1 . China Small Group Tours
◆Tour Route 1: 11 Days Private Beijing - Lhasa - Xi’an - Shanghai
Tour Highlights:
Must-see sights in China — the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors
Follow us on a Buddhist pilgrimage to Tibet & appreciate the profound culture
Have a leisurely walk or an exciting bicycle ride on the time-honored City Wall of Xi’an
View the soaring city skylines and feel the pulse of modern Shanghai
From $ 2, 459 per person
◆Tour Route 2: 11 Days Private Bejing - Xi’an - Chonqing - Yangtze River Cruise - Yichang - Shanghai
Tour Highlights:
Must-see sights in China — the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Wariors
Try biking on the Ming Dynasty City Wall of Xi’ an, or tour by electric car
Enjoy the Three Gorges (三峡) scenery on Yangtze River & feel totally relaxed
From $ 1, 879 per person
◆Tour Route 3: 12 Days Private Bejing - Shanghai - Xi’an - Guilin - Yangshuo - Guilin - Hong
Kong
Tour Highlights:
Must-see sights in China — the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors
Experience the Bund, classical garden, modern and old in contrast in Shanghai
Feel the lively atmosphere & explore busy markets freely in Hong Kong
Walk into a local family, learn to cook Chinese food & dine with the hosts in their home
From $ 2, 499 per person
◆Tour Route 4: 12 Days Private Bejing - Xi’an - Chengdu - Guilin - Shanghai
Tour Highlights:
Must-see sights in China — the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors, Giant Pandas
Come to Chengdu, the hometown of giant pandas to visit and observe the cute creature
Cruise on the meandering Li River & admire Guilin landscape
Walk into a local Chinese family, interact & dine with the hosts in their home
From $2, 079 per person
1. What do Tour Route 1 and Tour Route 2 have in common?| A．They have cycling activities. |
| B．They include a visit to Tibet. |
| C．Visitors enjoy the Three Gorges scenery. |
| D．Visitors pay the same amount of money. |
| A．Tourists can travel by bike. |
| B．Tourists can visit a huge dam. |
| C．Tourists can dine with a family. |
| D．It is the most expensive of the four. |
| A．Tour Route 1. |
| B．Tour Route 2. |
| C．Tour Route 3. |
| D．Tour Route 4. |
2 . The idea of low material desire, low consumption and refusing to work, marry and have children, concluded as a “lying down” lifestyle, recently struck a chord with many young Chinese who are eager to take pause to breathe in this fast-paced and highly-competitive society.
Many millennials (千禧一代) and generation Zs complained to the Global Times that burdens, including work stress, family disputes and financial strains, have pushed them “against the wall”. They said they hate the “involution(内卷),” joking that they would rather give up some of what they have than get trapped in an endless competition against peers.
“Instead of always following the ‘virtues’ of struggle, endure and sacrifice to bear the stresses, they prefer a temporary lying down as catharsis (宣泄) and adjustment,” said a scholar. “It is no wonder that some young people, under the growing pressures from child-raising to paying the mortgage (按揭) today, would try to live in a simple way and leave the worries behind.”
Interestingly, the majority of millennials and Gen Zs reached by the Global Times, who claim to be big fans of the lying down philosophy, acknowledged that they only accept a temporary lying down as a short rest. It is true that with the great improvement of living conditions, some Chinese youth have partially lost the spirit of hardship and are not willing to bear too much hard work. But in fact, lying down is not entirely comfortable. Young people who lie down always feel guilty about their constant loss of morale (士气) far beyond their reach.
“Young people on campus have both aspirations and confusion about their future, but most of us have rejected setting ourselves up in chains to waste opportunities and challenges,” a postgraduate student told the Global Times. “It’s no use running away. I have to ‘stand up’ and face the reality sooner or later.”
