1 . Have you ever had this kind of childhood memory: a family sits together casually, drinking and tasting tea after lunch or dinner?
After being spread to different parts of the world,
Traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China consist of the knowledge, skills and practices concerning the management of tea plantations (茶园) as well as the picking of tea leaves, manual processing, drinking, and sharing of tea, noted UNESCO.
Weilu zhucha is a replacement in the cold seasons for the camping craze. Sitting around a stove, boiling some tea, people chat, admire the scenery and immerse themselves in traditional Chinese culture by boiling tea together in person. “
| A．Take tea making for example. |
| B．This can be fully shown by weilu zhucha. |
| C．tea is common in Chinese people’s daily lives. |
| D．It’s good to feel the warm atmosphere when boiling tea. |
| E．China now has 43 items on the intangible cultural heritage list. |
| F．tea has delighted and fascinated the world for a thousand years. |
| G．This has been a daily activity for Chinese people throughout their history. |
2 . The “Father of Science Fiction,” Jules Verne, lived in the era of steamships and telegraphs, but was able to imagine technologies that wouldn’t be invented for over a century.
Verne isn’t the only science fiction writer to envision inventions and cultural changes long before they became a part of everyday life. Aldous Huxley predicted antidepressants in his novel Brave New World, published in 1932. John Brunner predicted electric cars in his book, Stand on Zanzibar, published in 1968.
But really, reading up on Verne’s novels made me wonder how he was able to predict so much and write so technically when he wasn’t a trained scientist, physicist or engineer. How did he do it?
Like a lot of people, Verne’s parents had their own ideas about his career. They had their hearts set on Verne becoming a lawyer. He knew he wanted to be a writer, but played along and went to school to become a lawyer like his father.
Really, Verne was mostly pretending to study law in Paris while holing up in the National Library of France and poring over (钻研) articles on discoveries in geology and science. Eventually, he came clean with his family that he wanted to write in a new genre (风格) that combined travel and science.
While he studied scientific journals and let all of the age’s cutting-edge discoveries feed the fires of his imagination, Verne surrounded himself with people who could be useful for his writing.
His brother was a naval officer, and Verne would often ask him to double-check what he had written about ships and maritime travel. He also asked his cousin, a math professor, to look at his equations (等式) and a mining engineer friend to help him with physics, according to author Walter James Miller, who wrote annotations (评注) to Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
“He predicted a lot of things that have happened, but that’s because he was reading a lot and talking with people who knew what was going on in the world around him, so why should we be surprised?” according to Rosalind Williams, a historian at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “It wasn’t magic. He was just paying attention to things,” she said.
1. How is paragraph 2 mainly developed?| A．By introducing Verne’s novels. |
| B．By showing how Verne predicted so much. |
| C．By listing some writers who predicted the future. |
| D．By explaining science fiction writers’ writing process. |
| A．He predicted electric cars. |
| B．He lived up to his parents’ expectations. |
| C．He preferred studying law rather than geology. |
| D．He spent most of his time reading about scientific discoveries. |
| A．He drew inspiration from them. |
| B．He wanted to borrow money from them. |
| C．He planned to create figures based on them. |
| D．He asked them to check the scientific facts in his novels. |
| A．He succeeded because he put a lot of effort into his writing. |
| B．He made a big contribution to technological advances. |
| C．He made some mistakes in his novels. |
| D．He predicted the future by chance. |
3 . There is a famous story about how Walt Disney was inspired to build Disneyland. The story goes that during an afternoon visit to Griffith Park located near the Burbank Studios, Walt took a seat while his two young daughters rode the merry-go-round. Walt thought there should be a place where both children and their parents could enjoy spending some time together in an environment that would be both entertaining and pleasing to the eye, so with this thought came the idea for Disneyland.
Walt’s original plan was to build an eight-acre park located near the Burbank Studios that would be a place for his employees and their families. Those plans were put on hold because of the start of World War II. By 1952, Walt had created a special department to build the park.
Finally in 1953, the first steps in building the park happened when Walt hired the Stanford Research Institute to make a survey to determine the best possible location for the future park. Considering population growth and the future freeway construction, they finally found a location in Anaheim and 160 acres of land were bought for the site of the new park.
