1 . When I was a child growing up in Ohio, the butterflies would sometimes pass through on their way to Mexico. And it was wonderful to see football fields full of them—and I wanted to revisit that on a larger scale (规模). I knew I had to go to see the migration (迁徙) in Mexico.
But I was on a budget. I didn’t want to rent a car in Mexico or take a bus to Valle de Bravo, the starting point for most butterfly journeys, so I called the guys at The Muddy Boot, travel experts in Mexico who can make almost anything happen at a reasonable price.
And so, on January 2, I found myself in The Muddy Boot van (面包车), being driven for two hours from Mexico City to Valle de Bravo, a lovely town on a volcanic lake which is a central point for the butterfly journeys. I booked a two-night stay at the Hotel Rodavento, an all eco-friendly hotel with individual wooden houses spreading throughout the forest and around a lake.
The first reserve I visited was Piedra Herrada, a popular destination, as it is only 40 minutes away from Valle de Bravo. The climb up is tiring. It is advisable to hire a horse. But the horse cannot take you all the way, and there is some hiking in thin air, so you must be patient, drink a lot of water, and be in reasonably good shape.
The walk is more than worth it though. As I struggled to catch my breath, I looked up and lost my breath again. At first glance, the trees had turned into different shapes, but on closer look, every inch of them was covered with butterflies.
A few flew through the air (Most of them were not warm enough). As the sun rose, they began to come alive. Soon the air was filled with flying butterflies, transforming the forest into something magical and straight out of a fairy tale.
1. Why did the author choose to take The Muddy Boot van?| A．She didn’t like a car. | B．She preferred to travel alone. |
| C．She wanted to save some money. | D．She hoped to reach the destination earlier. |
| A．It is a very high mountain. | B．It is far from Valle de Bravo. |
| C．It is full of wild animals. | D．It is only accessible by riding a horse. |
| A．Becoming healthier. | B．Breathing in fresh air. |
| C．Finding trees of different shapes. | D．Seeing the butterfly migration. |
| A．A news report. | B．A scientific paper. |
| C．A travel diary. | D．A commercial advertisement. |
2 . China is a great country with the largest population in the world. In order to solve the population problem, our government carried out one﹣child policy (政策)before. When it is carried out for some time, many people not only see its advantages but also disadvantages.
From 2016, two﹣child policy is put into effect. In my opinion, two﹣child policy is good. First of all, two﹣ child policy is the gift for some only child. For some families, maybe the parents are only child and they also can have only child. Besides the loneliness of their child, when their child grows up and they grow older, their child marry an only child girl, the burden(负担)on their child and his wife is too heavy. Their child and his wife have to take care of two couples. Usually, a young couple looking after an old couple is a little difficult. But if their parents have two children, they can share the burden of taking care of their parents. It would be much better. Secondly, two﹣child policy can guarantee (保证) the number of Chinese population.
All in all, one﹣child policy has been out of date. And two﹣child policy is needed and necessary. It can solve the problems of nowadays (现在)and the future.
1. Which country has the largest population in the world?| A．America | B．Britain | C．China | D．Japan. |
| A．携带 | B．取消 | C．禁止 | D．实行 |
| A．solve the population problem |
| B．take care of two old couples |
| C．share the burden of taking care of their pa rents |
| D．argue that two﹣child policy should be put into effect |
| A．One﹣child policy has its advantages and disadvantages. |
| B．It’s easy for a young couple to look after an old couple. |
| C．China is a great country with the largest population in the world. |
| D．For some families，maybe the parents are only child and they also can have |
| A．Two﹣child policy is needed and necessary. |
| B．Our government carried out one﹣child policy. |
| C．Two﹣child policy is the gift for some only child. |
| D．Two﹣child policy can guarantee the number of Chinese population. |
3 . In ancient China, people created 24 solar terms (节气) to help with farming. At present, it still helps Chinese farmers. Of all these solar terms, Major Snow (大雪) is the 21st. During Major Snow, the snow is heavy and the temperature drops. Let’s learn more about it.
