1 . The local government killed more than 34,000 stray dogs (流浪狗) several months ago because those officials were afraid that the dogs would spread rabies (狂犬病).
This caused a debate across the country. Some people said that it was very cruel to dogs. There might be a better way to prevent the disease.
In the future, killing stray dogs might be seen as a crime. Last month, the Chinese government published a draft of animal rights laws. It says that a person who kills a stray dog without one good reason will be put in prison.
The draft also says that animal abuse and abandoning animals will be considered crimes under the criminal law.
The government published the draft so that the public could read it and discuss their thoughts. People have different reactions. Some think the law is good. They say other countries like Britain and Japan have similar laws. They say we will do better at protecting animals if there is one. But others say it’s not crucial to fight animal abuse with a new law. Criticism and fines can do the job.
Some people also say that the draft doesn’t deal with the biggest issues facing the country’s development. The country should make progress to give all people equal rights, they say, before turning attention to animals.
Another part of the draft is causing discussion. It says that people should not force animals to do something dangerous, like jumping through a ring of fire. But many people enjoy watching this kind of performance at the circus, especially kids. They say that if the animal does it properly, it will not get hurt.
1. Why did the local government kill many dogs?| A．The dogs were dirty. | B．Those officials wanted to prevent rabies. |
| C．The dogs were homeless. | D．Those officials wanted to eat the dogs. |
| A．Killing a dog with rabies. | B．Beating an animal for fun. |
| C．Abandoning a blind pet dog. | D．Forcing a cat to jump through a ring of fire. |
| A．All people agree with the law. |
| B．Criticism and fines can protect animals. |
| C．Protecting animals is the biggest issue in China. |
| D．People have different opinions on the law. |
| A．People can’t kill stray dogs any longer. |
| B．The country won’t have human right problems. |
| C．Kids may not be able to watch animals’ performances in a circus. |
| D．Animals will not be killed. |
2 . A happy beagle (小猎犬) called Bella loves Amazon boxes. It tears into them while ignoring other delivery boxes. Little Bit, a tortoiseshell cat, is similarly consumed — but by socks. It raids (偷袭) the laundry basket in the middle of the night and also paws through the open suitcases of house guests, who almost always find themselves missing a sock in the morning. Pets do some pretty weird things. But these strange behaviors often make perfect sense to the pets, said scientists who study animal behaviors. “These behaviors are not invented on the spot,” said Carlo Siracusa, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. The pets are doing behaviors that their wild ancestors did, but they’ve changed them a bit to fit their new lives as pets.
Dogs can be trained to roll over and play dead. But their ancient instincts from their wolf ancestors are still there. Instincts, or instinctive behaviors, are behaviors that are done without thinking. They don’t have to be learned. For example, some dogs will scratch the ground after pooping(排便). But they’re not trying to bury their poop. They want other animals to notice it. “They are depositing smell in those areas,” Siracusa said. “It’s almost like drawing a picture with a big red marker around it,” he added.
Cats, on the other hand, almost always bury their waste. “They are covering their tracks,” says Monique Udell, an expert on human-animal interactions who works at Oregon State University. Cats are predators, meaning they hunt other animals for food. But other animals hunt them, too. So they don’t want to be seen-or smelled. Mikel Delgado, the founder of a California-based cat behavior consulting service, said that many other cat behaviors, arise from cats’ wild origins.
While dogs share many behaviors inherited (继承) from wolves, they’ve also developed a few of their own. “Puppy dog eyes”, the innocent look that many humans are helpless to resist, is one. Over the time period that they’ve lived with people, dogs have developed certain muscles around their eyes. This helps them make the adorable expressions that win over humans. Like wolves, dogs also like to lick faces. Humans think their pets are kissing them, but they are not. “It’s how wolf puppies get food from their parents’ mouths,” Siracusa said. “It also can be a sign of submission. When a lower-ranking individual approaches a higher-ranking one, it gets down real low and licks the dominant one to say: ‘I’m not a threat to you.’”
