2 . You’ll make new friends in each stage of your life. Some of them will come and go, while others will last for the rest of your life.     1    .

    2    . According to experts, many people regret not keeping friendships going and end up living a life with no close friends or even enduring mental and physical sufferings. So making time for your friendships is vital to a healthy life. People who have healthy friendships tend to enjoy life more and may even live longer.

If you are lacking in good friendships, it’s not too late. There are a lot of ways to make new friends that can stay with you for the rest of your life.     3    . If you have kids, join a mom’s group, or sign your child up for classes where you’ll naturally meet other parents. It is also a wise choice to make friends with people you work with.     4    .

Sometimes it’s a good idea to let a friendship go, even if you’ve been friends for a long time. If one party isn’t making an effort to keep things going, it can lead to feelings of hurt and betrayal.     5    . While this can be sad, it can actually improve your quality of life. Besides, it can encourage you to focus on the partnerships that are healthy and where both of you are committed to keeping it going for your entire life.

A．Look for people who share things with you.

B．Friendship can help you get through mental and physical sufferings.

C．There are many benefits of having strong friendships.

D．It might be time to let things cool off and pursue other friendships.

E．Lifelong friendships are what most people desire.

F．This toxic friendship may bring you nothing but hurt.

G．You can get built-in opportunities to spend time with each other.

3 . Generation Z is different. As a whole, Americans born between the late 1990s and early 2000s are less likely to have work or look for it: their labour-force-participation rate is 71%, compared with 75% for millennials (born between 1980 and the late 1990s) and 78% for Generation X (born in the decade or so to 1980) when each came of age. As a result, they make up a smaller share of the workforce. With graduation ceremonies behind them, the latest group of diploma-holders are entering the job market. What they want from employers is also not quite the same as in generations past.

Although Gen-Z employees felt more lonely and isolated than their older colleagues at the start of the pandemic, the ability to work remotely has brought new possibilities. The benefits go beyond working in your pyjamas. Many are taking calls from beach chairs and hammocks (吊床) in more comfortable places or fleeing big cities in search for cheaper or larger homes.

This has big implications. Industries with jobs that cannot be done from home are falling out of favour with recent graduates. A study by ManpowerGroup, an employment company, suggests an inverse relationship (反比关系) between talent shortages and flexible working policies. The sectors which are either less able to offer remote work or have been slower to embrace it-including construction, finance and manufacturing-have faced some of the biggest skills gaps for all types of jobs.

That in turn has accelerated a pre-existing trend of young employees trading Wall Street for Silicon Valley. Now technology bosses are more willing than their opposite competitors in finance to let employees work from home (or anywhere else). Annual rankings of employer desirability by Universum, a graduate-staffing consultancy, bear this out. In 2008 the list of best employers graded by American graduates was dominated by big banks and the Big Four consulting firms. By 2021 seven of the ten highest spots were occupied by tech and media giants.

1. What does the underlined word “diploma-holders” in the first paragraph refer to?

A．Employees.

B．Students.

C．Graduates.

D．Shareholders.

2. Why do Gen-Z employees prefer work remotely?

A．They can’t afford to live in big cities.

B．They want to spend their days on the beach.

C．They want to work in a more flexible way.

D．They prefer wearing pyjamas while working

3. What does the study by ManpowerGroup suggest?

A．All walks of life are facing some of the biggest skills gaps.

B．Industries with jobs that cannot be done from home are less popular.

C．Industries with flexible working policies may suffer talent shortages.

D．Construction, finance and manufacturing can’t offer remote work.

4. Why does the author mention Wall Street and Silicon Valley?

A．To show that job-hopping among young employees is popular.

B．To indicate that young people prefer to work in big companies.

C．To weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the two industries.

D．To prove that tech firms are more attractive due to its flexible working ways.

4 . Leek Town Warriors was a girls’ football team which used to get routinely defeated every time they turned out, until James Henry stepped in two years ago. He tended to transform the team’s fortunes and then took the job when the previous coach quit. With the help of his assistant Andy Austin, they started training hard in April 2020.

Some players had never kicked a football before joining the team, so training them took hours of hard work and patience. After a good few weeks, they got down to training and really started to take it in what the coach wanted. “I insist on doing the basic stuff well and letting the girls decide what they feel they need to work on.” James said.

James’ first season was ruined by the pandemic, which forced him and Andy to get creative with training. They organized team-building activities with the girls to help them bond on and off the field. James then spent the sessions they could hold focusing on the basics of football like passing and shooting, bringing the girls up to a good standard.

