1 . The cuisine that marks Christmas is as diverse as the people feasting on it. Here’s a look at how the locals celebrate Christmas through cuisine in their countries, which will give you a glimpse of the celebrations.

England

The real festivities start on Christmas morning with champagne and smoked salmon. After the King’s or Queen’s annual Christmas speech, it’s time for the main meal, typically including a turkey or roast beef accompanied by various side dishes.

France

The French celebrate their Christmas Eve with a lavish meal, with seafood served first. The main course usually consists of a rooster that’s renowned for its tenderness. Fine red wine from Burgundy can’t be missed of course.

Italy

Similar to France, Italians celebrate Christmas on the eve. The locals typically attend midnight Mass and then indulge in a lavish meal before heading to church. For the main course, northern Italians often have stuffed turkey, while those in seaside areas may feast on a large baked sea bass accompanied by roasted potatoes and vegetables.

Greece

After attending an early morning holy communion in church on Christmas, Greeks go home for an all-day eating gathering. Families gather around the fireplace, feasting on a special wheat bread only made at Christmas. Later, the main course may include roast chicken stuffed with chestnuts.

1. What activity distinguishes England in Christmas celebration?

A．The seafood-themed dinner.	B．The yearly Royal address.
C．The religious ceremony.	D．The main course featuring turkey.

2. To experience the religious atmosphere, you’d better spend Christmas in ________.

A．France and Italy.	B．England and France.
C．England and Greece.	D．Italy and Greece.

3. From which column of the magazine is the passage probably from?

A．Religion and culture.	B．Diet and health.
C．Festival and tradition.	D．Sports and fitness.

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

Yangko, a rural Chinese folk dance with a history     1     (date) back thousands of years, originates from farming life in ancient times. The dance relates to sacrifices to the farmland god when people prayed for a good harvest. As time passed, the     2     (origin) dance developed, taking in various artistic forms and skills, including opera, acrobatics and martial arts, and eventually turned into the type of Yangko     3     is seen today.

    4     (preserve) this Chinese folk culture, it was included in the inaugural(首批的)items of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006. It is     5     (common) performed in northern China during festivals, especially for Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival. Performances or competitions     6     (organize) in towns and villages to express people’s joy and their hope for a better life.

Yangko employs drumming, Suona, dancing and singing. Content is based     7     folk stories and legends. Costumes are richly-colored and opera-styled, enabling     8     (character) to be easily identified. During a performance, the actors will dance and sing, following lively rhythms. Highly. skilled and interesting acts such as stilt(高跷)walking     9     carrying a wedding sedan chair(花轿)are also included. As a part of traditional Chinese culture, Yangko     10     (concentrate) the group consciousness of the Chinese people, and has outstanding historical and cultural value.

4 . Those in the food industry understand the difficulty that comes from working with people. No matter how much you try, some customers are never _______. If you make one mistake, some people are likely to lose _______. This situation took place at a McDonald’s in suburban Atlanta.

A customer approached the drive-through window _______. He threw a drink back at the pregnant fast food worker who handed it to him. Most would find that unthinkable. Yet, he felt _______ because the drink was not what he wanted.

Bryanna was the _______ in this incident. It was so _______ to her that she couldn’t even figure out what was happening. She was _______ and covered in ice and soda.

The customer next in line who witnessed what happened was Feroza Eyed. She _______ the incident via Facebook after things took place. “I’ve never seen anyone _______ that way, especially to do that to a pregnant worker, which was just ________.”

When Feroza approached the drive-through, she ________ the fast food worker a cash tip to comfort her. She had yet another ________— set up an online registry for Bryanna’s baby. Feroza ________ maybe she could raise $300 or $400 for Bryanna to buy something nice. But by 24 hours later people had donated $1,700. Feroza was just obviously going crazy with ________.

Through this, Feroza and Bryanna have become friends. It’s just ________ to see such love and happiness.

1.

A．confused

B．frightened

C．troubled

D．satisfied

2.

A．temper

B．passion

C．sight

D．temperature

3.

A．sadly

B．angrily

C．happily

D．patiently

4.

A．convinced

B．embarrassed

C．justified

D．misunderstood

5.

A．interviewer

B．victim

C．looker-on

D．witness

6.

A．unpleasant

B．reliable

C．responsible

D．avoidable

7.

A．warning

B．weeping

C．begging

D．checking

8.

A．heard of

B．thought of

C．spoke of

D．dreamed of

9.

A．admit

B．behave

C．follow

D．approve

10.