1. What has been done to introduce the topic in Paragraph 1?| A．Telling a story. | B．Making a comparison. |
| C．Presenting research results. | D．Criticizing pets’ bad behaviors. |
| A．leaving | B．hiding | C．removing | D．detecting |
| A．Cats are interested in burying their waste. |
| B．Humans like the fact that their pet cats bury their waste. |
| C．Pet cats bury their waste because their wild ancestors did so. |
| D．Cats have changed a lot after becoming pets. |
| A．Wolves run energetically around dominant wolves. |
| B．Wolves show dominant wolves “puppy dog eyes”. |
| C．Wolves beg food from dominant wolves. |
| D．Wolves lick dominant wolves’ faces. |
3 . At eleven, I decided to learn to swim. There was a pool at the YMCA offering exactly the opportunity. My mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind the details of each drowning in the river. But the YMCA pool was safe.
I had a childhood fear of water. This started when I was three years old and my father took me to the beach.The huge waves knocked me down and swept over me.
The pool was quiet. I was afraid of going in all alone, so I sat on one side of the pool to wait for others. Then came a big boy. He yelled, “Hi, how’d you like to be ducked?” With that he picked me up and threw me into the deep end.I landed in a sitting position, and swallowed water. But I was not frightened out of my wits—when my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump to come out of the surface. It seemed a long way down. I gathered all my strength when I landed and made what I thought was a great spring upwards. Then I opened my eyes and saw nothing but water. I tried to yell but no sound came out. I went down, down, endlessly.
When I came to consciousness, I found myself lying on the bed in the hospital.
I never went back to the pool. I avoided water whenever I could. This misadventure stayed with me as the years rolled by.It deprived(剥夺) me of the joy of boating and swimming. Finally, I decided to get an instructor. Piece by piece, he built a swimmer. Several months later, the instructor was finished, but I was not .Sometimes the terror would return.
This went on until July. I swam across the Lake Went worth.Only once did the terror return. When I was in the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw nothing but bottomless water. I laughed and said, “Well, Mr Terror, what do you think you can do to me?” I had conquered my fear of water.
1. What was the author’s original fear of water caused by?| A．His poor skill in swimming. |
| B．His mother’s warning of drowning. |
| C．An outing to the beach with his father. |
| D．An unpleasant memory of the pool. |
| A．He knew how to swim in the pool. |
| B．He felt that the YMCA pool was safe. |
| C．He was waiting for others to save him. |
| D．He came up with an idea to go upwards. |
| A．He was still a poor swimmer. |
| B．He had not overcome the fear yet. |
| C．He was not afraid of drowning any more. |
| D．He was not satisfied with the swimming training. |
| A．Goodbye,Mr Terror |
| B．Hello,Childhood Fear |
| C．A Swimming Adventure |
| D．My Passion for Swimming |
4 . Artificial intelligence (AI ) has been increasingly good at fooling people. A series of photos showing former US president Donald Trump being aggressively arrested by police have caught people’s attention. They were fake but very convincing.
Created by the AI program Midjourney, the photos were highly realistic, from the characters’ movements to the surroundings. However, many details can give away the fact that they are made by AI. The Washington Post’s technology writer Shira Ovide shared her tips. The main idea is to spot the problems anything that would look strange in a photo.
AI software has a history of generating human hands incorrectly. It sometimes can create hands with more than five fingers. This is because AI isn’t sure what a “hand” exactly is, according to Popular Science. The data AI uses to learn often show hands and fingers in various gestures, which can be very confusing for AI.
AI-generated images also usually contain details that are against reality. To spot this, focus on items like accessories. For example, people in an image may be missing earrings or one part of their sunglasses. If there’s text in an image, such as a newspaper or poster, it’s usually garbled (篡改), even though the text may look realistic from a distance.
Another thing AI is terrible at handling is the background. If there’s a crowd in the image, people’s faces in the background are usually blurry - or they don’t have faces at all!
The development of AI-generated art also raises alarm bells about how these fake images could be used to spread misinformation. “I think misinformation is going to hit an all-time high,” Jamie Cohen, a digital culture and AI expert in the US, told New York Post. Generating an AI artwork is to “create reality”, Cohen argued, adding that, being able to tell whether the work is real or not requires high media literacy(素养) skills. “The world may not be ready for how realistic the images have become,” Shane Kittelson, a US researcher, told The Washington Post.