1. What does the underlined phrase in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Warned. | B．Punished. | C．Amused. | D．Touched. |
| A．Improvements in living conditions. |
| B．Growing pressure from family and social life. |
| C．Increasing material possessions from families. |
| D．Temporary adjustment to failure in competitions. |
| A．Understanding. | B．Intolerant. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．They never really drop their responsibilities. |
| B．They really enjoy the “lying down” lifestyle. |
| C．They find their dreams far beyond their reach. |
| D．They would rather escape than take challenges. |
3 . Physical education, or PE, isn’t required for all high school students. In some schools, it isn’t offered for some different reasons. But should high school students have physical education? The answer is certainly “yes”.
Today many people don’t do sports. But as is known to all, doing sports is very important for an adult. Teaching teens the importance of a healthy lifestyle and making fitness plans now can help teens put exercise in the first place as an adult.
High school isn’t that easy. Many students are under a lot of stress. Stress can be harmful to a student’s study and life. Doing sports can help them deal with stress better, helping them live a happier life at school.
The American Heart Association says that 10 million kids and teens suffer from obesity (肥胖症). Teens should get 60 minutes of physical activity per day to control their weight and to help their bones get stronger. The increase in activities that don’t get teens to move around, such as video games and computer activities, means many teens don’t get their required exercise. PE classes act as a public health measure to encourage physical activities and help teens have healthy weights.
Not doing sports increases teens’ risk of developing many diseases. An active lifestyle offers a good way of protection from these health problems. As much as 75 percent of health-care spending goes toward treating medical conditions that can be hindered by lifestyle changes,according to the American College of Sports Medicine.
According to the President’s Council on Fitness,Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN), students who performed five hours of physical activity each week improved their academic (学业的) performance. Students from programs with no physical activity, who used the extra time for classroom study, did not perform better on tests than those who gave up some study time in support of physical education.
1. According to paragraph 2, what does physical education in high school mean?| A．Making teens attach importance to exercise later. |
| B．Removing the stress faced by teens at school. |
| C．Getting teens to encourage adults to exercise. |
| D．Helping teens learn to make good plans. |
| A．Measured. | B．Prevented. |
| C．Shown. | D．Caused. |
| A．means making students choose between sports and studies |
| B．helps students make good use of all their time |
| C．means students adjust to their studies better |
| D．helps students do better in their studies |
| A．Why high school students should receive physical education. |
| B．Why some schools consider physical education important. |
| C．How schools can help students love doing sports. |
| D．How high school students can live a better life. |
4 . My teacher held up a piece of broken glass and asked, “Who broke this window?”
Thirty boys tried to think about not only what they had done, but also what the teacher might have found out. She seldom became angry, but she was this time.
“Oh,” I thought. I was the one who broke the window. It was caused by a naughty throw of a baseball. If I admitted guilt, I would be in a lot of trouble. How would I be able to pay for a big window like that? I didn’t even get an allowance. “My father is going to have a fit as a result of it,” I thought. I didn’t want to raise my hand, but some force much stronger than I was pulled it skyward (朝向天空). I told the truth, “I did it.” It was hard enough to say what I had done.
My teacher took down a book from one of our library shelves and I had never known my teacher to strike a student, but I feared she was going to start with me.
“I know how much you like birds,” she said as she stood looking down at my guilt-ridden face. “Here is the field guide about birds that you are constantly checking out. It is yours now. It’s time we got a new one for the school anyway. You will not be punished, but remember that I am not rewarding you for your misdeed (恶行), but I am rewarding you for your truthfulness.”
I couldn’t believe it! I wasn’t being punished and I was getting my own bird field guide — the very one that I had been saving up money to buy.
The lesson my teacher taught me stays with me every day, and it will echo forever.
1. From the story, we can learn that the boy .| A．didn’t break the window on purpose |
| B．lacked the courage to admit his guilt |
| C．tried to think about what he had done |
| D．didn’t know what the teacher had found out |
| A．be punished by the teacher |
| B．make his father angry |
| C．pay for the broken window |
| D．get a bird field guide |
| A．Afraid—Surprised—Thankful. |
| B．Frightened—Amazed—Proud. |
| C．Regretful—Guilty—Excited. |
| D．Nervous—Afraid—Satisfied. |
| A．Every coin has two sides. |
| B．Honesty is always valued. |
| C．Bad luck never comes alone. |
| D．You can’t be too careful. |
5 . It can be tough to pull kids away from their computers and mobile devices these days. While they’re playing games, wouldn’t it be great if they could be learning at the same time? Good educational apps offer fun challenges that teach specific grade-level skills. Here are four that combine fun and learning.
