1 . In Belgium, a company called HydroVolta is improving ways to take salt water and turn it into fresh water under the Horizon-funded SonixED project.

The vast majority of the earth’s water is salt water. Only 3% is fresh water and less than one third of that is accessible, the rest being locked away in glaciers and groundwater. “We will need to treat salt water so people can drink it and industry can use it,” said George Brik, chief executive officer of Hydro Volta. “But with current technologies, desalination (脱盐) requires high operational costs. On top of that, existing technologies use high amounts of energy and chemicals.”

The basic technique now to turn salt water into fresh water is electrodialysis (电渗析), where a kind of membrane (隔膜) is used to separate salt from water. But the method has a weak point: the membrane gets dirty easily and requires chemicals and high pressure to clean. That in turn involves large amounts of energy. Under SonixED, HydroVolta has developed ultrasound technology that keeps the membrane clean in a much more efficient way.

Energy use in this field depends on pressure, which is measured in a metric unit known as bar. Existing technologies to desalinate seawater take around 50 to 80 bar, while the new desalination technology uses just one to three bar. What’s even better is that a greater amount of fresh water can now be generated. “Existing technologies waste around 60% to 65% of the seawater that’s taken in,” said Brik. “Our new technology improves the situation. If we take in 100 litres of seawater, we can produce 65 litres of drinkable water.”

HydroVolta thinks this technology will be beneficial to larger companies that generate drinkable water as well as to industrial businesses that need water to fuel their operations. Meanwhile, Brik says the new desalination technology may need a push from governments to encourage a bigger demand. “They can be the first customers,” he added.

1. What do George Brik’s words in Paragraph 2 imply?

A．Treating salt water is of great importance.

B．The world is facing a serious water shortage.

C．Better desalination technologies are needed.

D．Current desalination technologies are no longer useful.

2. What is the problem with electrodialysis?

A．It consumes too much energy.

B．The membrane is rare to find.

C．The water it produces is a little salty.

D．It requires complex ultrasound technology.

3. What do we know about the new desalination technology?

A．It takes more energy than existing technologies.

B．It produces clean water more efficiently.

C．It gives up the use of membrane to function.

D．It needs more seawater to produce fresh water.

4. Which statement will Brik probably agree with?

A．HydroVolta can solve the water crisis worldwide.

B．The new desalination technology needs official support.

C．HydroVolta has great difficulty in finding its first customers.

D．The new desalination technology is unsuited to small companies.

2 . The power of human language comes not only from the precision of its signals and the complexity of its grammar but also from its links to cognition (认知). Babies as young as 3 months have begun to link language and core cognitive capacities.

Previous work in the lab had found that for babies aged 3 to 4 months, listening to both human vocalizations (发声) (their native language) and non-human primate vocalizations (calls of monkeys) boosted cognition. It remained unknown whether all human languages would have this advantageous effect.

In a new study, the researchers considered English-acquiring 3-to 4-month-old babies’ responses to two non-native languages (German or Cantonese) — in the context of the classic object categorization task. In this cognitive task, babies first viewed a series of “familiarization” images from one object category (e.g., dinosaurs). Then they viewed two new “test” images at the same time: a new example from the familiarized category (e.g., another dinosaur; “a familiar object”) and a new model from a novel category (e.g., a fish; “a novel object”). Babies’ ability to distinguish between the familiar and novel test images, measured by their looking times, indicates whether they have formed the object category.

Crucially, babies’ success in the task depends upon the sound information that accompanies the visual images presented during familiarization. “We found that German, which is phonologically (音系地) ‘near’ to English, facilitated object categorization. But Cantonese, which is phonologically ‘distant’, did not,” said Danielle Perszyk, lead author of the study.

“Babies’ responses to the two non-native languages tested, considered in combination with their responses to English and to the sounds of monkeys，are consistent with the possibility that babies’ earliest links to cognition originate from two distinct mechanisms. Only one of them is used specifically for human speech,” she added.