1. Why are Donald Trump’s photos mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．To draw more people’s attention. |
| B．To make people convinced of the news. |
| C．To show the AI-generated images were fake. |
| D．To prove that it’s easy for AI to cheat people. |
| A．It is unable to recognize human hands. |
| B．The data it uses to learn contain errors. |
| C．It doesn’t fully understand human hands. |
| D．It has insufficient data about human hands. |
| A．AI artworks may not be reflective of true creativity. |
| B．It’s high time to address the risks posed by AI works. |
| C．AI artworks will replace traditional art forms in the future. |
| D．Detecting real art demands strong media literacy competence. |
| A．A news report. | B．A diary. |
| C．A research paper. | D．A science fiction. |
5 . Having spent more than a decade on the dance floor, ROME — Niccolo Filippi, a 23-year-old Italian dance performer, recently decided to explore Chinese culture and its traditional dance forms and believes that this experience will not only boost his career, but also broaden his horizons beyond the world of dance.
His interest in diversifying his skills grew after he stumbled upon a short video of traditional Chinese-styled dance on YouTube. “I saw it as an art that combines tradition and modernity, which was mostly the reason why I liked it,” says Filippi.
Ever since, he has been closely following Chinese dance performers and watching numerous videos to learn more about the traditional style that he admires. “I prefer the traditional style because of its light movements. It also reflects my personality with elegance,” he adds.
Filippi’s chance came when he was invited to perform for a Chinese New Year celebration in the central Italian city of Florence. He has since fully committed himself to the art form, learning several pieces and putting his newfound passion into practice.
“The biggest difference that I found (compared to other disciplines) is the change of mood and emotional expressions among dances,” says Filippi, adding that he needed to shift from the dynamic moves of hip-hop to the graceful and fluid movements of Chinese dance. Despite various obstacles, Filippi’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Two of his friends shared videos of his performances on social media, and the response was overwhelming. One video garnered 500,000 views, while the other received 200,000 views.
Filippi believes that learning about different cultures is priceless, and he sees it as a means of personal growth. “I like to think of a person as a book,” he says. “Embracing different traditions and cultures, such as Chinese culture and many others, is like adding new chapters to my book, making it more diverse and wonderful.”
1. What is the main reason why Filippi falls in love with traditional Chinese dance?| A．Its potential to boost his career. | B．Its mix of traditional and modern elements. |
| C．Its graceful and light movements. | D．Its true reflection of his elegant personality. |
| A．By listing numbers. | B．By giving an example. |
| C．By sharing a story. | D．By making a comparison. |
| A．Filippi thinks little of learning from other cultures. |
| B．People prefer to write down their past experiences. |
| C．Accepting various cultures boosts personal growth. |
| D．A book with chapters on traditions is more wonderful. |
| A．Chinese-styled dance videos go viral on social media. |
| B．An Italian’s dance journey towards specialization starts. |
| C．Filippi’s desire for Chinese culture extends beyond dance. |
| D．An Italian dancer shows passion for Chinese-styled dance. |
6 . A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist high ruins, smelly and dirty.
Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was. “No charge,” she said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.
As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage (抵押贷款) on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for Slate, the online magazine, and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans.
It sounded too good to be true, but I replied, thanking him for his exceptional generosity, that we had no plans to go back. Then a poet at the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.
Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing your worldly possessions to be reminded that people are really nice when given half a chance.
1. The garage employee’s attitude towards the author was that of .| A．unconcern | B．sympathy |
| C．doubt | D．tolerance |
| A．He was a writer of an online magazine. |
| B．He was a poet at the University of Florida. |
| C．He offered the author a new house free of charge. |
| D．He learned about the author’s sufferings via e-mail. |
| A．the author’s family was in financial difficulty |
| B．rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster |
| C．houses were difficult to find in the hurricane-stricken area |
| D．the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank |
7 . Eliana Yi dreamed of pursuing piano performance in college, never mind that her fingers could barely reach the length of an octave (八度音阶). Unable to fully play many works by Romantic-era composers, including Beethoven and Brahms, she tried anyway — and in her determination to spend hours practicing one of Chopin’s compositions which is known for being “stretchy”, wound up injuring herself.
“I would just go to pieces,” the Southern Methodist University junior recalled. “There were just too many octaves. I wondered whether I was just going to play Bach and Mozart for the rest of my life.”
The efforts of SMU keyboard studies chair Carol Leone are changing all that. Twenty years ago, the school became the first major university in the U.S. to incorporate smaller keyboards into its music program, leveling the playing field for Yi and other piano majors.