James watched the girls develop over the course of last year, and in September they played their first match of the new season. They won the game, and since then went on an unbeaten run of eight games. The team’s star player, 15-year-old Chelsea, has also impressed the audience individually, becoming the top scorer in the league with incredible 30 goals.

James said, “All the effort that the girls, us coaches and parents have put in to get this point has been enormous. If I hadn’t had the support of Andy helping me every week, this would have been an impossible task. So I’m incredibly grateful to have him on side. All we want is to bring more girls into the game and show that it’s not all about having the best players; it’s about hard work and giving everyone the chance to play.”

1. Why did James Henry take over the soccer team?

A．Because he wanted to try his luck.

B．Because he wanted to turn things around.

C．Because the previous coach recommended him.

D．Because he hoped to fulfill his champion dream.

2. What did James do to change the situation?

A．Lay stress on basic skills.	B．Develop players’ patience.
C．Pick experienced players.	D．Make decisions for the girls.

3. What did the team achieve after James was in charge?

A．They became an unbeaten team in the new season.

B．They stood out in James’ first season.

C．They scored 30 goals in the new season.

D．They won regularly and secured progress.

4. What can we learn from the story?

A．Talent is the key.	B．Joint efforts matter.
C．Every dog has his day.	D．Time and tide wait for no man.

5 . Weald & Downland Living Museum

Fun fact

Over 50 historic buildings from across the Weald and Downland area have been dismantled (拆除) and then reconstructed across a lovely 40-acre site in the south downs national park.

The collection of buildings represents almost a thousand years of rural life in south-east England: furnished just as they would have been in the past-complete with the homes, farms and public buildings. There’s a sense of exploring a real village as you wander between them along green paths, stopping to climb the stairs of a 17th-century craftsman’s (工匠) cottage to lie on the straw bed or sheltering from a shower in a smoky, 14th-century hall.

Getting there

The Stagecoach 60 bus service from Chichester to Midhurst stops just five minutes away at Grooms Yard, Singleton. The nearest railway stations are Chichester (2 miles) and Haslemere (7 miles). The museum is on Town Lane in Singleton, reached via the A286 from Chichester to Midhurst. Parking is free and there are disabled parking spaces opposite the museum shop.

Value for money?

Yes. It’s not cheap but it’s a special experience that easily fills a day. Plus it’s a valuable cause worth supporting. Adults £14, children 5—17 and students £6.50, under-4s free, family £38 (two adults and two children) or £25 (one adult and three children).

Opening hours

Daily 10 a.m.—5 p.m. (last entry 4 p.m.).

1. What can visitors do in Weald & Downland Living Museum?

A．Take a shower in the smoky hall.	B．Learn construction techniques.
C．Experience rural life centuries ago.	D．Stay overnight at craftsman s cottage.

2. How much would a couple with their 3-year-old daughter pay for admission?

A．£25.

B．£28.

C．£34.5.

D．£38.

3. What do we know about Weald & Downland Living Museum?

A．It charges parking fees.

B．It allows visitors to enter until 5 p.m.

C．It is inconveniently located for bus riders.

D．It offers the disabled thoughtful service.

6 . For people suffering from depression, there’s an all-natural treatment they should use — getting more exercise. It could help fight depression, even if people have a genetic risk, new research shows.

For the study, researchers collected information from nearly 8,000 people and found those with related genes were more likely to have depression over the next two years after examining them. But that was less likely for people who were more active at the study’s start, even if they had a family history of depression. Higher levels of physical activity helped protect even those with the highest genetic risk of depression.

Both high-intensity (高强度) exercise and low-intensity activities were associated with a reduced risk of depression. Adding four hours of exercise a week could lower the risk of a new episode (一段经历) of depression by 17%, according to the study. “Our findings strongly suggest that, when it comes to depression, being physically active has the potential to remove the added risk of future episodes in individuals who are genetically risky,” said lead author Karmel Choi. “On average, about 35 additional minutes of physical activity each day may help people to reduce their risk and protect against future depression episodes.”

Depression is a common mental illness globally, with more than 264 million people affected. “Depression is so ubiquitous, and that underlines the need for effective approaches that can impact as many people as possible,” Choi said. And mental health and primary care providers can use the findings to advise patients that there’s something meaningful they can do to lower their risk of depression.

1. How did the researchers reach their conclusion?

A．By analyzing a mass of data.

B．By conducting genetic research.

C．By comparing various levels of activity.

D．By tracking the subjects for many years.

2. What does the study show about depression?

A．Physical activity betters medical treatment.

B．Exercise is able to decrease and prevent it.