A．wonderful

B．funny

C．necessary

D．awful

11.

A．paid

B．charged

C．offered

D．afforded

12.

A．principle

B．program

C．destination

D．idea

13.

A．assumed

B．realized

C．recognized

D．recalled

14.

A．regret

B．relief

C．reward

D．joy

15.

A．inspiring

B．demanding

C．amusing

D．puzzling

5 . Have you heard of these four monuments?

Carhenge. Floralis Genérica. Traffic Light Tree. Hand of the Desert — these are four unusual monuments from around the world you might like to visit.

• Carhenge

Carhenge is in Alliance, Nebraska (USA). As the name suggests, it has a lot in common with Stonehenge, the famous stone circle on Salisbury Plain. But while Stonehenge was built with stones, Carhenge was created with cars. The monument was made in 1987 by a local artist Jim Reinders and his family. He used old cars and even an ambulance. At first, the people of Alliance didn’t like it, but they soon changed their minds after it became popular with tourists, who brought lots of money to the town.

• Floralis Genérica

Floralis Genérica is a massive statue of a flower. It stands in a pool of water in front of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eduardo Catalano, a native of Argentina, gave the statue as a gift to the city in 2002. Every morning, the flower opens. Ask anyone who has seen it and they’ll tell you that watching it open is an unforgettable sight. In fact, many people believe it is one of the most beautiful statues in the world.

• Traffic Light Tree

The Traffic Light Tree is situated at Heron Quay, in one of London’s financial districts. The tree has 75 sets of traffic lights. It was created by French artist, Pierre Vivant, and was installed in 1998. A computer controls the lights, which are turned on and off randomly. The roundabout where the tree is was voted the most popular roundabout in the UK in a recent survey.

• Mano del Desierto (Hand of the Desert)

The Hand of the Desert is in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The sculpture was designed by the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrazabal. From a distance, it looks as if there’s a giant in the sand who has stuck his hand out of the ground.

If you’re looking for something new to see, you know where to go!

1. Why did the people of Alliance change their attitude toward Carhenge?

A．It reminded them of Stonehenge.	B．It brought them financial benefits.
C．It added beauty to their community.	D．It displayed the creativity of the designer.

2. Which of the four monuments was designed by a foreign artist?

A．Carhenge.	B．Floralis Genérica.
C．Traffic Light Tree.	D．Mano del Desierto.

3. Where is the text probably from?

A．A guide book.	B．A news report.
C．A science magazine.	D．An architecture advertisement.

6 . African penguins live on the rocky coasts of South Africa, Namibia and nearby islands. Like other types of penguins, the birds have white feathers covering their chests and black feathers covering their backs. They form lifelong pair bonds with mates, but they nest in huge colonies — so, scientists wondered how the birds were able to identify their partners among the sea of black-and-white birds. They wondered if their chest spots had something to do with it. To test this theory, they studied 12 African penguins at a zoo and marine park near Rome called Zoomarine Italia.

In one test, they hung two life-size photographs of the African penguins. One showed a random member of the colony, while the other showed the test subject’s mate. The scientists recorded the birds’ interactions with the photos: How long did they spend looking at each one, as well as how much time did they spend standing near each photograph? The penguins spent more time gazing at the photo of their partners — about 23 seconds longer, on average — than looking at the other photo. They also stood next to the image of their beau s for twice as long. Then, the researchers covered up the heads of the birds in the photographs, leaving only their speckled bodies visible, and the penguins still lingered near their partners’ portraits.

In another experiment, the researchers hung up two photos of a bird’s mate — but, in one, they had digitally removed its spots. In this case, the penguin again spent more time looking at the photo with the dots.

Finally, the researchers posted two photographs of penguins with digitally removed spots — one of the test subject’s mate and the other of a random penguin from the colony. In this scenario, the penguins did not appear to recognize their partners. They spent roughly the same amount of time gazing at or standing near both photos.

Together, the results of these experiments suggest African penguins are zeroing in on their partners’ spots and using them like name tags, scientists say.

“Our results provide the first evidence of a specific visual cue responsible for spontaneous individual recognition by a bird and highlight the importance of considering all sensory modalities in the study of animal communication,” the researchers write in the paper.

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?

A．African penguins live on the rocky coasts of North Africa.

B．Scientists are curious about the African penguins.

C．African penguins have white feathers covering their backs.

D．Scientists studied 12 African penguins only at a zoo near Rome.

2. What plays a key role in African penguins’ identifying their partners?

A．Their partners’ voice.	B．Their partners’ heads.
C．Their partners’ back feathers.	D．Their partners’ speckled bodies.