When babies are 3 to 4 months old, vocalizations of non-human primates may boost their cognition by engaging another system, one not specialized for speech. However, the cognitive advantage is short-lived: only lasts for 2 to 3months. The study also provides the first evidence that babies’ increasingly precise cognitive tuning to the sounds of their native language sets restrictions on the range of human languages they will link to cognition.

1. What can we know about babies aged 3 to 4 months according to previous work?

A．They get a cognitive bonus after exposure to animal sounds.

B．They can tell human languages from those of animals.

C．They have a gift for mastering diverse languages.

D．They show no interest in non-native languages.

2. What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．An evaluation of babies’ learning ability.

B．A story regarding babies’ ability to distinguish images.

C．An experiment on babies’ ways of native language learning.

D．An object categorization experiment on babies’ cognitive link.

3. Which of the following may Danielle Perszyk agree with?

A．People may prefer certain languages at a young age.

B．Babies may adopt different systems to build cognitive links.

C．Babies’ cognitive links are dependent on their learning habits.

D．People can develop early cognitive links through familiar languages.

4. What may babies’ precise cognitive tuning to sounds of their native language bring about?

A．Improving their speech processing system.

B．Enhancing their desire to pick up new languages.

C．Limiting their cognitive associations with other languages.

D．Affecting their ability to distinguish between different languages.

3 . 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。

Guessing lantern riddles is an activity that     1     (date) back at least as far as the Southern Song Dynasty,     2     scholars wrote riddles on small slips of paper and     3       (hang) them from lanterns for festival attendees to guess.

Most of these lantern riddles were     4     (simple) created as a form of entertainment. Sometimes, however, imperial advisors used them to make a     5     (suggest) to the emperor.

If the emperor didn’t like it, the advisors could claim that the riddle had been interpreted incorrectly, thus     6     (avoid) his wrath (愤怒). This was possible because the riddles’ answers were rarely obvious and clear-cut, leaving them open to multiple interpretations.

Today’s lantern riddles are still difficult     7     (guess). So difficult, in fact, that they’re referred to as “lantern tigers” and guessing lantern riddles is sometimes referred to as “guessing lantern tigers”. Generally, lantern riddles are based on complex forms of wordplay and may be difficult for even     8     (advance) students of Chinese to understand.

Most riddles consist of the riddle itself and an implication that tells the guesser what form he or she should expect the answer to take. For example, sometimes     9     implication might indicate that the answer is a Chinese idiom, the name of a country or that it should be composed     10     Chinese characters.

4 . Growing up, I understood one thing about my dad: He knew everything. In sum, this was our ______: I asked questions and he told the ______. When I grew up and moved out on my own, I seldom called him. But when something broke in my ______ and I needed to know how to ______ it, like the toilet, I would call him. Gradually, I called him less, because I got ______. My husband had most of the knowledge and skills I ______.

Our phone call developed into three ______. I said, “Hi, Dad.” He said, “Hi, sweet. Here is your mom.” Because I still ______ my mother. I usually asked her questions like “Do need to call the ______ for my daughter’s fever?” Sometimes. I ______ if my dad had already shared everything I needed to know.

This past summer, my husband and I moved in with my parents for three weeks while our house was being decorated. Dad asked me to help him ______ the bulkhead (防水壁). I didn’t ______ to do it. It was the least I could do for free rent.

As we put the new bulkhead together piece by piece, my dad knew ______ which piece went where, so I asked, “Why do you know how to build a bulkhead?” “I spent a summer in college building it on the Jersey Shore,” he answered. I felt ______ and I thought I had knew everything about my dad before. After that, I often called my dad and talked about daily little things. To us, it was a (n) ______ beginning.

1.

A．love

B．friendship

C．innovation

D．relationship

2.

A．influences

B．answers

C．similarities

D．tendencies

3.

A．apartment

B．office

C．school

D．market

4.

A．use

B．control

C．conduct

D．fix

5.

A．paid

B．married

C．interested

D．promoted

6.

A．learned

B．owed

C．lost

D．lacked

7.

A．letters

B．phrases

C．greetings

D．sentences

8.

A．missed

B．helped

C．needed

D．bothered

9.

