets.	B．By studying the frequency of interaction.
C．By comparing residents’ behavior patterns.	D．By collecting data on people’s social ranks.

3. What should city planners do to promote socioeconomic mixing?

A．Position the hubs properly.	B．Construct more shopping centers.
C．Control the urban expansion.	D．Design unique residential neighborhoods.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Income Bracket: What to Do with It?	B．Diverse Interactions Count in Big Cities
C．Socioeconomic Separation: How to Fix It?	D．Metropolitan Cities Are Great Melting Pots

9 . When scientists and the public worry about sea level rise, they mostly focus on when and where communities will be permanently flooded. But there’s another consequence of rising seas that will affect many more people much sooner: getting cut off from roads and other critical infrastructure (基础设施). It’s a threat that society has not paid nearly enough attention to, says Allison Reilly, a civil engineer at the University of Maryland.

In a new paper, Reilly and her colleagues show the width and pace of the isolation (隔离) threat. Inspired by her work on the eastern shore of Maryland, where people already need to adjust their travel and work schedules to account for tides that frequently flood roads, Reilly and her colleagues calculated that, with one meter of sea level rise, twice as many people across the coastal United States will be isolated than will be fully flooded.

Worse still, many places currently considered at low risk of sea level rise suddenly become much riskier when isolation is taken into account, Reilly says. While planners know that low-lying Florida will be severely flooded, Maine, with its high rocky coasts, is generally thought to be at low risk. But Reilly’s work shows many Mainers are in great danger of being cut off by flooding in coastal communities and river valleys.

This far more immediate effect of rising seas needs to become part of the broader planning process. That kind of planning is starting to happen around the Chignecto Isthmus, an interprovincial land bridge in Canada, connecting New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The New Brunswick and Nova Scotia governments are considering a variety of plans to raise or replace the dikes (坝). For Ollerhead, a Nova Scotian, that work can’t start soon enough. “It will take a lot of sea level rise before Nova Scotia becomes an island, but you could have a storm that cuts off the major transportation links for days, weeks, or months,” he says. “It’s nearly impossible to predict when, but it will happen eventually.”

1. What is the threat Allison Reilly mentioned in paragraph 1?

A．The rising sea level.	B．Flood-related isolation.
C．Permanent flooded areas.	D．Irreparable infrastructure.

2. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．Conclusions of a new paper.	B．Calculations of collected data.
C．Situations of Eastern Maryland.	D．Influences on coastal United States.

3. Why are Florida and Maine mentioned in paragraph 3?

A．To clarify a point.	B．To offer a solution.
C．To present an assumption.	D．To illustrate a reason.

4. What’s Ollerhead’s attitude toward the governments’ planning?

A．Dismissive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Favorable.

D．Unclear.