Understanding Math($3.99; iOS)
Understanding Math goes beyond basic comprehension to gain a deeper understanding of the whys and hows of math. The app tracks your child’s progress to determine strengths and weaknesses in different skill areas, and you can customize(订制)your child’s learning experience to suit the needs.
Word Creativity Kit($2.99; iOS)
Word Creativity Kit aims not only to make creative writing fun but also build up grammar rules. The app presents a series of words from seven categories, such as space or fantasy. Kids add their own words to finish the complete thoughts that these words have inspired.
Barefoot World Atlas($4.99; iOS)
Barefoot World Atlas helps kids learn about geography and world cultures with a touch of the screen. Each region features a set of sub-topics, from wildlife and natural features to native people, landmarks, and architecture. These facts and illustrations are delivered in photographs, sounds, and hundreds of mini videos.
My Grades & Homework($0.99; iOS)
A combination of grades and homework tracker, My Grades & Homework can help your child stay organized and on top of the progress in school. A convenient calendar and course list format and offer a glance at your child’s assignment schedule that he or she might not normally get from standard homework planners.
1. Which app is beneficial to children’s writing skills?| A．Understanding Math. | B．Word Creativity Kit. |
| C．Barefoot World Atlas. | D．My Grades & Homework. |
| A．They need purchasing when downloaded. |
| B．They help children improve their grades. |
| C．They make studies fun because of mini videos. |
| D．They inform parents of their children’s progress. |
| A．To wish readers to bring in more similar apps for children. |
| B．To encourage parents to allow their students to play apps. |
| C．To design the educational apps to combine fun and learning. |
| D．To introduce four educational apps for readers to buy and use. |
6 . We humans love to stare into our smart devices. We gaze for hours—about 10 hours and 39 minutes a day—at our computers, smartphones, tablets and televisions. Is all this staring bad for us? It might be, mainly because as we stare at our devices we are exposing ourselves to blue light.
Blue light is a type of electromagnetic radiation with a very short wavelength that produces a high amount of energy. While it’s true that light can damage our eyes under certain circumstances, there’s no scientific evidence suggesting that blue light is harmful to our eyes. But many people still think it is, which is why blue-light-blocking glasses are so popular. So, do the glasses work?
“Everyone is very concerned that blue light may be causing damage to the eye, but there’s no evidence that it may be causing serious damage, ” Dr. Rahul Khurana, a clinical spokesman, told Business Insider.
Blue light exposure is nothing new. In fact, the sun is the largest source of blue light. Moreover, blue light is also present in LED light. But if blue light isn’t harmful, then why are we constantly rubbing our eyes when we’re looking at our screens? The answer is eyestrain (眼疲劳). More than 60 percent of people experience eye problems associated with digital eyestrain. And blue light, it seems isn’t the cause. Instead, our eyes are so strained because most of us blink less when we stare at our digital devices. So, if eyestrain is the real issue, blue-light-blocking glasses are probably of little use.
1. What do we know about blue light?| A．It has the shortest wavelength. |
| B．It’s a kind of nuclear radiation. |
| C．It consumes a great deal of energy. |
| D．It may come from electronic devices. |
| A．Evidence of their benefits to eyes. |
| B．Widespread use of smart devices. |
| C．Belief in blue light’s harmful effect. |
| D．Scientific understanding of blue light. |
| A．Rubbing eyes makes people strained. |
| B．Blue light exposure is hardly avoidable. |
| C．Blue light may connect with tired eyes. |
| D．Eye problems are not easy to deal with. |
| A．useless | B．harmful |
| C．tiring | D．beneficial |
7 . It has been known for a long time that obesity tends to run in families, but it was not until about 20 years ago that scientists started to discover that changes in specific genes can have very large impacts on our weight even from early childhood.
