3 . A year ago, my wife and I sold one of our cars and replaced it with an e-bike. I knew that passenger vehicles are responsible for much of our greenhouse-gas emissions. I also knew that electric cars were an imperfect fix. Though they’re responsible for less carbon pollution than gas cars, their supply chain is carbon intensive. But an e-bike’s comparatively tiny battery means less electricity, fewer emissions and fewer resources. E-bikes are clearly better for the planet than cars of any kind.

But I also viewed getting rid of my car as a sacrifice. I live in Colorado; e-biking would mean freezing in winter and sweating in summer. It was the right thing to do, I thought, but it was not going to be fun.

I was very wrong. The first thing I noticed was the savings. Between car payments, insurance, maintenance (保养), and gas, a car-centered lifestyle is expensive. I predict that we’ll save about $50,000 over the next five years by selling our car.

The actual experience of riding to work each day over the past year has been equally surprising. In winter, I wear gloves, warm socks, a thick cap, and a ski jacket when I ride, and I am almost never too cold. In summer, I didn’t break a sweat. I just used the throttle (油门), sat back, and enjoyed my ride.

I arrived to work a little more lighthearted for having spent the morning in fresh air rather than traffic. I jumped on my bike after a stressful day at work and rode home down a street edged with changing fall leaves. I felt more connected to the physical environment around me than I had when I’d traveled the same route surrounded by metal and glass.

1. Why did the author change a car for an e-bike?

A．He wanted to do something good for environment.

B．He thought that e-bikes would replace gas vehicles.

C．He couldn’t afford the expensive transportation costs.

D．He believed e-bike’s supply chain was environment-friendly.

2. What did the author think he would sacrifice for the e-biking?

A．The traffic safety.	B．The traffic comfort.
C．The traffic economy.	D．The traffic convenience.

3. What is the author’s feeling about having ridden an e-bike for a year?

A．Tolerant.

B．Unexpected.

C．Conservative.

D．Compromising.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Changes Brought by an E-bike	B．My Green Life for the Last Year
C．The Replacement for Gas Vehicles	D．Comparation Between Cars and E-bikes

4 . Nature has the power to alter an element’s identity with time and space. This is evident by the transformative effect Britain’s deep coal mines have been showing after decades of being one of the biggest reasons for pollution. Now, they’re being employed to supply green energy to the town of Gateshead. The town is the first place to experience something like this in the country, but the success of the phenomenon has encouraged the authorities to apply it to other towns.

In 2021, coal was just producing 2% of electricity in the UK. Most of the electricity in the country is being supplied through oil and gas. This has resulted in massive abandoned coal mines all across the country. As years went by, these mines were flooded with water, making it a source of geothermal（地热的） energy, which is used to generate heat and electricity. Gateshead hosts such a mine in its town, whose council, therefore, launched a mine water project in March 2023.

The authorities put in a large central heat pump in the mine. Mine water can often sit with a temperature of 45℃. The water is then pumped using appliances to home heat pumps. The process increases the temperature further. The water then goes ahead and warms up the interior space and home water supply. After the heat from the water has been used, it’s sent back to the mine where it again goes through the same process. The project has been successful in supplying low-carbon heating to 350 high-rise buildings, a college and several office buildings.

“Recovering heat from mine water below the ground within abandoned coal mines provides an exciting opportunity to generate a low-carbon secure supply of heat, benefitting people living or working in buildings on the coalfields,” said Gareth Farr, head of heat and by-product innovation at the Coal Authority.

The water resources through the mines are estimated to be two billion cubic meters or half the amount of water in Loch Ness. Farr added, “With many millions of people living upon abandoned coalfields in Great Britain, the potential for mine water heat could be significant.”

1. What does the town of Gateshead feature?

A．It’s been one of the most heavily polluted areas.	B．It has the most deep coal mines nationally.
C．It mainly relies on geothermal energy.	D．It is the first one to reuse abandoned coal mines.

2. Why were many coal mines abandoned in the UK?

A．They were quite remote.	B．Prices of coal declined a lot.
C．There weren’t enough miners.	D．The UK prioritizes cleaner energy.

3. What is implied in the last paragraph?

A．The number of abandoned coal mines is stably increasing.

B．The future of sourcing energy from coal mines is promising.