The building of the park was very expensive and to create funding for the project Walt developed the idea of the “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” television show. It turned out to be a marvelous idea — not only gaining the money to build the park but also presenting the park to the American public.
Construction officially began on July 21, 1954, and it was an ambitious (野心勃勃的) building schedule of less than one year to complete the new park for the projected opening day. Walt watched over the park’s construction and progress continued with just a few minor hold-ups. Finally, the park was ready for the Opening Day on July 17, 1955.
1. What inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland?| A．The special design of Griffith Park. |
| B．A trip to a park with his daughters. |
| C．Requests from his family and employees. |
| D．The idea to build a park for his daughters. |
| A．Walt Disney’s personal preference. |
| B．The natural environment. |
| C．The advice of the public. |
| D．Local traffic. |
| A．Funny. | B．Wild. |
| C．Wonderful. | D．Imaginative. |
| A．It was smooth generally. |
| B．It was affected by World War II. |
| C．It was completed later than expected. |
| D．It was influenced by a shortage of money. |
4 . The evidence for harmony (和睦) may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents.
An important new study into teenage attitudes shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seem to be about their families,” says one member of the research team. “They’re expected to be rebellious (叛逆的) but actually they have other things in their minds; they want a car and other material goods, and they worry whether school is serving them well. There’re more negotiations (协商) between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decisionmaking process.”
So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17 year old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I’m going out. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiations. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”
One of the researchers comments, “Our astonishment that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. Now, the situation has changed.”
1. What does the new study show?| A．Teenagers are more rebellious. |
| B．Teenagers worry more about studies. |
| C．Teenagers dislike making family decisions. |
| D．Teenagers have more negotiations with families. |
| A．They are stricter than before. |
| B．They are more independent. |
| C．They give their children more freedom. |
| D．They care less about their children’s life. |
| A．Surprise. | B．Aim. |
| C．Memory. | D．Option. |
| A．Discussion in family. |
| B．Harmony in family. |
| C．Teenage trouble in family. |
| D．Teenage education in family. |
5 . I had always dreamed of living and working in New York, which promised endless opportunities. But as soon as I arrived, I realized that my journey was going to be filled with countless setbacks and challenges.
My first major failure came when I landed my dream job at a famous company. However, after just a few months, I was let go due to budget cuts. I was shocked and felt like all of my hard work had been for nothing.
Determined to bounce back, I applied for a new job at another company. This time, things seemed to be going better. I was making progress and gaining valuable experience, but then I was suddenly laid off again due to company restructuring.
Feeling defeated and hopeless, I decided to take a break from the job search and focus on self-improvement. I enrolled in courses and attended workshops to learn new skills and expand my knowledge. But even with all of this effort, I still couldn’t find the right job.
One day, while searching online job listings, I found an opportunity that seemed too good to be true. It was a remote position that offered a competitive salary and flexible hours. Without hesitation, I applied and was thrilled when I received an offer letter.
However, as soon as I started working remotely, I realized that it wasn’t the same as being in an office with colleagues (同事) around me. I struggled to communicate effectively and found it difficult to stay motivated without the support of my team.
Despite these challenges, I refused to give up. I reached out to my colleagues and tried to build relationships with them through virtual meetings and social media. With their help and encouragement, I was able to adapt to the new environment and excel in my role. Looking back on my journey, I realized that success is not about avoiding failure, but rather about learning from it and persevering through the tough times. I encouraged others who may be facing similar challenges in their own careers to never give up on their dreams and to keep pushing forward even when things get tough.
1. How did the author feel about his journey when he arrived?| A．Better. |
| B．Promising. |
| C．Tough. |
| D．Well-paid. |
| A．Company restructuring. |
| B．Financial problems. |
| C．Being short of skills. |
| D．Working attitude. |
| A．He wanted them not to give up. |
| B．He wanted to get support from them. |
| C．He wanted to be better than them. |
| D．He wanted to hold a meeting with them. |
| A．Perseverant. |
| B．Modest. |
| C．Imaginative. |
| D．Generous. |
6 . As the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s hit song “Bad Blood” go: “Cause, baby, now we got bad blood. You know it used to be mad love.” It’s a song about falling out of friendship, but to 14-year-old Hallie Barnard, who was born with a rare blood disorder, the song holds a much deeper meaning.