A．doctor

B．teacher

C．friend

D．professor

10.

A．requested

B．predicted

C．wondered

D．checked

11.

A．rebuild

B．invent

C．buy

D．transport

12.

A．intend

B．hesitate

C．doubt

D．attempt

13.

A．exactly

B．roughly

C．confusedly

D．miserably

14.

A．relieved

B．amused

C．astonished

D．annoyed

15.

A．boring

B．awkward

C．new

D．casual

5 . You may have read that to stay fit and healthy, you need about 30 minutes of exercise each day, at least five days a week. New research suggests that the time we need to spend on daily workouts could be less than that.

Edvard Sagelv, a researcher at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, was part of a team that found being sedentary (久坐的) more than 12 hours a day was associated with a 38 percent higher death risk. This was only the case for individuals who managed less than 22 minutes of medium to high intensive physical activity a day, however, and it is relatively easy to achieve that minimum by taking a brisk (轻快的) walk.

“In research on physical activity, fast walking is estimated to be four kilometres an hour,” he said. Although it may not seem like a lot, it depends on a person’s fitness level. “It is interesting that 4 km/h — a pace achievable for the vast majority of the population — is what it takes to really invest in your physical health,” he added.

For a walk to positively affect your heart, which will then impact your brain and your circulation, you need to “feel it”. To feel the work your body is doing, you need to walk at 4 to 6 kilometres an hour. If you wear a fitness tracker, aim for more than 100 steps a minute.

A recent study published by researchers at the Cambridge University found that just 11 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activities — a brisk walk — was enough to lower the risk of diseases such as heart disease, stroke and a number of cancers.

Lead author Soren Brage was not surprised by the findings. “Doing some physical activities is better than doing none. This is also a good starting position — if you find that 75 minutes a week is manageable, then you could try stepping it up gradually to the full recommended amount,” he said. The point is that a relatively short period of high-intensity exercise isn’t just better than nothing; it has a measurable and positive impact on health.

1. What is the recommended pace for fast walking?

A．7 kilometres per hour.	B．8 kilometres per hour
C．9 kilometres per hour.	D．4 kilometres per hour.

2. How can people “feel it” when working out?

A．By putting into more effort.	B．By wearing less clothing
C．By walking at a quick pace.	D．By joining a group.

3. What point does the last paragraph try to make?

A．People should exercise 75 minutes a week.

B．It pays to increase the intensity of workouts.

C．People should stop being sedentary immediately.

D．It's important to measure the impact of exercise.

4. What does the text intend to do?

A．Reflect the influence of a new study.	B．Share the findings of a new research.
C．Assess a research process.	D．Clarify a research method.

6 . Yuck! Chicken blood splashes onto the floor and insects fly everywhere in the market. The old Indian woman waves the butcher knife. You’re speechless. Your friend who moved to India a few months before you notices your horror. “It’s just something they do,” he clarifies.

You’ve heard living abroad is good for you. Experiences like this one make you say “Seriously?”

Yes. Seriously.

Researchers William Maddux and Hajo Adam have discovered not only that cultural experiences are good for you, but they’ve also discovered why they’re good for you. Cultural experiences can make you more creative.

Maddux and his team discovered that learning about new cultures you encounter deeply is key to obtaining cognitive rewards. The team did a series of experiments with people who had lived abroad for a long time. They asked the sojourners (旅居者) to recall experiences where they: learned something about the culture they lived in abroad; learned something about their own culture; did something unrelated (like visiting a supermarket). Those who recalled learning something about a new culture did much better on a creative problem-solving task immediately afterward.

Maddux and his team wondered, though. Does learning new cultures always help? Is it enough to just notice that another culture is different? In another experiment they had a group of people recall an experience where they learned something new about a foreign culture but hadn’t been able to learn about the reasons for it.

The people who later were made aware of the hidden reasons for the novel, different, or unexpected behaviors they had come across were much more creative afterward than those who weren’t.

This means that even though discovering cultural differences exist is great, it’s not enough to influence how you think in other situations. You have to learn why a cultural difference exists. That’s what helps you spot new connections later, in other aspects of your life.