C．The dependence on water resources in the UK is decreasing.

D．The technique to take advantage of mine water is impressive.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．An innovative way to obtain green energy.	B．A method of living in harmony with nature.
C．A national project for abandoned facilities.	D．A discussion on the future of coal mines.

6 . When talking to babies, humans slow down their speech, raise their pitch (音高) and change the “color” of their voice. This “baby talk”, as people know it, increases the baby’s attention and facilitates language learning. Among animals, mothers often engage in child-directed vocalizations (发声) too, but does this also imply voice changes? A team of scientists that included Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) researchers explored whether child-directed communication in bats resulted in vocalization changes.

They focused on a bat called Saccopteryx bilineata, a common Central and South American species with a remarkable vocal skill. During their first three months of life, as S. bilineata pups (幼崽) start experimenting with their “speech”, female and male adult bats respond to them differently. Through sound recordings of their vocal interactions, the research team found that mother bats “babble” as they interact with pups, which could be interpreted as delightful feedback to pups during vocal practice.

Much like human “baby talk”, the child-directed vocalizations of adult females presented a different “color” and pitch than the calls directed towards other adult bats. Male bats also communicated with the pups, but in a way that seemed to carry the “vocal signature” of their social group. “Pup isolation calls sound more similar to those of males from the same social group than to those of other males,” said Mirjam Knornschild, STRI research associate. “These results suggest that adult male vocalizations may serve as guidance for the development of group signatures in pup calls.”

This is the first time that scientists describe a phenomenon that could resemble “baby talk” among bats, indicating that parent-offspring communication in bats is more complex than previous thought and opening new avenues for further research.

“These results show that social feedback is important during vocal development, not only in humans but also in other vocal-learning species like Saccopteryx bilineata,” said Mirjam. “I believe that bats are a very promising species to investigate key shared features of language, such as the vocal learning ability, and that this study will inspire further studies in the biolinguistics field.”

1. What did the scientists aim to discover through their research?

A．The vocal range of human voices.

B．The best way to attract kids’ attention.

C．The effects of “baby talk” on vocalization.

D．The reason for bats’ gradual voice changes.

2. On what occasion does a mother bat “babble”?

A．When she does not feel secure.	B．When she is searching for food.
C．When she has food to feed her pups.	D．When she is happy to interact with pups.

3. What can we learn about bat pup calls from Paragraph 3?

A．They have a higher pitch and changeable “color”.

B．They sound more similar to those of their moms.

C．They are mainly determined by their adult males.

D．They are directed by female bats of the same group.

4. How does Mirjam view the role of social feedback on vocal development?

A．Positively.

B．Doubtfully.

C．Cautiously.

D．Critically.

8 . Noelia Garella, Latin America’s first teacher with Down syndrome (唐氏综合征), is revolutionizing her community’s education system.

Today, Garella, 31, is in charge of an Argentinian preschool class designed to teach 2- and 3-year-olds how to read. “I love this,” Garella told Agence France-Presse. “Ever since I was little, I have always wanted to be a teacher.”

Her own experience as a child was marked with misfortune—in her youth, she was rejected from a preschool and called horrible names, even by adults. One school director told Garella’s mother, Mercedes Cabrera, “No monsters here,” according to The National.

But Garella has found an approach to turning her negative experiences into something constructive. “That teacher is like a story that I read to the children,” she said. “She is a sad monster, who knows nothing and gets things wrong.”

The director responsible for employing Garella, Alejandra Senestrari, didn’t make that same mistake. “We very quickly realized that she had a strong sense of duty,” she told AFP. “She gave what the children in nursery classes most appreciate, which is love.”

When Garella was employed to take on her own class in January, she still faced controversy (争议). But, with the help of her parents and other educators and supporters, she fought for her dream. “With time, even those who had been opposed joined in the initiative to employ Noelia as a teacher,” Senestrari said. Her students, however, never had to get used to the idea of a teacher with Down syndrome—they loved her from the beginning.

Garella has been an assistant in the school’s reading classes since 2012—and was more than deserving of a promotion. Garella’s dreams are big, but her mission for her pupils is simple: “I want them to read and listen, because in society, people have to listen to one another.”

1. What is the school director’s attitude towards Noelia Garella according to paragraph 3?

A．Noelia Garella was fairly treated by the school director.