One of these genes MC4R makes a protein that is produced in the brain where it sends signals to our appetite centers, telling them how much fat we have stored. When the MC4R gene does not work properly, our brains think we have lower fat stores than we do, signaling that we are starving and need to eat.
A new study, led by scientists from the University of Cambridge and the University of Bristol, has found that around one in every 340 people may carry a disruptive mutation (变异) at MC4R. People who carry these mutations were more likely to have a greater weight from early childhood and, by 18 years of age, they were on average 17 kg heavier, with the majority of this excess weight likely to be fat.
These results were found by studying the MC4R gene in a random sample of around 6, 000 participants born in Bristol. Whenever a mutation was found, the researchers went on to study its frequency and effects in the laboratory.
Based on the frequency of mutations in this study, it was estimated that around 200, 000 people in the UK carry a substantial amount of unexpected fat because of mutations in MC4R.
Professor Stephen O’Rahilly, one of the researchers, said, “Parents of obese children are often blamed for poor parenting and not all children obtain appropriate professional help. Our findings should encourage a more sympathetic and reasonable approach to overweight children and their families—including genetic analysis in all seriously obese children.”
Though the MC4R gene is a striking example, this is only one gene of many that affect our weight. “In the longer term, knowledge of the brain pathways controlled by MC4R should help in the design of drugs that help restore people to a healthy weight,” Stephen added.
1. What can we know about MC4R gene?| A．MC4R gene affects people’s appetite negatively. |
| B．The mutation of MC4R gene stimulates people’s desire to eat. |
| C．MC4R is the only gene that contributes to people’s overweight problem. |
| D．Scientists discovered MC4R could influence people’s weight recently. |
| A．proper. | B．essential. | C．considerable. | D．additional. |
| A．Parents should be to blame for poor parenting. |
| B．The obesity problem should be treated fairly and scientifically. |
| C．New drugs can help overweight children lose much fat in the long run. |
| D．Knowledge of MC4R should be applied to helping obese children physically and mentally. |
| A．Suggestions on how to maintain a standard weight. |
| B．A discussion of British people’s overweight problems. |
| C．A study about the effect of MC4R’s mutation on weight. |
| D．The relationship between people’s appetite and MC4R’s mutation. |
8 . A star athlete at the college where I work recently stopped by my office. After committing a few unforced errors during a weekend match, she was tom apart by self-criticism. “I can’t stop beating myself up,” she told me. “I’m at peak fitness, and I practice hard. How is this happening?”
Many students I teach, like this athlete, believe that all-nighters in the library and hours on the field should get them exactly where they need to go. When they fall short of what they imagine they should accomplish, they are crushed by self-blame.
We talk often about young adults struggling with failure because their parents have protected them from discomfort. But there is something else at play among the most privileged in particular: a false promise that they can achieve anything if they are willing to work for it.
Psychologists have sourced this phenomenon to a misapplication of “mind set” research, which has found that praising children for effort will increase academic performance. But a recent analysis found that while praising effort over ability may benefit high-risk or economically disadvantaged students, it does not necessarily help everyone.
The cruel, messy reality is that you can do everything in your power and still fail. Instead of allowing our kids to beat themselves up when things don’t go their way, we should all question a culture that has taught them that feeling anything less than overwhelmed means they’re lazy, and that where they go to college matters more than the kind of person they are. It’s suggested that parents and teachers spend time helping students find purpose, or goals they genuinely love to pursue and that make an impact on the world, which may help them gain greater life satisfaction and become more psychologically mature.
The point is not to give our kids a pass on working hard. But we would be wise to remind our kids that life has a way of sucker-punching us when we least expect it. It’s often the people who learn to say “stuff happens” who get up the fastest.