1. Why is the scene mentioned in the first paragraph?

A．To show us an appropriate example.

B．To prove the advantages of living abroad.

C．To provide evidence for the writer’s viewpoint.

D．To draw readers’ attention to the following exploration.

2. What did the researchers find by asking the sojourners to recall their experience?

A．What is necessary to be creative.

B．What influence creativity has on people.

C．What benefits cultural experiences bring.

D．What they can learn from their own cultures.

3. From the experiment in Paragraph 6, we can conclude ______.

A．learning new cultures is always of great help

B．it’s not enough just to notice similarities between cultures

C．knowing the reasons for the difference is the key to creativity

D．culture difference has an impact on your way of thinking

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A research report.	B．A geography textbook.
C．A travel brochure.	D．A science magazine.

7 . NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORERS

Anand Varma

In the woods near his childhood home in Atlanta, Varma discovered his passion for being immersed in the natural world. Then he picked up his father’s camera and found a way to share that enthusiasm. Now living in Berkeley, California, Varma has spent years developing innovative photography techniques to reveal aspects of science and nature, such as the rapid motions of hummingbirds that normally go unseen.

Katie Orlinsky

During almost a decade of living in and visiting Alaska, Orlinsky has been examining the effects of climate change on the Arctic. Her images of its melting permafrost appeared in the September 2019 issue of National Geographic, and for this issue she hiked solo for days in a remote stretch of Alaska to document migrating caribou. The June 2023 cover story featured her photographs of the world’s first designated wilderness area, in New Mexico.

Neil Shea

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Shea is an award-winning writer who works in print, film, television, and audio. His first book Frostlines: Dispatches From the New Arctic will be published by Ecco in 2025. It covers cultural and environmental shifts in places from Iraqi Kurdistan to East Africa.

Emma Lira

A travel writer and specialist in Spain, Lira has authored historical novels, A Lonely Planet Granada Guide, and A National Geographic Story On Tenerife’s Mummies. She’s a resident of Madrid and the Canary Islands and leads small group tours for women throughout the Islamic world.

These contributors have received funding from the National Geographic Society, which is committed to protecting the wonder of our world.

1. What is unique to Anand Varma?

A．His exploring passion.	B．His adventurous experiences.
C．His environmental awareness.	D．His new photography techniques.

2. What did Katie do for the images chosen by National Geographic in 2019?

A．She covered a long distance in Alaska alone.

B．She investigated the impact of climate change.

C．She explored the wildness area in New Mexico.

D．She spent 10 years living in and visiting Alaska.

3. What do Neil and Emma have in common?

A．They are both travel enthusiasts.	B．They are both expert in writing.
C．They have both published their books.	D．They both care about climate changes.

8 . Shanghai Pudong International Airport

Shanghai Pudong International Airport is one of the major and popular airports in China. Completed in 1999 with now existing 4 take-off runways and 2 terminals (航站楼) , it serves as the key aviation hub (枢纽) for visiting Shanghai and transferring to other cities in China.

Terminals

Shanghai Pudong International Airport Terminal 1 (Tl) handles both domestic and international flights. It is divided into international (left) and domestic (right) areas. Terminal 1 was opened on September 16, 1999 and it is shaped like a seagull.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport Terminal 2 (T2) was opened on March 26, 2008 and has a similar structure as Terminal 1 although it is slightly larger. It is split into international services, on the left, and domestic flights, on the right.

On September 16, 2019, Shanghai Pudong International Airport Satellite Terminal was opened, which is located south of the airport's existing Tl and T2. This H-shaped satellite hall is the world's largest single-building satellite terminal.

Facilities and services

Currency exchange; restaurants and shops; duty free; ATMs; assistance for passengers with special needs; vending machines.

Parking

Parking lot Pl and P2 (Rates) :

First 20 minutes: Free.

First 2 hours: 10 yuan per hour. If the time is more than one hour but is less than two hours, it is charged as two hours.

Over 2 hours: 5 yuan per hour. If the time is more than two hours but is less than 3 hours, it is charged as three hours.