At just 15 months old, Barnard was diagnosed (诊断) with Diamon Blackfin Anemia, or DBA, and she spent most of her life in and out of the hospital. The Swiftie said she relied on the singer to bring her joy.
The only way to survive DBA is with a bone marrow transplant (骨髓移植) and Barnard was desperate for one. But she knew thousands of other patients are, too. So, a few years ago, she decided to do something about it, creating her own foundation: Hallie’s Heroes. “It started selfishly as just trying to save my life, but then we realized there were so many other children out there that needed a bone marrow transplant,” she said. “So, so far we’ve tested 8,000 people and found over 300 matches.”
After a 9-year wait, Barnard got her own match — through her own foundation. But more obstacles stood between her and normal life as a kid. The blood disorder led to a cancer diagnosis: osteosarcoma. She received surgery to cut the cancer out of her leg at MD Anderson in Houston.
The recovery was difficult, but Hallie said she stayed hopeful. “My survival instinct (本能) just kicked in. I was trying to do anything that I could to survive. So, of course, it was scary but in my mind, I was just thinking that I wanted to be at my sister’s future weddings. I wanted to play games and run again,” she said.
Her survival instinct —combined with Taylor Swift―helped her through her operation, where doctors cut her cancer out, and reattached her foot and ankle to her upper leg to work as a knee.
1. Why does the author mention Taylor Swift’s song “Bad Blood”?| A．To stress the power of music. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| C．To show Taylor Swift’s popularity. |
| D．To state Taylor Swift’s song is a hit. |
| A．To raise money for her heroes. |
| B．To treat her rare blood disorder. |
| C．To help other children with DBA. |
| D．To have an operation for her cancer. |
| A．Strong-minded and selfish. | B．Hard-working and patient. |
| C．Kind and optimistic. | D．Outgoing and helpful. |
| A．Bad Blood Inspired a Little Girl |
| B．Hallie’s Heroes: a Useful Foundation |
| C．Taylor Swift: a Popular Singer with Teens |
| D．A Cancer Survivor Helped Others Find Matches |
7 . Turning soil, pulling weeds, and harvesting cabbage sound like tough work for middle and high school kids. And at first it is, says Abby Jaramillo, who with another teacher started Urban Sprouts, a school garden program at four low-income schools. The program aims to help students develop science skills, environmental awareness, and healthy lifestyles.
Jaramillo’s students live in neighborhoods where fresh food and green space are not easy to find and fast food restaurants outnumber grocery stores. “The kids literally come to school with bags of snacks and large bottles of soft drinks,” she says. “They come to us thinking vegetables are awful, dirt is awful, insects are awful.” Though some are initially scared of the insects and turned off by the dirt, most are eager to try something new.
Urban Sprouts’ classes, at two middle schools and two high schools, include hands-on experiments such as soil testing, flower-and-seed dissection, tastings of fresh or dried produce, and work in the garden. Several times a year, students cook the vegetables they grow, and they occasionally make salads for their entire schools.
Program evaluations show that kids eat more vegetables as a result of the classes. “We have students who say they went home and talked to their parents and now they’re eating differently,” Jaramillo says.
She adds that the program’s benefits go beyond nutrition. Some students get so interested in gardening that they bring home seeds to start their own vegetable gardens. Besides, working in the garden seems to have a calming effect on Jaramillo’s special education students, many of whom have emotional control issues. “They get outside,” she says, “and they feel successful.”
1. What do we know about Abby Jaramillo?| A．She used to be a health worker. | B．She grew up in a low-income family. |
| C．She owns a fast food restaurant. | D．She is an initiator of Urban Sprouts. |
| A．The kids’ parents distrusted her. | B．Students had little time for her classes. |
| C．Some kids disliked garden work. | D．There was no space for school gardens. |
| A．Far-reaching. | B．Predictable. |
| C．Short-lived. | D．Unidentifiable. |
| A．Rescuing School Gardens | B．Experiencing Country Life |
| C．Growing Vegetable Lovers | D．Changing Local Landscape |
8 . How to Survive in the Woods
Getting lost in the woods can be a scary situation. Whether you’ve got lost on a hike, your car broke down on a wilderness road, or any other reason, surviving in the woods is difficult.
Don’t panic. Panicking can cause you to make poor decisions and affect your judgment. If you’re going to get out of the woods, you need to have a clear head.