Snowy winter
The snow in the north sometimes lasts a whole day. The world turns white. “A snow year, a rich year.” As the snow covers the ground, the low temperature kills some pests (害虫). It is good for farmers to grow.
Playing with snow
In northern China, people usually go skating at the park or make snowmen. It is a popular activity to play with snow. Even if the weather is cold and icy, they still have fun.
Eating mutton
Mutton is the best choice for people. It tastes great and is good for the body. People in north like to have mutton soup with their family and friends.
Eating porridge
Hot porridge could make people warm in cold weather. In China, it’s a tradition to eat red bean porridge in Major Snow. It’s also a symbol of being together and keeping away from bad luck.
1. How many solar terms are there in a year?| A．24. | B．21. | C．12. | D．4. |
| A．hot | B．cold | C．dry | D．warm |
| A．雪落有晴天 | B．冬雪回暖迟 | C．瑞雪兆丰年 | D．雪多雨水多 |
| A．kill some pests | B．play with snow |
| C．have mutton soup | D．eat red bean porridge |
| A．The 21st solar term is Major Snow. | B．The heavy snow sometimes lasts a whole day. |
| C．Mutton is good for the body. | D．People usually go skating in southern China. |
4 . Two months ago, my son Eric lost his trombone(长号). We were very sad.
We learned that telling friends about our sad things made us feel better and less worried. We received sweet messages from friends showing their care for us. Eric received the sweetest letter reminding us that although things in life can be sad and make us upset, we can still find kindness around us.
And then, another student at a different school heard about the situation and decided to give his trombone to my son. It turned out that it was the same kind as the lost one.
We met this young man who gave it to Eric. He hoped that Eric should never stop learning and making music.
We were so thankful and happy. Eric had his first concert a couple of weeks ago. One thing about kindness is that to the receiver of kindness, it might not be necessary, but to the giver who wants to change things for the better, it becomes really necessary.
We are really thankful for everyone’s kindness. And we are thankful that the trombone got lost. It taught us so much about other people’s healing(治愈的) power, even people we have never met before.
1. What happened to Eric two months ago?| A．His trombone was lost. | B．He gave away his trombone. |
| C．His trombone was broken. | D．He bought a trombone. |
| A．She kept it a secret. | B．She didn’t care about it. |
| C．She bought a new trombone. | D．She told other people about it. |
| A．Eric was pleased to lose his trombone | B．Eric’s classmate lent his trombone to him |
| C．Eric had his first concert a few weeks ago | D．Eric’s mother stopped him learning and making music |
| A．Because she could buy her son a new one. |
| B．Because she got many people’s care and kindness. |
| C．Because she found the trombone at last. |
| D．Because her son didn’t need the trombone any more. |
| A．Everyone is good in our life. | B．Share your kindness and make others happy. |
| C．A lost trombone and the necessary kindness. | D．What happened when Eric got a new trombone? |
5 . Seaside cities are becoming popular with senior high school graduates(毕业生), with Haikou and Sanya in South China’s Hainan province making a list of top places.
With the 2023 national college entrance examination, also known as the gaokao, coming to an end on June 10, many students chose to say goodbye to their high school years with an unforgettable graduation trip.
Since the exam ended, the search volume (搜索量) of the keywords “graduation trip” and “graduation group tour” has risen quickly. From June 9 to 12, the number of airplane ticket bookings for people aged 17 to 19 rose by three times compared to the previous (先前的) week.
The bookings for Hainan province in June are more than the usual volume for the whole month, thanks to graduation trips, which often take five to seven days.
Jiang Xingyou, a travel planner in Hainan has been busy answering travel route inquiries (路线询问) after the gaokao. “We have come up with many travel products for gaokao finishers, hoping to help them have more unforgettable memories,” he said.