From 1 hour to 24 hours: Maximum of 130 yuan.

Every 24 hours: Calculated of the standard price.

1. When was Shanghai Pudong International Airport Terminal I opened?

A．On March 26, 2008.	B．On September 16, 1999.
C．On September 16, 2019.	D．On March 16, 2008.

2. What do we know about Shanghai Pudong International Airport Terminal 1?

A．It is shaped like the letter H.	B．It was completed on September 16, 2008.
C．It mainly handles domestic flights.	D．It is a little bit smaller than Terminal 2.

3. How much does it cost to park for one and a half hours?

A．10 yuan.

B．15 yuan.

C．20 yuan.

D．25 yuan.

9 . Skeet shooting is a type of target sport in which the shooter uses a special gun to hit moving clay target, which are sometimes referred to as “clay pigeons (陶土飞靶)”. This target sport is an important, competitive sport in the Olympic games.     1    

Skeet shooting was invented by the bird hunter in the early nineteenth century under the original name of “clock shooting”. The game was changed slightly and reached a wider audience over the coming years. Once, a competition was held to determine a new name for this shooting game.     2     The term “skeet” is a Scandinavian word meaning “to shoot”.

Today, skeet shooting is as American as apple pie and McDonald’s. At first, fans of the sport were male, but now, a fair number of women also love skeet shooting.     3     For friends or families, skeet shooting at a sporting club can be a fun activity.

    4     Generally, people will need to purchase related equipment, including something guaranteeing personal safety such as safety glasses. And they’d better have a large, private yard. If the players have never done shooting of any kind before, they should also take a safety course, which will teach them about the proper use and storage of the equipment.

Like most skills, skeet shooting takes a lot of patience and practice.     5     But those folks are few and far between, especially if they’ve never picked up a shotgun before. If you aren’t a patient person, that’s okay because skeet shooting can help you develop patience.

A．Why do people love skeet shooting?

B．At last, the game was called skeet shooting.

C．How can one participate in the sport at home?

D．Unfortunately, no recommended name was chosen.

E．Sure, some people might have a natural talent for it.

F．There are many clubs offering skeet shooting in America.

G．Therefore, many countries attach much importance to it.

10 . 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。续写的词数应为150左右。

My daughter Kathy’s birthday was approaching. Last Sunday, in the early morning, she asked me whether I’d buy her a birthday gift.

I said, “Of course. And to buy the gift, I decide to sell your never-to-be-used-again baby things that still look new and useful. Will you allow it?” She immediately agreed and began sorting out her baby stuff. My husband Sam gladly joined us. Soon, we gathered the stuff well enough. I decided to take them to the second-hand market in the following week and then use the money collected to buy Kathy the bike she dreamed about.

Thinking about that, I waved Kathy and Sam goodbye and left for the local hospital to visit an ill friend there. After twenty-five minutes of drive, I arrived. And after seeing my friend, I went to turn in my visitor’s pass at the hospital desk. There, I overheard an argument between a receptionist (接待员) and a worried and disappointed man whose clothes were a little worn out. The receptionist was explaining that his newborn girl couldn’t leave the hospital without an infant car seat.

Confused, the man asked, “What’s on earth an infant car seat? How much can one cost?” Based on his accent and appearance, I guessed he probably was new here. While I observed the man, the receptionist told him, “Sir, it’s a soft seat made specifically to protect infants and younger babies in a vehicle. It can be easily put in the vehicle. The price often ranges from 70 dollars to 550 dollars.”

So upset, the man said, “Where can I get such a seat at this time and where can I get the money to buy one?” “I’m sorry, sir, but this is what the state law requires. Nobody can take a baby out of the hospital without that seat,” the receptionist said. “Your wife can go home with you today, but the baby can’t leave unless she’s in a car seat.”

My daughter just had an infant car seat, which I had planned to sell. Finding the man looked so helpless, I wondered whether to give him Kathy’s seat for free.

注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。

While debating with myself, I thought about my late mom who never hesitated to help strangers.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When the man and I got to my house, Sam and Kathy felt surprised.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________