1. Where is the woman going?
| A．To the shop. | B．To the museum. | C．To the post office. |
| A．Go straight forward along this street. |
| B．Go down the street and turn right. |
| C．Go down the street and turn left. |
| A．10 minutes by taxi. | B．10 minutes by bus. | C．10 minutes on foot. |
It is no secret that China has an incredibly rich, complex and ancient history and culture. My first
Culture and food are closely connected and perhaps nowhere else can this be seen more clearly
3 . Technology seems to discourage slow, immersive reading. Reading on a screen tires your eyes and makes it harder for you to keep your place. Online writing tends to be more skimmable and list-like than print. The cognitive neuroscientist Mary Walt argued recently that this “new norm” of skim reading is producing “an invisible, game -changing transformation” in how readers process words. The neuronal circuit that sustains the brain’s capacity to read now favors the rapid absorption of information.
We shouldn’t overplay this danger. All readers skim. From about the age of nine, our eyes start to bounce around the page, reading only about a quarter of the words properly, and filling in the gaps by inference. Nor is there anything new in these fears about declining attention spans. So far, the anxieties have proved to be false alarms. “Quite a few critics have been worried about attention spans lately and see very short stories as signs of cultural decline,” the American author Selvin Brown wrote. “No one ever said that poems were evidence of short attention spans.”
And yet the Internet has certainly changed the way we read. For a start, it means that there is more to read, because more people than ever are writing. And digital writing is meant for rapid release and response. This mode of writing and reading can be interactive and fun. But often it treats other people’s words as something to be quickly harvested as fodder (素材) to say something else. Everyone talks over the top of everyone else, desperate to be heard.
Perhaps we should slow down. Reading is constantly promoted as a social good and source of personal achievement. But this advocacy often emphasizes “enthusiastic” “passionate” or “eager” reading, none of which adjectives suggest slow, quiet absorption. To a slow reader, a piece of writing can only be fully understood by immersing oneself in the words and their slow comprehension of a line of thought.
The human need for this kind of deep reading is too tenacious for any new technology to destroy. We often assume that technological change can’t be stopped and happens in one direction, so that older media like “dead-tree” books are kicked out by newer, more virtual forms. In practice, older technologies can coexist with new ones. The Kindle has not killed off the printed book any more than the car killed off the bicycle. We still want to enjoy slowly. formed ideas and carefully-chosen words. Even in a fast-moving age, there is time for slow reading.
1. Selvin Brown would probably agree that ________.| A．poetry reading is vital to attention spans |
| B．the gravity of cultural decline is urgent |
| C．fears of attention spans are unnecessary |
| D．online writing harms immersive reading |
| A．It demands writers to abandon traditional writing modes. |
| B．It leads to too much talking and not enough deep reflection. |
| C．It depends heavily on frequent interaction with the readers. |
| D．It paves the way for enthusiastic, passionate or eager reading. |
| A．Deep-rooted. |
| B．Fast-advanced. |
| C．Slowly-changed. |
| D．Rarely-noticed. |
| A．The Wonder of Deep Reading |
| B．Slow Reading is Here to Stay |
| C．The Internet is Changing the Way We Read |
| D．Digital vs Print: A Life-and-Death Struggle |
4 . Just a few months earlier, I would never have pictured myself acting in a play in front of two hundred people. If not for my teacher Mr Bricker, I might never have found that
In the first and second grade, I was extremely
One day, he announced our class was going to
“You’re great at
I realized it was time to
| A．intention | B．opportunity | C．solution | D．commitment |
| A．shy | B．pessimistic | C．energetic | D．ambitious |
| A．required | B．allowed | C．encouraged | D．persuaded |
| A．drawback | B．peace | C．fear | D．strength |
| A．present | B．introduce | C．write | D．evaluate |
| A．shocked | B．anxious | C．thrilled | D．ordinary |
| A．annoyed | B．grateful | C．embarrassed | D．surprised |
| A．ashamed | B．regretful | C．doubtful | D．terrified |
| A．analyzing | B．observing | C．memorizing | D．predicting |
| A．store | B．mind | C．place | D．comparison |
| A．throw off | B．show off | C．give off | D．call off |
| A．practicing | B．adapting | C．adjusting | D．debating |
| A．accounting | B．calling | C．cheering | D．praying |
| A．praise | B．efforts | C．beliefs | D．performances |
| A．advantage | B．confidence | C．character | D．evidence |
5 . Soap (肥皂) might seem like a reasonable way to avoid mosquito bites (蚊子叮) on the basis that if mosquitoes can’t smell you, they can’t bite you. However, a recent study has found that rather than protecting you, certain soaps might actually make you more attractive to mosquitoes.