B．Noelia Garella was given sympathy by the school director.

C．Noelia Garella was treated badly.

D．Noelia Garella was not rejected directly by the school director.

2. What does the underlined word “She” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The teacher in Noelia Carella’s heart.

B．One peer Noelia Garella met.

C．The school director who turned a deaf ear to Noelia Garella.

D．The schoolmaster of Noelia Garella’s school.

3. What qualities did Noelia Garella have according to Alejandra Senestrari ?

A．smart and lovely

B．gifted and strict

C．proud and grateful

D．responsible and caring

4. What description of Noelia Garella is correct according to the text?

A．She quit her occupation.

B．She was well received by her students.

C．She was doubted by other educators.

D．She began to teach listening in school.

9 . The case for and against social media

Is social media harmful to teenagers?     1     Social media sites have been blamed for most of the world’s social problems from feeling disconnected and lonely to having difficulty forming meaningful relationships. Yet, many of us feel a need to use social media because it offers something we cannot find elsewhere, despite knowing the downsides.     2    

An argument for social media claims it can strengthen social bonds by facilitating relationships with people in different geographical areas. For example, social media has helped old school friends to get back in touch after many years without contact.     3     These are real benefits of using social media.

    4     The argument used by many people is that interactions on social media are no substitute for face-to-face communication. When you are out with friends how many times do they check their phones? for example.     5     Research highlights it is far more satisfying to physically laugh out loud in real life rather than to replace the act with a typed representation of laughter such as “haha” or “LOL”.       

Ideally, we should have enough self-control to be able to limit our use of social media, enjoying the benefits it can bring.

A．The disadvantages of social media.

B．In my opinion, the disadvantages of social media outweigh the benefits.

C．It is all too easy to become absorbed in this online life rather than communicate in real life.

D．People secure jobs now through social media or research information for their studies.

E．This is the question we are going to examine.

F．We will look at the arguments for and against using social media before answering the question.

G．We aim to control our use of social media.

10 . One of the most commonly asked questions in the English language is “How are you?” and whether a person is feeling happy or sad, excited or lonely, fantastic or heartbroken they will just about always answer “Fine”. Why is this? Is it because humans are not good at expressing their emotions? Maybe it is just that emotions are often too personal or too complex to be shared in a casual conversation. However, for centuries, people have often expressed their emotions on paper, in the form of poetry.

The beauty of poetry is that the emotions the poet is trying to convey are often disguised in images so that the poet can maintain a feeling of privacy. For example, in Li Bai’s poem, “Seeing Meng Haoran Off at Yellow Crane Tower”, the poet describes the sail of his friend’s boat rules disappearing into the distance while he watches the river rolling by. This could seem merely like the description of a beautiful scene, but by reading into the poem, you can sense the deep sadness and loneliness that his friend’s leaving has caused him.

Poetry is also written to celebrate positive human emotions like joy, love and happiness. Throughout history, men and women have written poems to their loved ones to express their deep feelings. Poems about nature, which express the poet’s appreciation of the beauty in the world around him or her, are also common. Sadly, many poems have also been written to express anger at the destruction of nature and reactions to horrific events like war and death.

The interesting thing about poetry is that anyone reading a poem can have their own view or feelings about it and heated discussions can often arise over what the poet was originally trying to say or express. Poetry can be interpreted in many different ways. Often, a poem that one person loves another hates. Equally, a poem that one person understands and relates to, may turn another person off.

1. What is the purpose of questions in Para. 1?

A．To introduce a topic.

B．To teach people how to start a conversation.

C．To have empathy with reader.

D．To review the commonly asked questions.

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

A．seen

B．described

C．hidden

D．disclosed

3. According to the author, which of the following is not false?

A．Humans wish they could be better at expressing their feelings.

B．Many human emotions are very hard to capture in casual conversations.

C．Human emotions are too intense and wide-ranging to be expressed by most people.

D．Poetry is the most important way to express people’s inner feelings.

4. According to the author, what makes poetry particularly interesting?

A．The difference in how different readers interpret and appreciate a poem.

B．The imagery that a poet can use to express emotions can be misunderstood by the reader.

C．The ability of the reader to clearly understand the meaning of a poem.

D．Poets’ unique description and fantastic language about poems.