Yi reflected on the first time she tried one of the smaller keyboards: “I remember being really excited because my hands could actually reach and play all the right notes,” she said. Ever since, “I haven’t had a single injury, and I can practice as long as I want.”
For decades, few questioned the size of the conventional piano. If someone’s hand span was less than 8.5 inches — the distance considered ideal to comfortably play an octave — well, that’s just how it was.
Those who attempt “stretchy” passages either get used to omitting notes or risk tendon (腱) injury with repeated play. Leone is familiar with such challenges. Born into a family of jazz musicians, she instead favored classical music and pursued piano despite her small hand span and earned a doctorate in musical arts.
A few years after joining SMU’s music faculty in 1996, the decorated pianist read an article in Piano and Keyboard magazine about the smaller keyboards. As Leone would later write, the discovery would completely renew her life and career.
In 2000, she received a grant to retrofit a department Steinway to accommodate a smaller keyboard, and the benefits were immediate. In addition to relieving injury caused by overextended fingers, she said, it gave those with smaller spans the ability to play classic compositions taken for granted by larger-handed counterparts.
Smaller keyboards instill many with new confidence. It’s not their own limitations that have held them back, they realize; it’s the limitations of the instruments themselves. For those devoted to a life of making music, it’s as if a cloud has suddenly lifted.
1. What is the similarity between Eliana Yi and Carol Leone?| A．Their interest in jazz extended to classical music. |
| B．Short hand span used to restrict their music career. |
| C．They both joined SMU’s music faculty years ago. |
| D．Romantic-era composers’ music was easy for them. |
| A．To reduce the number of octaves. |
| B．To incorporate Bach into its music program. |
| C．To provide fair opportunities for piano majors. |
| D．To encourage pianists to spend more hours practicing. |
| A．Confident. | B．Frustrated. | C．Challenging. | D．Determined. |
| A．Who Qualifies as an Ideal Pianist? |
| B．Traditional or Innovative Piano? |
| C．Hard-working Pianists Pays off |
| D．The Story behind Retrofitted Pianos |
8 . Three months after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Rebecca Sell, then 24, a photojournalist for Fredericksburg photographed a New Orleans couple worriedly examining water-spotted photo albums. As she took the photo, something within her clicked. “I told them I could take the ruined pictures, copy them and give them digitally restored photos,” she recalls. Although a bit sceptical, the couple agreed. Rebecca took their photos home, restored them and took them to the couple at their temporary home. “It felt so good to be able to do that for them,” says Rebecca.
When her editor, Dave Ellis, saw the photo of the couple, he suggested they go back and restore damaged photos for even more people. So in January 2006, with paid time off from the newspaper, the two set up a shop in Pass Christian. After posting a notice in the community newsletter, Rebecca and Dave received 500 photos in four days. For each, the pair took a new digital picture, then used high-tech software to erase water spots and restore colors. It just so happened that a popular website linked to Dave’s blog about the experience, and soon Operation Photo Rescue, as it came to be known, had emails from hundreds of volunteers, including photographers and restoration experts, eager to help.
Though the digital restoration is a painstaking process, mending irreplaceable family pictures means the world to victims like Emily Lancaster, 71, who took out piles of ruined photo albums after Katrina, never thinking the mess could be saved. But she just couldn’t bear to part with a few treasured pictures, including a portrait of her father, who had passed away, and a photo of her husband as a boy. Then she heard about Operation Photo Rescue. “I didn’t have a whole lot of hope they could fix them, but they did,” Emily says. “Almost every day I think about all the pictures I’ve lost. I’m so happy to have these two.”
In the five years since Katrina, Operation Photo Rescue has collected thousands of pictures ruined by floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. Volunteers make “copy runs” to disaster areas across the country to gather damaged photos from survivors; operating costs are covered by donations. “It’s great to be able to give people some of their history back,” says Rebecca. “One person told me that thanks to us, her grandmother got to see her photos again before she passed away. Moments like that remind me why I do this.”