In the study, conducted at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, four volunteers were asked to wear a sleeve before and after washing with four different brands of soap. The researchers then watched female mosquitoes as only females feed on blood landing on the fabric sample to show their preference. They found that some people washing with some brands of soap, increased their attractiveness to mosquitoes, while washing with other brands of soap tended to repel (驱除) mosquitoes. The repellent effect of some soap may be due to its coconut scent, as coconut oil is known to act as a natural mosquito repellent. The reason behind this attraction is believed to be related to mosquitoes’ sugar intake. When mosquitoes are not feeding on blood, they add their diet with plant juice or sweet water from flowers, “The fact we are taking those flowery and fruity smells and putting them on our bodies means that now the same object smells like a flower and a person at the same time,” said Clément Vinauger, who led the study. It would be like waking up and smelling the smell of coffee and bread, very attractive.
Interestingly, the effects of the soap varied among people, possibly due to the interaction (相互作用) between the soap and each person’s unique body scent. “It’s remarkable that the same person that is extremely attractive to mosquitoes when he is unwashed, but he becomes even more attractive to mosquitoes with one soap, and then become repellent to mosquitoes with another soap,” said Vinauger. Further research is needed to better understand the interaction between different soap and body scents, as well as to develop more effective mosquito repellents.
1. What has the study found?| A．Soap attracts many mosquitoes. | B．Male mosquitoes feed on blood. |
| C．Some plants drive away mosquitoes. | D．Not all soap can stop mosquito bites. |
| A．By observing the mosquitoes’ behaviour. | B．By exploring the history of mosquitoes. |
| C．By interviewing a lot of volunteers. | D．By examining old studies. |
| A．To stress the importance of breakfast. |
| B．To discuss their probable health benefits. |
| C．To compare the difference of objects used in the study. |
| D．To prove the attractiveness of some soap to mosquitoes. |
| A．Health. | B．Chemistry. | C．Sports. | D．Tour. |
6 . 近日，中国的传统节日春节被确定为联合国假日。请你为广播站写一篇面向全校师生的英文发言稿，分享这个好消息。内容包括：
1. 告知消息内容；
2. 说明它的意义；
3. 表达你的感想。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 涵盖要点，可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
Dear teachers and fellow students,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks for your listening.
7 . People are always living with technology nowadays. Here comes a smart home, which is controlled by the touch of a button.
Home automation is designed to introduce efficiency to a home.
Families with children or elderly adults in the home may be reassured by some safeguards in smart home security, like fire alarms that alert the appropriate agencies in the event of a problem. Lighting activation runs on timers, which can be a life saver if an oven is left on when someone leaves the home.
Home automation is not just for safety, however.
| A．A smart home doesn’t apply to all family members. |
| B．It achieves this by saving homeowners time and money. |
| C．There are some drawbacks with an automated home system. |
| D．It can also provide convenience for people living in the home. |
| E．Home automation depends on furniture and home temperatures. |
| F．Through home automation, an entire house can be connected via a smart controller. |
| G．Besides protecting people, it also offers security for expensive items inside a residence. |
8 . We talk continuously about how to make children tougher and stronger, but whatever we’re doing, it’s not working. Rates of anxiety disorders and depression are rising rapidly among teenagers. What are we doing wrong?
Nassim Taleb invented the word “antifragile” and used it to describe a small but very important class of systems that gain from shocks, challenges, and disorder. The immune (免疫的) system is one of them: it requires exposure to certain kinds of bacteria and potential allergens (过敏原) in childhood in order to develop to its full ability.
Children’s social and emotional abilities are as antifragile as their immune systems. If we overprotect kids and keep them “safe” from unpleasant social situations and negative emotions, we deprive (剥夺) them of the challenges and opportunities for skill-building they need to grow strong. Such children are likely to suffer more when exposed later to other unpleasant but ordinary life events, such as teasing and social rejection.
In the UK, as in the US, parents became much more fearful in the 1980s and 1990s to those rare occurrences of crimes and accidents that now occur less and less. Outdoor play and independent mobility went down; screen time and adult-monitored activities went up.
Yet free play in which kids work out their own rules of engagement, take small risks, and learn to master small dangers turns out to be vital for the development of adult social and even physical competence. Depriving them of free play prevents their social-emotional growth.
What can we do to change this situation? How can we raise kids strong enough to handle the ordinary and extraordinary challenges of life? We can’t guarantee that giving primary school children more independence today will bring down the rate of teenage suicide tomorrow. The links between childhood overprotection and teenage mental illness are suggestive but not clear-cut. Yet there are good reasons to suspect that by depriving our naturally antifragile kids of the wide range of experiences they need to become strong, we are systematically preventing their growth. We should let go — and let them grow.