3. What does the underlined phrase “zeroing in on” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Losing sight of.	B．Taking delight in.
C．Paying attention to.	D．Speaking highly of.

4. Where might you find the passage?

A．In a science report.	B．In a travel brochure.
C．In a biology textbook.	D．In a fashion magazine.

7 . Plants are vital to human survival, even when there’s no sunlight. But keeping your houseplants alive in window-less rooms or in shadowy corners can be a challenge. Luckily, there are ways to help your plants stay energetic, even when their sunny source of energy is limited.

Grow lights provide an easy and accessible energy increase in dim or black spaces. These specialized beams (光线) have different features, colors, and prices. LEDs, for instance, are the cheapest and most energy-efficient option.

While most devices stick to a warm white light, plants respond differently to various illuminating colors. Scientist Levine has made two creative experiments. Under gravity, red light worked well for the slim flowering plants Arabidopsis (拟南芥). But in the weightless environment, they stretched into funny shapes until he started adding blue lights. He eventually found a middle ground and put the plants in green light.

If electricity is a limiting factor, you can try to reflect light with mirrors. Even brightening up your space with white decorations, like a light-colored tablecloth, will cast a little glow over your plants. While it’s not comparable to using a grow light or the sun, it could offer plants extra power.

Some plants, including tomatoes, need more light than those like Arabidopsis; new seedling s need less light than fully-grow n plants. As you choose your seeds and seedlings, research their native ranges to learn how much sunshine they’d naturally get.

Plants are finally adaptable. They can stretch their stems toward available light sources or produce extra chlorophyll (叶绿素), which absorbs available cold light. Even though they may not be getting all the light that they would like for optimum (最适宜的) growth, they’ll still grow. With only a little extra help, you and your plants can overcome the darkness.

1. What is the purpose of using grow lights?

A．To change the color of the plants.	B．To provide an energy boost in dim spaces.
C．To create a decorative effect in the room.	D．To help plants grow in weightless environments.

2. What did Levine discover about the effect of different light colors in experiments?

A．Plants grew best under red lights without gravity.

B．Blue lights caused plants to grow funny shapes.

C．Green lights were the best choice for plants without gravity.

D．Plants preferred warm white lights in all situations.

3. How can you help plants get extra energy without using electricity?

A．By putting the metal in the soil.	B．By adding more fertilizer to their soil.
C．By decorating some reflective objects.	D．By pouring some chemical liquid.

4. Who is the passage written for?

A．Plant scientists and researchers.

B．Indoor decorators and designers.

C．Farmers planning to grow crops in low-light conditions.

D．Individuals looking to improve their indoor gardening skills.

8 . Our species’ incredible capacity to quickly acquire words from 300 by age 2 to over 1, 000 by age 4 isn’t fully understood. Some cognitive scientists and linguists have theorized that people are born with built-in expectations and logical constraints (约束) that make this possible. Now, however, machine-learning research is showing that preprogrammed assumptions aren’t necessary to swiftly pick up word meanings from minimal data.

A team of scientists has successfully trained a basic artificial intelligence model to match images to words using just 61 hours of naturalistic footage (镜头) and sound-previously collected from a child named Sam in 2013 and 2014. Although it’s a small slice of a child’s life, it was apparently enough to prompt the AI to figure out what certain words mean.   

The findings suggest that language acquisition could be simpler than previously thought. Maybe children “don’t need a custom-built, high-class language-specific mechanism” to efficiently grasp word meanings, says Jessica Sullivan, an associate professor of psychology at Skidmore College. “This is a really beautiful study, ” she says, because it offers evidence that simple information from a child’s worldview is rich enough to kick-start pattern recognition and word comprehension.

The new study also demonstrates that it’s possible for machines to learn similarly to the way that humans do. Large language models are trained on enormous amounts of data that can include billions and sometimes trillions of word combinations. Humans get by on orders of magnitude less information, says the paper’s lead author Wai Keen Vong. With the right type of data, that gap between machine and human learning could narrow dramatically.

Yet additional study is necessary in certain aspects of the new research. For one, the scientists acknowledge that their findings don’t prove how children acquire words. Moreover, the study only focused on recognizing the words for physical objects.

Still, it’s a step toward a deeper understanding of our own mind, which can ultimately help us improve human education, says Eva Portelance, a computational linguistics researcher. She notes that AI research can also bring clarity to long-unanswered questions about ourselves. “We can use these models in a good way, to benefit science and society, ” Portelance adds.