1. Which sort of students does the star athlete belong to?| A．Those lacking courage to make self-criticism. |
| B．Those tired of working all night in the library. |
| C．Those believing hard work surely pay off. |
| D．Those overprotected by their parents in life. |
| A．Praising effort over ability will surely be beneficial to all kids. |
| B．The result of the “mindset” research doesn’t apply to all cases. |
| C．Parents should lay more emphasis on their kids’ academic performance. |
| D．Whether praising kids’ effort over ability does good to kids depends. |
| A．By choosing where to go to college for them. |
| B．By pushing them to fight against the cruel reality. |
| C．By discouraging them from making efforts to study hard. |
| D．By encouraging them to stick to a worthy cause they truly love. |
| A．Students should not expect too much from their study. |
| B．Students with positive attitudes can move on more easily. |
| C．Students should bear all the failures on their own. |
| D．Students are sure to succeed if they try their best. |
9 . Are you a moviegoer? If, like me, you’re a fan of film, then there’s no better place to watch something than on the big screen at the cinema. You enter the dark theatre and take your seat, ready to be entertained. But while you are absorbed in some movie magic, many others are now getting their film fix at home.
Over the last few years, cinemas have seen a comeback. Customers have been attracted by comfortable seats, and lots of choice of things to watch. Multiplexes in particular can screen up to twenty films at the same time, suiting all different tastes. In addition, 3D and even 4D movies can give the audience an extra immersive experience. So, what’s not to like about a trip to the cinema?
One answer to that question is convenience. Rather than going out, it’s so much easier to stay in and watch movies on a TV screen via an online streaming service. There’s plenty of choice, and it’s relatively cheap as well. But, personally, I find there’re too many distractions, and watching at home is not such an event. I miss the cinema!
The coronavirus pandemic has put the future of cinemas under the spotlight. Some have had to close because of reduced ticket sales. In the UK, it’s brought about a surge in TV watching and online streaming. It’s reported that half of UK adults will keep and continue using their new streaming subscriptions.
This isn’t great news for cinemas. They rely on the release of a big blockbuster to bring the crowds back, but the launch of new films, such as James Bond: No Time To Die, are being delayed. Disney has released its $200m blockbuster, Mulan, online instead of in movie theatres. John Fithian, from the National Association of Theatre Owners, told Variety magazine: “This idea of waiting out the pandemic to make your movies more profitable doesn’t make sense to me. There won’t be as much of an industry left to play your movies in if you do that.”
1. What’s mainly talked about in paragraph 2?| A．Why people don’t like to go to the cinema. |
| B．What has helped cinemas make a comeback. |
| C．How cinemas have developed in the last few years. |
| D．Whether cinemas can remain popular in the future. |
| A．It can hardly suit all different tastes. | B．It’s time-consuming due to distractions. |
| C．It offers a variety of films free of charge. | D．It’s not as enjoyable an experience as going to cinemas. |
| A．Sudden increase. | B．Short-term benefit. |
| C．potential influence. | D．Fierce competition. |
| A．The release of blockbusters cannot bring the crowds back. |
| B．The pandemic hasn’t had a great effect on the film industry. |
| C．Delaying the release of blockbusters can bring in more profits. |
| D．Releasing films online is an alternative during the pandemic. |
10 . There is a world of music out there! What you hear on the radio or see on TV is only a small part of all the wonderful music that is waiting for you. Most of you probably like pop music and have your favorite performers, stars or bands.
Blues music has a long history. The blues is a way for people to show who they are and what is in their heart.
Besides, people also listen to hip-hop and rap. They have much in common with blues and rock, but they also have their own characteristics.
| A．Today’s American culture contains many musical styles. |
| B．There are of course many other interesting styles of music. |
| C．But many of you also want to discover new sounds and rhythms. |
| D．Another important style in today’s music world is Latin music. |
| E．Hip-hop music often combines parts of other styles to create music. |
| F．Other musical styles, like jazz and rock music, all come from blues music. |
| G．People have been playing the blues for many years, but the music has kept many of its characteristics. |