Li Pengfei, 17, who just took the gaokao plans to travel to many places across the country. “Well known for its beautiful beaches, blue sky, clear water and fine white sand, Sanya is a perfect place for this special, long vacation. I will try many water sports like surfing, motor boating and diving there,” he said.
1. Where is Haikou and Sanya?| A．In North China. | B．In Hainan Province. |
| C．In Hunan Province. | D．In Guangdong. |
| A．On June 10. | B．On June 9. | C．On June 7. | D．On June 12. |
| A．Four to five days. | B．Five to six days. | C．Five to seven days. | D．Five to eight days. |
| A．He is a travel planner. | B．He is a bus driver. |
| C．He is a student. | D．He is a doctor. |
| A．Li Pengfei is a 2023 gaokao finisher who is at the age of 18. |
| B．The bookings for Hainan province in June are over the usual volume of a year. |
| C．Haikou and Sanya are the top places for gaokao sitters to travel to. |
| D．Haikou is well known for its beautiful beaches, blue sky, clear water and fine white sand. |
6 . Compared to most people with disabilities, Zhao Hongcheng is lucky.
Born in 1990, a wheelchair has been part of Zhao’s life since she was 1 year old due to the aftereffects of poliomyelitis(小儿麻痹症).However, it did not stop her from completing her college and graduate studies before becoming a white-collar worker in Shanghai. And now, as a video content creator who has over 84, 000 followers on the video-sharing platform Bilibili, Zhao wants to be a bridge between the disabled and the rest of society.
First attempt
“I made my first video in 2019,” Zhao says, adding that it was also the years he moved to Shanghai. “My original purpose was to find an emotional outlet. I always encountered inconvenience caused by my wheelchair when going out, which made me feel sad. However, I barely had any disabled friends, so I had no one to talk to. I felt quite lonely,” Zhao explains. In 2019, the rising popularity of short videos inspired Zhao.
Under the username Da Chengzi Hao Meimei on Bilibili, her first vlog about a trip to Guangzhou with friends was viewed more than 2, 000 times on the first day, which surprised Zhao. “This made me feel that there were many things worth sharing in my life, and it also gave me a sense of mission,” she explains. That first video has since been viewed over 48, 000times and her fourth video, displaying how she got to work in a wheelchair, made her even more popular.
Rising ambition
After her fourth video went viral, she continued to make short videos and, in 2021.became a full-time content creator on Bilibili. In her video about an accessibility bus tour in Shanghai, she put forward a piece of advice for such facilities. Fortunately, her proposal was adopted by the city and is currently being optimized. Zhao’s other videos, including a list of praise and criticism for various daily travel experiences in Shanghai, have also received wide attention.
“One of the great things about being a content creator is that I feel like I have the initiative of discourse-that is, (talking about)the real difficulties and pains that a disabled person faces,” Zhao says.
Long way to go
Zhao says education and employment are the two major hurdles for the disabled group around her. She explains that she has heard many stories about disabled people dropping out of school and that some students with good grades were rejected by their chosen universities or were persuaded to change majors. Beyond that, some people with minor disabilities, which may not affect their daily life at all, were being dismissed by companies, due to their physical examination reports reflecting their issue.
Zhao says she has developed a new perspective for her videos. “I hope to be a bridge between the wider society and the disabled. I want people to be able to truly experience the life of the disabled and to develop a greater understanding of the group,” she says.
Now Bilibili star uses her platform to promote greater understanding of the lives and needs of disabled people.