1. Why does the author mention the immune system in Paragraph 2?| A．To stress its importance. | B．To help understand a new word. |
| C．To question the latest discovery. | D．To analyze the types of anxiety. |
| A．Because their children are not independent enough. |
| B．Because they want to keep their children from being teased. |
| C．Because parent-monitored activities are a must. |
| D．Because they are concerned about their children’s safety. |
| A．It can reduce children’s risky behavior. | B．It can strengthen children’s friendship. |
| C．It can promote children’s toughness. | D．It can develop children’s leadership skills. |
| A．Parents should stop trying to protect their children. |
| B．Parents should try their best to raise their children on their own. |
| C．Parents should try to teach their children all about life. |
| D．Parents should prepare the children for the road, not the road for the children. |
9 . The design theory behind a pair of tiny robots may one day find its way into environmental monitoring, as well as search and-rescue tasks. Modeled after a water strider (水黾), an insect, the two robots each weigh in at 8 and 55 milligrams, and may mark the smallest, lightest, and fastest fully functional micro-robots in the world, according to Washington State University (WSU).
Developed by a team of WSU researchers, the robots’ tininess largely relies on a material known as a shape memory alloy (合金). Although shape memory alloys change form when heated, they can “remember” their original shapes and return to them after cooling. Because of this, the two micro-robots do not require standard motors, and they use light and small ones instead of bulky moving parts.
Both the robots’ motors are each made up of two shape memory alloys, allowing them to move their fins as fast as 40 times a second while also lifting over 150 times their weight. “They’re very technologically sound. The development of the very lightweight robots opens up new possibilities in micro-robotics,” said Conor Trygstad, a material engineering PhD student and study lead author. “Although the robots are impressive when compared to other robots, the pair still fall behind their biological relatives’,” Trygstad said. They can currently move at a speed of about six millimeters a second; a water strider, by comparison, speeds along at about a meter per second. For now, the robots also require wired (连线的) power sources, thus seriously preventing any real-world applications for the moment.
Going forward, however, the team plans to copy other small insect species while also creating a new water strider robot which can move at a higher speed. Depending on using small batteries could also greatly increase the robots’ areas of use, If the breakthrough designs continue improving, similar micro-robots could one day be employed to monitor hard-to-reachor dangerous environments.
1. What is the inspiration for the two robots?| A．A special monitor. | B．The lightest micro robot. |
| C．An insect species. | D．A search-and rescue task |
| A．Cheap. | B．Huge. | C．Cool | D．Fast. |
| A．Both robots can identify sound. | B．Both robots need wireless power sources. |
| C．Both robots work better than water striders. | D．Both robots have weaknesses besides strengths. |
| A．Robots Are Saving Environment | B．Shape Memory Alloys Are The Key |
| C．Human Beings Learn From Animals | D．Two Micro robots Can Play A Big Part |
10 . How important is fish farming? Very. Although it’s an ancient business, the rise of aquaculture (水产养殖) has been one of the biggest revolutions in food supply over the past half century.
Aquaculture has made fish more affordable for consumers around the world, popularizing the consumption of what used to be expensive, and easing the pressure on hard- pressed wild stocks (库存). Aquaculture also has many clear environmental benefits: compared with other ways of growing animal protein, it uses little or no land, and has low greenhouse emissions. And while the world has traditionally had a bad record of regulating wild fishing, fish farming generally occurs within the boundaries of governments, meaning it should, in theory, be much easier to ensure that good practices are upheld.
Crowding large numbers of fish into limited spaces means that waste products, including waste, uneaten food and dead fish, are poured into the surrounding waters, polluting them. Besides, the pesticides and drugs used to treat conditions that upset fish in concentrated numbers can also affect local wildlife. Many farmed fish are fed on other fish, so the industry also puts pressure on wild stocks: about a fifth of all caught fish, some 18 million tonnes, is used for fish oil and fish meal production. There is also the problem of fish escaping, with potentially dangerous effects on surrounding ecosystems.
In 2018 the Scottish Parliament’s environment committee published a report into the fish farming industry’s environmental effects, stating that key problems simply hadn’t been tackled, and that the Scottish government’s plan to double salmon output by 2030could cause “irrecoverable damage” to ecosystems. Since then, protections have been toughened. There is now more pressure from regulators to situate farms in remote, deep-water locations. Meanwhile, though, catches of Scottish wild salmon have fallen to their lowest level since records began in 1952. “There are good reasons for fish farming and real dangers to it as well.” concludes an official. “The question is how to make it work.”
1. What does the underlined word “upheld” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Supported. | B．Allowed. | C．Prohibited. | D．Admitted. |
| A．The reasons for fish farming. |
| B．The downsides of aquaculture. |
| C．The development of sea exploring. |
| D．The effects of aquaculture on surrounding farming. |
| A．The Scottish government plans to double fish output now. |
| B．The problems of fish farming are likely to be solved. |
| C．The fish farming industry has no effect on environment. |
| D．The massive fish farming may damage ecosystems. |
| A．Objective. | B．Doubtful. | C．Critical. | D．Disapproving. |