C．Different levels of exercise intensity matter the same.

D．Exercising 35 minutes daily is the most effective treatment.

3. What does the underlined word “ubiquitous” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Harmful.	B．Complex.
C．Unusual.	D．Common.

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To discuss a disease.

B．To introduce a method.

C．To analyze a genetic risk.

D．To explain a phenomenon.

7 . When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.

Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note — “Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery” — and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically (魔术般) appear.

All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.

There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.

Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊) . Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.

1. Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer to __________.

A．show his magical power	B．pay for the delivery
C．satisfy his curiosity	D．please his mother

2. What can be inferred from the fact that the milkman had the key to the boy’s house?

A．He wanted to have tea there.	B．He was a respectable person.
C．He was treated as a family member.	D．He was fully trusted by the family.

3. Why does home milk delivery no longer exist?

A．Nobody wants to be a milkman now.	B．It has been driven out of the market.
C．Its service is getting poor.	D．It is not allowed by law.

4. Why did the author bring back home an old milk box?

A．He missed the good old days.	B．He wanted to tell interesting stories.
C．He needed it for his milk bottles.	D．He planted flowers in it.

9 . More than the challenge of fitting into a new culture, there are many benefits that a student can get from an exchange program. These benefits include:

·Diverse academic opportunities. In fact, students want to study abroad rather than travel.     1     Instead, it will be the supply of diverse opportunities for the student. For example, the student will be able to experience the differences of teaching methods, educational formats and academic program offerings.

·    2     Studying in another country opens the student’s eyes to different surroundings, which makes the student know about the country’s customs, people and regions. Knowing other culture also teaches the student how to be open-minded.

·Personality development.     3     Thus, the student needs to make decisions on his or her own and suffer the consequences or enjoy the fruits of those decisions. With this, the student is taught how real life is, what it means to be responsible, and how being resourceful can help in his or her survival. It’s no wonder that most students who return after the exchange program are seen with significant improvement on their personal development.     4    

So, why not let your child have the benefits of a student exchange program? Exchange programs or study-abroad programs are a great investment for the student.     5     Just imagine, by transforming students in a foreign country, the society is starting to build new blood of more mature people who might just be able to create a better tomorrow for the generations to come.

A．Improved protection of social rights.

B．Better awareness of cultural differences.

C．More importantly, it is helpful for the improvement of the society.

D．Most of them are more confident and have better decision-making skills.

E．The hosting school can also benefit by making a student’s dream come true.

F．Although students really love traveling, studying is not an activity filled with travel fun at all times.

G．Being an exchange student often means living far away from home and parental guidance.

10 . The Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University have turned an electric car into a mobile laboratory named “Drive LAB” in order to understand the challenges faced by older drivers and to discover where the key stress points are.

Research shows that giving up driving is one of the key reasons for a fall in health and well-being among older people, leading to them becoming more isolated and inactive.

Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle technologies for older drivers which they hope could help them to continue driving into later life.

These include custom-made navigation (导航) tools, night vision systems and intelligent speed adaptations. Phil Blythe explains: “For many older people, particularly those living alone or in the country driving is important for keeping their independence, giving them the freedom to get out and about without having to rely on others.”

“But we all have to accept that as we get older our reactions slow down and this often results in people avoiding any potentially challenging driving conditions and losing confidence in their driving skills. The result is that people stop driving before they really need to.”

Dr Amy Guo, the leading researcher on the older driver study, explains, “The Drive LAB is helping us to understand what the key stress points and difficulties are for older drivers and how we might use technology to solve these problems.”

“For example, most of us would expect older drivers always go slower than everyone else but surprisingly, we found that in 30mph zones they struggled to keep at a constant speed and so were more likely to break the speed limit and be at risk of getting fined. We’re looking at the benefits of systems which control their speed as a way of preventing that.”

“We hope that our work will help with technological solutions to ensure that older drivers stay safer behind the wheel.”

1. What is the purpose of the Drive LAB?

A．To explore new means of transport.	B．To design new types of cars.
C．To teach people traffic rules.	D．To find out older driver’s problems.

2. Why is driving important for older people according to Phil Blythe?

A．It keeps them independent.	B．It helps them save time.
C．It builds up their strength.	D．It cures their mental illnesses.

3. What do researchers hope to do for older people?

A．Ensure their safety with the help of technology.

B．Improve their diving skills.

C．Provide advice on repairing their cars.

D．Organize regular physical checkups.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A New Model Electric Car	B．Keeping Older Drivers on the Road
C．A Solution to Traffic Problems	D．Driving Services for Elders