1. Why does the author say Zhao Hongcheng is lucky?| A．Because she recovered from her illness under the help of her doctor. |
| B．Because she won great acclaim and support from the disabled. |
| C．Because she successfully completed her college education and obtained a job. |
| D．Because her family and friends loved her very much when she was a child. |
| A．To find a way to express her emotion. | B．To fulfill her mission to assist the disabled. |
| C．To arrest people’s attention. | D．To obtain sympathy from society. |
| A．Putting forward proposal to offer financial support for the disabled. |
| B．Helping the disabled to live optimistically on their own. |
| C．Sharing the her stories from the perspective of a disabled person. |
| D．Offering advice to the disabled to tackle their problems in their daily life. |
| A．Lack of education and job opportunities. |
| B．In different attitude and unfair treatment from family. |
| C．Physical and mental sufferings caused by disabilities. |
| D．External criticism and internal loneliness. |
| A．A disabled person. | B．A positive influencer. |
| C．A video content creator. | D．A storyteller. |
7 . If I’m anxiously waiting for an important telephone call, or stuck in writer’s block with a tight deadline, I’ll unavoidably rearrange my record collection, tidy my desk or clear up sheets of paper dotted around my office. It’s sometimes the most relaxed time I feel all day. I bet I’m not alone in this.
Psychologists suggest the perfect pleasure of puttering (从容做事) might be explained from many aspects. At the most superficial level, puttering may be meaningful especially when we are in a situation where we feel stressed and helpless. That’s because puttering around in the kitchen for instance occupies the mind. In this way, we devote time and effort to things which are within our grasp instead of those bothering us.
Compared with other distracting activities, such as playing computer games or watching TV, many people enjoy puttering for the reason that it has the advantage of being useful for increasing their “perceived control”.
Just consider a classic paper by professors Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin. The study took place at a nursing home, where participants were divided into two groups. The first were asked to make their room on their own: they were allowed to arrange the furniture however they liked, and they were given a plant that. they had to care for by themselves. The second group, meanwhile, were told that the staff could take care of everything; they did not even have to water their plant. Over the following 18 months, the residents who took charge of their room enjoyed better physical health.
The benefits do not end there. If your puttering takes the form of organizing, you may find that the tidier environment itself is a form of comfort. Like all activities, the extent of these benefits will be influenced by your personal tastes and the associations that you link with the tasks. Those who expect to have a clear mind after a run are the most likely to return home with a clear head. Tidying, cleaning, and sorting will be no different.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Cleaning up the desk before leaving the office. | B．Calling for help when facing writer’s block. |
| C．Drawing comfort from some simple tasks. | D．Appreciating music while writing a paper. |
| A．It inspires them to be single-minded. | B．It helps them boost their perceived control. |
| C．It makes them stay focused on their targets. | D．It prevents them wasting time on useless things. |
| A．Make friends with those sharing similar interests. | B．Select a nursing home with great caution. |
| C．Take responsibility for some housework. | D．Keep less furniture in their rooms. |
| A．How do our preferences affect the benefits of puttering? |
| B．How does perceived control help the elderly? |
| C．Why do people tend to do irrelevant things at work? |
| D．Why do small tasks have great healing powers? |
8 . According to the US economist Robert Gordon, all the “impressive stuff” has been created; we have run out of the big, life-changing ideas needed to encourage rapid economic growth and engineers are now only just making slight changes. Inventions such as mobile phones, Gordon says, have had less impact than, for example, the invention of indoor plumbing.
But this is a misunderstanding of how engineers work. There is no “Wow!” moment. The development of new technology happens little by little. You build upon the work of those before you, thinking about what could be done better and what could be improved. It’s an unending task. Michael Faraday invented the first electric motor. But Faraday’s breakthrough followed William Sturgeon’s invention of the electromagnet (电磁铁), and Alessandro Volta’s invention of the battery before that. Faraday would have expected future engineers to pick up the baton (接力棒) later down the line.
Reduced energy supplies, increasing populations and mass urbanization keep clever young engineers awake at night. Those, for example, who enter the yearly James Dyson Award invent things that solve these problems and more. The 2012 winner Dan Watson designed a clever system of escape rings for fishing boat nets that deals with the issue of overfishing — not an exciting topic, but his invention is brilliant nevertheless. Human inventiveness remains undiminished (未减少的) in the face of new global challenges.