1. What is a significant finding of machine-learning research?

A．Vocabulary increases gradually with age.

B．Vocabulary can be acquired from minimal data.

C．Language acquisition is tied to built-in expectations.

D．Language acquisition is as complex as formerly assumed.

2. What does the underlined word “prompt” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Facilitate.

B．Persuade.

C．Advise.

D．Expect.

3. What is discussed about the new research in paragraph 5?

A．Its limitations.

B．Its strengths.

C．Its uniqueness.

D．Its process.

4. What is Eva Portelance’s attitude to the AI research?

A．Doubtful.

B．Cautious.

C．Dismissive.

D．Positive.

9 . Exhausted, Jia Ling ate five packs of chocolate cookies alone at night by her bed after wrapping up filming for her new film YOLO that day. “Recalling that moment, I felt so great, like a tired soldier claiming the spoils of war,” she said.

By then, she had lost an incredible 50 kilograms, and her entire image had changed. The chubby (胖乎乎的), round and cute comedian Jia Ling was gone, replaced by a cool, muscular warrior.

Audiences were shocked by her appearance on Chinese New Year’s Day, Feb.10, when the film was first released. Jia had kept everything so secretive, avoiding public appearances for a year, that her new look was only revealed when she appeared on the big screen. Conversations about her high-intensity weight loss training, along with her courage and determination, have become trending topics across China, propelling the film’s box office earnings.

YOLO, which stands for “you only live once,” is the theme Jia aims to tell in her new film. The story follows an overweight, depressed woman who becomes isolated from society. However, after meeting a boxing coach and taking up the sport, she begins to regain her passion and finds her way in life. The filming was divided into five stages. Jia had to gain 20 kilograms at first for the role, moving on to the final stage when she lost a significant amount of weight and became muscular. This method mirrors what some Hollywood stars, such as Christian Bale, have done, but Jia’s effort is jaw-dropping and takes it to an even more extreme level.

Yet, the film’s core goes beyond physical transformation. “This film is not about weight loss, nor is it much about boxing. It’s a film that tells the story of how a kind person finds her true self and learns to love herself,” Jia said.

1. What does the underlined word “propelling” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Disturbing.

B．Restoring.

C．Driving.

D．Slowing.

2. Which of the following can best describe Jia?

A．Generous and funny.	B．Determined and courageous.
C．Creative and sensitive.	D．Ambitious and enthusiastic.

3. What is the movie YOLO mainly about?

A．A woman’s pursuit of boxing glory.

B．A woman’s journey through weight loss.

C．A woman’s struggle with social pressure.

D．A woman’s discovery of self-love and acceptance.

4. What message does Jia want to convey through the movie?

A．The early bird catches the worm.	B．Actions speak louder than words.
C．It’s never too late to change.	D．Don’t cry over spilled milk.

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。

As a child, I distinctly remembered watching some PBS cartoon character get glasses; the poor girl was made fun of by her peers when playing basketball. I silently thanked God for my good eyesight — but I spoke too soon.

When I entered the sixth grade, I could no longer see writing on the whiteboard clearly. So, I received my first pair of glasses. I only wore them in the classroom, and didn’t mind them too much. Self-image was not important for the then little girl.

Entering my freshman year in high school, I began to miss basketball shots in games — more so than usual. My eyes were re-examined, and the doctor determined that my eyesight had become worse. I would either have to wear glasses full time, or try contacts (隐形眼镜). Being the passionate athlete I was, I bypassed the annoyance of glasses and began to wear contacts. My entire world was transformed. Trees actually had leaves. The faces around me radiated individual expressions. And I could see the basket a whole lot better now. I was overjoyed with my newfound sight — and appearance.

When my senior year came along, I began to have trouble with my right eye. It got to the point where whenever I wore my contacts, my right eye would suffer an intolerable, stabbing pain, forcing me to take the contacts out. It was physically impossible to wear them. I would be in the doctor’s office at least three times a month, trying to solve the mystery of the problem with my eye.

I was beginning to get frustrated. I didn’t mind wearing my glasses to see the board in school, but all the time? At dances? At basketball games? No. That was not okay with me. I couldn’t imagine how I would be laughed at by my peers on the court. I hoped and prayed the doctor would cure my illness soon. That hope was soon crushed. No medicine had worked, and there was nothing left to try. He advised that I wear my glasses full time. But I couldn’t hate my glasses more.

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。

Whenever someone walked up to me, I would immediately be seized by embarrassment.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

However, a kind girl named Anne also with glasses in the basketball team made me feel better.

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