1. From Paragraph 2, we know that Dave and Rebecca ________.| A．quit their jobs in 2006 |
| B．inspired volunteers to join them |
| C．spent four days mending the photos |
| D．made their work known in their newspaper |
| A．Excited. | B．Hopeless. | C．Satisfied. | D．Sceptical. |
| A．Surviving Hurricanes | B．An Act of Generosity |
| C．Saving Memories | D．A Lucky Couple |
9 . San Francisco Fire Engine Tours
San Francisco Winery TourRunning: February 1st through April 30th
This delicious tour goes through the city on its way to Treasure Island where we will stop at the famous Winery SF. Here you can enjoy 4 pours of some of the best wine San Francisco has to offer.(Included in tickets price)
Departing from the Cannery: Tour times upon request.Duration(时长): 2 hours
Price: $90
Back to the Fifties Tour
Running: August 16th through August 31st
This tour transports you back in time to one of San Francisco’s most fantastic periods, the 1950s! Enjoy fun history as we take you through San Francisco for a free taste of ice cream.
Departing from the Cannery: 5:00 pm and 7:30 pmDuration: 2 hours
Price: $90
Spooky Halloween Tour
Running: October 10th through October 31st
Join us for a ride through the historical Presidio district. Authentic fire gear(服装) is provided for your warmth as our entertainers take you to some of the most thrilling parts of San Francisco.
Departing from the Cannery: 6:30 pm and 8:30 pmDuration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Price: Available upon request
Holiday Lights Tour
Running: December 6th through December 23rd
This attractive tour takes you to some of San Francisco’s most cheerful holiday scenes. Authentic fire gear is provided for your warmth as you get into the holiday spirit.
Departing from the Cannery: 7:00 pm and 9:00 pmDuration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Advance reservations required.
1. Which of the tours is available in March?
| A．San Francisco Winery Tour. | B．Back to the Fifties Tour. |
| C．Spooky Hallowen Tour. | D．Holiday Lights Tour. |
| A．Go to Treasure Island. | B．Enjoy the holiday scenes. |
| C．Have free ice cream. | D．Visit the Presidio district. |
| A．Take some drinks. | B．Set off early in the morning. |
| C．Wear warm clothes. | D．Make reservations in advance. |
10 . While Europe is a popular getaway among many people, London is definitely a year-round destination. There are some fantastic episodes for the visitors while in London. Here we pick some free iconic activities.
The guard handover ceremony
Watching Changing the Guard outside Buckingham Palace is a good choice for people, which is an exhibition of British ceremony. This is where one member of Queen’s Guards exchanges duty with the old guard. Both guards are dressed in traditional red uniform and bearskin hats, and the handover is accompanied by a Guards band. Changing the Guard takes place at 11:30 am. It is held daily from May to July, and on alternate (间隔的) dates throughout the rest of the year.
Geffrye Museum
A very unique experience, the Geffrye Museum, located in 18th century almshouses (救济院), gives an interesting perspective into the lives of the British middle classes from the 1600s to the present day. Explore a series of room sets and complete with furnishings and textiles (纺织品) from each phase.
Bank of England Museum
The Bank of England Museum traces the history of the bank from its foundation by Royal Charter in 1694 to its role today as the country’s central bank. There are many items you have never expected to see.
Sir John Soane’s Museum
Sir John Soane was an architect. During his lifetime he collected some valuable antiques from all four corner s of the globe. They are now on exhibition in Sir John Soane’s Museum which gives a real insight into the life of this outstanding Victorian gentleman.
Hogarth’s House
Hogarth was very famous and criticized 18th century society in his engravings (雕刻), such as A Harlot’s Progress, A Rake’s Progress and Marriage-a-la-Mode. As the name suggests, Hogarth’s House is where he lived before he died in 1764, and it’s here that you’ll find the largest collection of his paintings on public display.
1. What can you do if the visitors watch the ceremony of Changing the Guard?| A．They need to pay when watching the ceremony. |
| B．They can appreciate some music at the ceremony. |
| C．The ceremony is held at 11:30 am every day all around the year. |
| D．Changing the Guard involves two flocks of guards every time. |
| A．The political life. | B．The social life. | C．The home life. | D．The cultural life. |
| A．The Bank of England Museum is no longer the central bank of the UK. |
| B．Sir John Soane was a painter living in the Victorian era. |
| C．Sir John Soane’s Museum is a good venue to see old and valuable objects. |
| D．Hogarth’s paintings were criticized by other painters of his period. |