Our problem is patience. We expect new technology at a rate like never before. I can’t tell you the world’s next big invention. Last week brought news that we’ve invented a new way to deal with antibiotic resistant bacteria. Next week may bring a major development in another field. The biggest thing holding invention back is our impatience. With enough time and support, bright young engineers will develop exciting new technology to solve the world’s trickiest problems. Many have already begun.
1. Which is TRUE according to the passage?| A．Economic growth should give way to inventions. |
| B．All of the big, life-changing ideas are running out. |
| C．Indoor plumbing is the most influential among all the inventions. |
| D．Engineers are still working to make a big difference to our daily life. |
| A．Engineers always achieve success smoothly. |
| B．New technology has been developing step by step. |
| C．New inventions fail to deal with new global challenges. |
| D．Michael Faraday set a good model for William Sturgeon. |
| A．His patience with technology. |
| B．His habit of staying up at night. |
| C．His effort to solve real world problems. |
| D．His wish to win the James Dyson Award. |
| A．Invention and Development need time. |
| B．Impressive Ideas Have Changed the World. |
| C．Be Patient—More Engineers are Emerging. |
| D．Science and Technology Can Solve All the Problems. |
9 . Our lives are ruled by time and we use time to tell us what to do. Fixed within our genes, and those of almost all life on earth, are the instructions for a biological clock. And they also affect our levels of attention, mood, physical strength, blood pressure and much more.
This habit of getting up later continues until we are about 20 years old.
Paul Kelly, the headmaster of Monkseaton High school, has adopted a later start to the school day and this is having a positive effect.
| A．There are fewer absences and improved results. |
| B．Before we go to bed, our body temperature drops, our blood pressure decreases, and our tiredness increases. |
| C．These include, in fact, increased mistakes and poor memory. |
| D．At this point, there is a change towards earlier sleep and waking time. |
| E．Body clocks differ between people. |
| F．These differences also change significantly as we get older. |
| G．But the reality is that our society is replacing a biological order developed over millions of years with a false impression. |
10 . If you love talking about vacations as much as you love going on vacation, then this card game Destination Anywhere from Table Topics is for you.
There aren’t any rules — it’s just you, your friend, and 135 cards printed with conversation starters that all relate to travel. The questions are open enough. They might inspire you to share the funniest stories from your previous travels. “What do you always forget when you’re packing for a trip?” may, for example, remind you of the time when you forgot to bring your tent on a week-long hike. And “Do you prefer making tours or seeing sites on your own?” is practically begging your sister to talk about the time she got lost on a self-guided tour through the Tuscan countryside and was rescued by a kindly old sheepherder. The game is recommended to ages 12 and up, and you can get it on Amazon for $25.
If the Destination Anywhere version doesn’t sit well with you, there are plenty of other Table Topics versions to choose from. The “Geek Pop!” edition ($22) could encourage a lively debate. “Not Your Mom’s Dinner Party” edition ($25) will keep your guests entertained with questions like “Have you ever been accompanied by security?” The “Family” edition ($25) is a great way to get silent kids to come out of their shells a little. “Would you rather know how to fly a plane, drive a race car, or rock climb?” pretty much guarantees an answer that isn’t “Yes”, “No”, or “Good”.
You can browse all the Table Topics card set on Amazon.
1. What do we know about the game Destination Anywhere?| A．It is only suitable for adults to play. |
| B．It requires players to follow certain rules. |
| C．It prompts people to start talking about travel. |
| D．It is the cheapest of all the Table Topics card games. |
| A．Family | B．Geek Pop! |
| C．Destination Anywhere | D．Not Your Mom’s Dinner Party |
| A．To show how to play the card games. |
| B．To give suggestions on holding parties. |
| C．To encourage people to go on vacation. |
| D．To recommend the Table Topics card set. |