Avoid using too much energy.
Signal your location with smoke signals. Build a fire and add a bunch of green leaves or pine needles to create a lot of smoke. Take a large branch with green leaves on it and cover the fire for 3-4 seconds to stop the smoke from escaping.
| A．Build a shelter. |
| B．Stay where you are. |
| C．However, it can be done. |
| D．Search for a source of fresh water. |
| E．Take deep breaths and focus on the tasks at hand. |
| F．It may be difficult for you to find adequate food and water. |
| G．Then, remove the branch to allow the smoke cloud to escape. |
9 . Albert Einstein, the genius behind the theory of relativity, which provided a new framework for all of physics and proposed new concepts of space and time, has recently been making headlines again. However, this time it is not for a new scientific breakthrough, but because of two handwritten notes the scientist gave a bellboy 99 years ago.
The story goes something like this. In 1922, Einstein was invited to Tokyo to deliver lectures. As the scientist was making his way from Europe to Japan, he received a telegram informing him that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Though pleased at the news, he decided to continue with his Japanese trip instead of heading to Stockholm to accept the honor.
When in Tokyo, he penned two notes in German. One of them, written on a piece of plain paper, said, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Why did Einstein write the notes? Some believe they were to express Einstein’s delight at the reception he received from the people of Japan who crowded to attend the laureate’s (获奖者) lectures. Others think they were specially written for the bellboy who came to deliver a message, either because the scientist did not have loose change to tip him, or because the messenger refused to accept tips. Regardless of the reason, Einstein purportedly told the bellboy, “Maybe if you are lucky, those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip.” He was right!
Earlier this year, the bellboy’s nephew decided to part with the notes and handed them to auction houses. One note brought the owner an astonishing $ 1.56 million. The second note, which opened at $ 1,000 and was expected to fetch a maximum of $ 6,000, was sold for $ 240,000!
1. What made Einstein become people’s focus again?| A．The theory of relativity. | B．His new concepts of space. |
| C．The notes written by himself. | D．His notes about his theory. |
| A．In Berne. | B．In Stockholm. | C．In Germany. | D．In Japan. |
| A．They had a great effect. | B．They attracted a lot of people. |
| C．They successfully inspired people. | D．They were hard to understand. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Curious. | C．Unfair. | D．Unexpected. |
10 . Two managers in the same organization were coming into conflict when having disagreements in their work. After thinking about a particularly troubling issue throughout the night, the first manager wrote a letter to the other one, outlining his thoughts as reasonably as possible. He gave it to the other person and asked him to read it later and suggested that after working through their anger, they discuss it again.
The following day the first manager stopped by the office of the other and asked how it would go. The second one admitted that he was very upset at first, but after thinking it over he realized that most of their disagreements were for a lack of understanding. He stated that he felt if they could discuss it without losing their tempers, they could work things out. That is exactly what they did later and got the issue settled with flying colors (成功地).
American president Abraham Lincoln was known for writing two letters when he needed to communicate with someone else who had made him angry. He first wrote a letter that severely conveyed just what he thought. Then he tore up that letter and wrote a second one that was appropriate and reasonable, and sent the letter out.
Effective communication is the key to any relationship. When we allow ourselves to become emotional and react immediately to what we feel without thinking, emotions overwhelm (压倒) the situation and prevent true communication. Step back, think evaluate what happened or what was said, and ask to clarify questions if it is needed. Then, you can respond appropriately.
Don’t let overwhelming emotion control your life. Instead, choose to think and process internally whatever comes your way before externally responding. That is when you can communicate with others effectively and you will be able to keep good relationships with them.
1. What did the first manager do in his letter?| A．He expressed his general ideas reasonably. |
| B．He explained why the issue was troubling. |
| C．He apologized to the second manager sincerely. |
| D．He invited the second manager to discuss the issue. |
| A．Any great man can get angry. |
| B．Making plan B is necessary in work. |
| C．Writing letters was very popular in the past. |
| D．We should deal with matters after calming down. |
| A．A bad first impression. | B．Ineffective communication. |
| C．The high chance of failure. | D．The breakdown of a relationship. |
| A．Learn to answer questions indirectly. | B．Avoid anger to keep good relationships. |
| C．Never be overwhelmed by your emotions. | D．Think reasonably before making a decision. |
